MEET THE TEAM — The new PEF PS&T Contract Team is announced to convention delegates in Rochester: L-R are Bill Wurster, Lou Matrazzo, Kathy Darminio, Mike DeVoe, Jemma Hanson, Todd Fryer, Gail Noble, Jim Blake, Giselle Castro, Bill Holthausen, Germaine Greco, Meghan Allen (staff), Bob Reynolds, Carolyn Willson, Deborah Stayman (staff), Karen Spotford, Adam Sumlin and Ken Brynien. Team members Kathy Sweeney and Bill Cruz are not shown. — Photo by Richard Dillard
New team named to negotiate 2007 PS&T contract
By SHERRY HALBROOK
Focusing on PEF’s fight for the future, PEF President Roger Benson presented the union’s new PS&T contract team to the convention on its opening day in Rochester.
The team, chaired by PEF Region 8 Coordinator Lou Matrazzo, will negotiate a successor agreement to the current PS&T contract, which expires April 1, 2007.
The keys to success, Benson said, are a militant and mobilized membership to support a skilled and well prepared team that’s focused on goals all of the members understand and support.
Delegate Mike Keenan questioned why Benson, who has said he will not run for re-election, was appointing a team now.
Benson said PEF usually announces and begins preparing its PS&T-unit team at this point in the bargaining cycle.
Bargaining will likely begin in January ’07 for this PS&T pact.
“Just because we have an election (of officers next year), doesn’t mean this union is going to go into stop mode,” said PEF Secretary-Treasurer Jane Hallum, who also has said she will not seek re-election.
“If we don’t have a team out there and prepared to negotiate, we will suffer,” Hallum said.
“And if the next president doesn’t like the team, he or she can appoint another one.”
Mattrazzo said it’s important to keep moving on the contract without delay, so the union can take advantage of the 2006 gubernatorial election and ensure PS&T contract issues are considered during PEF’s candidate-endorsement process.
According to PEF Director of Labor Relations Roger Scales, PEF’s chief negotiator, the pre-negotiating preparations are right on schedule.
The new team will begin training this fall and survey members next spring to begin identifying priority issues. By next summer, he said, the team will be on the road visiting all of the PEF regions to meet with members and hear about their concerns and suggestions for improving the contract.
Meet the team
Matrazzo is a data processing supervisor for the state Health Department and was on the team that negotiated the current contract.
Other members of the new team are:
• James Blake, a PEF Executive Board member and a data processing supervisor for the state Division of Criminal Justice Services in Region 8;
• Giselle Castro, a parole revocation specialist for the state Division of Parole in Region 11;
• Bill Cruz, an addictions program specialist 2 for the state Office of Addictions and Substance Abuse Services in Region 10;
• Kathy Darminio, a disability analyst 2 for the state Office of Temporary Disability Assistance (OTDA) in
Region 5;
• Mike DeVoe, a complex real property appraiser 2 for the state Office of Real Property Services;
• Todd Fryer, a PEF Executive Board member and a senior insurance examiner for the state Insurance Department in Region 8;
• Germaine Greco, a PEF Executive Board member and a disability analyst 3 at OTDA in Region 10;
• Jemma Hanson, PEF Region 11 coordinator and a teaching and research center nurse 3 at SUNY Downstate Medical Center;
• Bill Holthausen, a PEF Executive Board member and a civil engineer 1 for the state Transportation Department in Region 12;
• Gail Noble, a teacher 4 at Cayuga Correctional Facility in Region 4;
• Bob Reynolds, a PEF trustee and a senior recreation therapist at Broome Developmental Disabilities Services Office in Region 5;
• Adam Sumlin, a PEF Executive Board member and a cancer research associate at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Region 1;
• Karen Spotford, an information technology specialist 2 for the state Office of Mental Health in Region 3;
• Nancy Sweeney, a PEF Executive Board member and a tax auditor 1 for the state Department of Tax and Finance in Region 4;
• Carolyn Willson, a PEF Executive Board member and a rehabilitation nurse 2 at Helen Hayes Hospital in Region 9; and
• Bill Wurster, an environmental chemist 2 for the state Department of Environmental Conservation in
Region 8.
Not so secret weapon
No amount of hard work and preparation by the team will pay off if the members don’t back it up, Benson cautioned.
“We are our own best advocates. Without your involvement,” he told the delegates, ”we will not receive good contracts.”
Matrazzo said he learned a lot about the bargaining process as a member of the previous PS&T contract team.
He cited two critical elements — a trained team that knows what the members want, and a membership committed to supporting its team — to a successful negotiations.
It’s also important, he said, to “educate our co-workers about the need to support our issues.
“As we’ve seen over and over again, success at the bargaining table is almost always the result of actions away from the table!”
Fights for members’ futures
The delegates began the process by passing resolutions calling on PEF to develop contract priorities: boosting pay for members working in areas with high costs of living; improving contract language on nursing issues; allowing PS&T employees who work less than half-time to earn leave benefits; and establishing a “solidarity fund” of donated leave for ailing PS&T members who exhaust their own leave.
The
Communicator November 05
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