WELL DESERVING — PEF President Roger Benson presents Darlene Morabito with the 2005 Fight Back Against Privatization Award at the Annual Convention in Rochester. Morabito is a civil engineer for the state Department of Transportation in PEF Division 256.
— Photo by John Epting
Keeping PEF focused, strong
By ROGER E. BENSON
As many PEF members have heard, Secretary-Treasurer Jane Hallum and I have announced we will not seek re-election next June. We believe that after nine years in union office, it is now time to seek other pursuits and pass on the leadership responsibilities to younger PEF leaders.
The leadership transition will be the first in nine years and could divert attention away from our biggest responsibilities, effectively representing the membership on the issues that matter the most — job security, stronger contracts and retirement reform.
I want to assure all 53,000 PEF members that this administration will remain focused and energized on building on our accomplishments and carrying forward the campaigns and initiatives that have worked so well to provide stronger contracts, and improve the job security and working conditions of our members.
We have a responsibility and duty, no matter what the circumstances are, to make sure we take advantage of every opportunity presented to us to improve the lives of our members and their families.
Over the next nine months we expect to roll out major new initiatives around workplace violence and nurse staffing, and move to the third phase of our
Go Public campaign. This while we deal with what we believe will be a difficult state budget cycle.
We have worked hard to build our strength in the areas of political action, mobilization and public relations, and we’ve learned what it takes to succeed. We have positioned PEF for next year’s general election to make sure candidates for office address our issues.
Just because the leadership of PEF will change next August does not mean threats to PEF and our members will stop, and is no excuse for clinging to the status quo.
PEF members deserve a union that is ready to represent them and that gives them the best opportunity for success. We will continue to move PEF forward, take advantage of the opportunities presented and focus on our core goals of job security, stronger contracts and retirement reform.
The
Communicator November 05
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