The Divisions Department serves as a resource for PEF's 226 divisions for their organizational and technical needs, including coordinating officer and/or steward elections and PEF/AFT/SEIU convention delegate elections; Executive Board elections; divThe Divisions Department serves as a resource for PEF's 226 divisions for their organizational and technical needs, including coordinating officer and/or steward elections and PEF/AFT/SEIU convention delegate elections; Executive Board elections; division-constitution development or amendment; annexations and/or secessions and agency consolidations.
The department also maintains current and historical data on each division.
Elections
During 1998, a total of 115 division elections were conducted, and a total of 164 new stewards were elected.
Throughout the year, other major elections were conducted or overseen by the department, including PEF's convention delegate elections, and the Special Elections for vacant Executive Board seats.
Finances
In instances where the department's staff or field office secretaries perform election committee-related tasks (nomination/ballot preparation, tallying, mailing, etc.) divisions are billed for the service according to an established fee schedule.
Income from election services:
The Divisions Department income received for Division Election Services conducted by PEF headquarters and various regional field offices totals:
3rd quarter 97-98 Oct./Dec. $ 1695.00
4th quarter 97-98 Jan./Mar. 3085.00
1st quarter 98-99 Apr./Jun. 3815.00
2nd quarter 98-99 Jul./Sept. _ 1680.00
$10,275.00
The Division Accounts arm of the Accounting Department staffed by Ingrid Young, divisions accounts assistant, and Marianne Lenish, accounts clerk, monitors all division finances – from quarterly per-capita payments, to receipts and reconciliation statements, to annual audit reports.
In conjunction with the Accounting Department, Divisions Finance staff and the Office of the Secretary/Treasurer are kept apprised of divisions facing or scheduled for account closure due to worksite changes, lack of compliance with reporting requirements, or long-overdue elections.
Divisions Accounts Closed
The following divisions’ bank accounts have been closed either due to division closures, overdue elections or because they are delinquent in submitting financial reports:
D. 165 – OD Heck (closed)
D. 173 – Kings Pard PC (closed
D. 176 – Central Islip PC (closed)
D. 266 – Gowanda PC (closed)
D. 282 – Wilton DC (closed)
D. 291 – Health New Rochelle (closed)
D. 293 – Div. Alcohol Abuse (closed)
D. 294 – Harlem Valley PC (closed)
D. 297 – D.F.Y. Buffalo
D. 309 – Tax & Fin. -
Aud, & Con, Reg 6 (closed)
D. 313 – NYS Energy Off.
Statewide (closed)
D. 319 – Westchester DC
Wingdale (closed)
D. 325 – NYSDVA
D. 330 – State Emergency
Management Office
D. 331 – Cable Television
Comm. (closed)
D. 335 – Division of Prob. & Corr. Alternatives
D. 336 – Westchester DC
DDSO C.S. (closed)
D. 357 – VESID-Albany (closed)
D. 359 – DFY and DOL
D. 365 – Metropolitan Corrections
D. 381 – Camp Gabriels
D. 501 – NDRI State & Admin. Serv.
Divisions Membership Status
Due to several agency consolidations and closures, PEF has gone from 233 funded Divisions to 225. At this time, our membership has decreased to 52,959 PS&T. Of that 51,912 PS&T (98%) belong to divisions and 1,047 PS&T (2%), do not belong to divisions. These totals were taken from a membership spreadsheet dated July 1998.
Divisions Committee
The Divisions Committee held three meetings this year.
This department works with the union’s Divisions Committee, comprised of PEF members. This year, the committee reviewed and resolved various division-election appeals, new-division applications and secession/annexation requests. The committee also acted upon several requests for additional stewards, constitutional-amendment requests and division consolidations due to agency mergers.
Delegate Elections Committee
This department also works with a member-comprised Delegate Elections Committee. This year, we prepared the material for posting the PEF delegate constituencies and rules in the April Communicator, the preparation and verification of the nominating petitions and the preparation, mailing and counting of the ballots. PEF members running for AFT/SEIU convention-delegate nominations are also handled by this committee.
The Delegate Election Committee held 11 meetings this year.