Last year, I reported to you that we had begun the process of making PEF more responsive to members and increasing our influence in the political arena. As a result of these efforts, we have been able to identify and address issues and concerns raised by our members in areas such as job security, privatization, Civil Service enforcement, and retirement reform.
Perhaps the most important item that will be facing us this year is the negotiation of the PS&T contract with the state. We began our preparations for the contract last December, and took the first major step in assuring the best possible contract for our members by hiring an experienced professional negotiator.
To ensure that our members’ concerns are considered, I have asked that our negotiator meet members in each Region and that the contract committee meet with as many members as possible to help establish the bargaining positions PEF will take when we sit down to negotiate with the state. This level of member involvement in preparing for contract negotiations is unprecedented, and it is my hope that it will help produce a pact that meets the needs of as many members as possible.
Through the efforts of our professional negotiator, the contract committee and PEF staff, we have also begun to lay the groundwork for negotiations with representatives from the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations, the Executive Chamber, and the political leadership of the State.
I am also pleased to report we have raised PEF’s political profile by bringing together as a new political force in New York State, the more than 300,000 members represented by the New York State SEIU Council.
We have increased our commitment to funding PEF’s legislative and political action efforts to nearly $1 million dollars annually. And, we have begun to organize and more effectively utilize our members and staff in election campaigns that will provide the greatest benefits to PEF members.
Our efforts to strengthen PEF’s political influence have begun paying off for our members. As a direct result of our ability to influence political leaders, PEF achieved important victories in the last legislative session. For example, we kept retirement reform focused on our issues of tier equity and five-year vesting, in addition to gaining two years of cost-of-living adjustments for our retirees. We shifted the debate on "Jenna’s Law" from ending parole for violent felons to increasing post-release supervision, and we protected the jobs of our parole officers. We blocked damaging amendments to the SUNY flexibility legislation that would have made it easier to contract out the services our members in SUNY provide. Because of our increased political profile, political leaders are beginning to ask themselves and us, "Where does PEF stand on this issue?", before they make decisions on legislation.
We have taken proactive approaches on many issues affecting our members. Using such tools as media campaigns, member lobbying, and legislative hearings, we have effectively delivered the message the we provide quality services to the citizens of New York state at a lower cost than private contractors. Specifically, these efforts have included our calling for:
We have done this so well, that our efforts to promote the quality services you provide have become a model for our International unions to promote public services nationwide.
We have established strategies to fight privatization initiatives and I have created a work group that has prepared a kit for our members that will help us to recognize the signs of privatization early so that we can mount an effective campaign to defeat it. We have developed strategies to fight against the implementation of the Special Needs Programs (SNPs) in the Office of Mental Health without State facilities playing a major role in the program. We have taken this fight to legislative leaders, county executives and county leaders. We have shown them, using the experiences of other states, how damaging it would be to the well-being of the individuals served under the program, and how risky it would be to the state and county budgets, if state facilities and the services our members provide are not included in the provider networks that will be set up under the SNPs.
More recently, we have begun working to get a share of the 25,000 residential placements that have been proposed under the governor’s NY CARES initiative in OMRDD. We are examining our options and potential strategies so that we will be prepared to fight for our members when the state lawmakers take up this initiative in the 1999 legislative session.
Our experiences this year have made it clear, that when we work together involving our members on issues, and use their help in developing strategies to increase our influence in the political and labor/management forums, we increase the odds in favor of our success.
It is also clear that much work still remains to be done to reach all our goals.
I look forward to serving you, and with your help, I am hopeful that we will have another successful year.