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February 14, 2025 | Volume 43. No. 1

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PEF firing on all cylinders as 2025 gets off to a fast start

This is my 11th year as PEF president, and I can truly say that we’ve never started out a year quite this fast before! Your union is hard at work responding to it all – from the State budget hearings; to signs that Washington may reduce federal funding of various New York State agencies; to our efforts to curb workplace violence. We couldn’t fit every story in this issue of The Communicator, so keep checking our Facebook, X and Instagram accounts the rest of this month, as well as PEF.org, for the very latest.

In this issue, we have reports about the recent meeting of the Civil Service Commission, at which PEF cautioned against using the NY HELPS program as a long-term solution to the State’s staffing crisis, and pushed for an update on the status of the comprehensive statewide salary review Gov. Hochul called for a couple years ago. We also summarize a webinar I was proud to participate in with the Worker Institute at Cornell University, about the negative impacts of privatization on the State’s mental healthcare workforce.

On the Health & Safety front, please visit a new section on our website dedicated to workplace violence. We are launching an ad campaign this month on highway billboards, CDTA buses and the Amtrak station in Rensselaer to bring attention to the growing problem, and are pushing for budget funding of body scanners at OMH, OPWDD, OCFS and OASAS to help prevent dangerous weapons from being brought into facilities.

I welcome Scott Staub to the Statewide Officers team. Scott was elected Region 5 Coordinator following in the footsteps of David Dubofsky. He is an experienced union leader from OTDA and will represent PEF members in the Southern Tier well.

Lastly, a pair of retiree stories to recommend: First, Erna Blackman, a former parole officer who retired in 2012, is finding success in retirement by helping kids who are experiencing hair loss due to cancer and other medical conditions. And a hat tip to reporter Najee Walker, who found out when he accepted a job at PEF that his grandmother was with the union at the beginning. Just try not to be too jealous that she’s Tier 1.