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June 5, 2025 | Volume 43. No. 5

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Your Union: Discovering, Advocating and Educating

The first day of summer is only a few weeks away and with the warm weather, we hope you’ll take advantage of all the outdoors has to offer – and who knows, you might even find a 13,000-year-old fossil in your backyard!

That’s what happened to an Orange County couple when they discovered mastodon teeth on the back edge of their property. PEF members from the New York State Museum traveled to the site, excavated the bones, and brought them back to Albany to piece together and study. For this issue, we spoke to them in their lab and got an inside look at the specimens and how they help us understand our state’s natural history.

With the end of the state legislative session next week, we’re doing a final push on our letter-writing campaigns. Please take a few moments to send a pre-written letter on PEF’s priorities, from improved security and safety at DOCCS to expanded use of body scanners to workplace violence prevention and funding for the Cultural Education Center, among others.

More than 750 of your fellow members have stepped up and are certified delegates for this year’s 47th annual PEF Convention in October in Lake Placid, a dramatic increase over the last few years, and I’m excited to have such a broad swath of our membership represented this year. As the highest decision-making body in our union, Convention sets the tone and the agenda for the next year.

Labor activism isn’t just local. I recently sent Vice President Darlene Williams and Region 11 Coordinator Bernadette O’Connor to Israel to learn about and network with international partners fighting for workers’ rights and justice. This issue features a reflection from VP Williams about the trip.

We also tuned in to one of the American Federation of Teachers’ student debt clinics to bring you some important insight into the current state of the program. I encourage you to register to attend one of the free clinics, especially if you are navigating the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. You can also take advantage of student debt counseling through Cambridge Credit Counseling.

If you haven’t checked out the rest of your PEF Membership Benefits, the start of summer is the perfect time to do it. There are discounts on just about anything you need for a great family vacation or summer outing, from discounted theme park and sporting event tickets to rental cars and hotels. In collaboration with MBP and AFT, PEF is also hosting another Community Wellness Fair and Reading Opens the World Book Giveaway, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 14 at the Washington Avenue Armory in Albany. It’s a great event, with more than 20,000 free books and dozens of community vendors that offer health and wellness services to families.