December 21, 2023 — Pulled from our Communicator stories throughout the year, here’s a roundup of union achievements from the past year. One thing they all have in common? They wouldn’t happen without the support and solidarity of PEF’s 50,000+ members across the State. Thank you for being part of this union and serving your fellow workers every day of the year.
January: Successful contracts and pay reallocations
The PEF Roswell Park Contract Team and management from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center (RPCCC) agreed to reallocate the salaries of the more than 680 PEF nurses employed by the facility in Buffalo. Recognizing that nurses have historically been undervalued and compensation is key for retaining and attracting skilled nurses – PEF-represented nurses created a petition and gathered more than 750 signatures demanding Roswell increase nursing pay grades and base salaries to better match the education and skills required for their jobs.
Outstanding turnout at the Albany Labor Day parade played a significant role in the strong contract secured for members at Albany County Probation. The six-year agreement contained no givebacks and a 16% raise over six years.
February: Telephone Town Hall outlines PEF priorities
At the start of the year, a telephone town hall was held to address the challenges of negotiating PEF’s 2023-2026 contract, the union’s legislative agenda, membership engagement plans, and much more. Members heard from PEF President Wayne Spence, Contract Administration Director Debra Greenberg and chief negotiator Mark Richard. They detailed the strategy the negotiating team hoped to pursue and assured members that their priorities, as revealed by an all-member survey, were being brought to the table. This town hall set the tone for the rest of the year, as PEF delivered one of its historically strongest contracts.
March: PEF social workers lobby for pay reallocation, improved working conditions
PEF social workers participated in a Capitol Day of Action in Albany, joining forces with mental health professionals from the New York chapter of the National Association of Social Workers to lobby legislators. Their advocacy laid the groundwork for a salary reallocation request, as more than two dozen PEF social workers called on State lawmakers to address pay inequity, unsustainable caseloads, and short staffing. The issues experienced by social worker titles are familiar to many PEF members – with the root cause being chronic understaffing.
April: Unfurling PEF’s Fund our Future petition
The names of 10,000 New Yorkers were laid out on the steps of the Legislative Office Building on March 29, 2023. PEF rolled a four-feet wide, 42-feet long petition down the steps to deliver the message: It is time for the state to invest in the state workforce and public services.
The petition – signed by thousands of members and concerned New Yorkers at events around the State from 2021 to 2023 — called on legislators to use tax dollars for the public goods improve staffing and health care and reinvigorate the Civil Service system.
Many elected State officials came out in support, including Senators Shelley Mayer, Michelle Hinchey, John Mannion, Robert Jackson, Toby Stavisky, and Jim Tedisco, and Assemblymembers Dana Levenberg, William Conrad, Aileen Gunther, Marianne Buttonschon, Edward Gibbs, Alex Bores, Josh Jensen, Manny De Los Santos, Pat Fahy, Harvey Epstein, Deborah Glick, Chantel Jackson, Brian Manktelow, and Karen McMahon.
May: Investigating Transparency, PEF wins FOIL Case
PEF’s Civil Service Enforcement and Research Department is working on identifying and addressing barriers to promotions that may affect minority PEF members across the state. To that end, the department sought to get information from the state Department of Civil Service that details ethnic and racial details from 2010 to 2022. That information should have included agency and jurisdictional class information.
When the state responded with missing information, PEF appealed and later pursued an Article 78 proceeding on October 7, 2022. The Albany County Supreme Court ruled on April 17, 2023, that PEF was entitled to the full account requested in the initial FOIL request.
Following the ruling, President Spence said: “We are pleased the judge agreed with our position and we look forward to continuing in our efforts to combat racial injustice and discrimination.”
June: Executive Board overwhelmingly votes to send contracts to members for ratification
PEF Did It! The Executive Board voted to send the PS&T and Canal Corporation tentative agreements to members for ratification. Governor Hochul praised PEF for achieving great benefits for its members and the work those members do to help New Yorkers all across the State.
July/August: PEF members overwhelmingly ratify PS&T contract
PEF members turned out in force to ratify the 2023-2026 Professional, Scientific, and Technical bargaining unit contract, with more than half of eligible members returning their ballots, and an overwhelming 95% of those members voting “yes.”
The ratified contract delivers some well-earned financial gains – including a $3,000 signing bonus, 3% raises each year, retroactive to April 1, 2023, a $400 dental stipend while the State works to replace the inferior EmblemHealth plan, and a first-of-its-kind Higher Education Differential, which starting in 2024 will provide a $600 annual payment to PEF members with college degrees or professional licenses administered by the State Education Department.
September: Big turnout at Labor Day events; governor signs major labor bills into law
PEF members turned out in force for Labor Day events across the state and helped make the New York State Fair a success, and Gov. Kathy Hochul signed several labor bills championed by PEF, including expanded notice requirements for Civil Service exams, protection for workers who refuse captive audience meetings, and increased penalties for wage theft.
October: PEF holds 45th annual Convention in Syracuse
Nearly 600 delegates journeyed to central New York for the union’s annual convention, where the State and Federal Legislative Agendas are set for the following year and PEF policy is debated and voted on. The most influential and powerful leaders in the labor movement addressed the body: National AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, SEIU President Mary Kay Henry, AFT President Randi Weingarten, and NYS AFL-CIO President Mario Cilento.
President Wayne Spence highlighted in his State of the Union address the myriad ways PEF made a difference in the lives of its members and how that membership continues to grow. “I can remember standing here in 2018 and 2019, after the Janus decision, talking about emergency plans to keep this union intact if members quit in droves like the Supreme Court gave them the opportunity to do,” President Spence said. “We welcomed 5,389 new members from January 1 to September 21. In a union of 50,000, that’s 10% growth. Our goal was 2,500 for the whole year: that’s 216% better than our forecast.”
November: PEF takes the lead on AI and the workforce
Artificial intelligence in the workplace is not going away, which is why PEF demands to be at the table helping shape the way it is used in public-sector workplaces. Members from the Office of Information Technology Services educated a joint hearing of the State legislature on the need for regulation and protocols.
“AI has and will affect everyone’s lives and livelihoods and have a profound impact on our members and the services they provide to the State of New York,” PEF Executive Board member Christopher Ford told the panel. PEF recommended to the panel that we need complete transparency when it comes to the data AI uses to power its algorithms and that the testing and oversight of AI be ongoing, especially to protect data privacy, security, and copyright.