September 27, 2023 — Toxic workplaces and bullying by New York State agency managers took center stage at the quarterly PEF Executive Board meeting, held September 21 and 22 in Albany.
Board members marched on their lunch break during the first day of the board meeting from the Albany Hilton to the Empire State Plaza, calling out State managers who demean and disrespect their workforce. PEF called upon the governor and members of her executive team, like the Director of the Office of Employee Relations Michael Volforte, to stop ignoring the problem and do something about it.
President Wayne Spence shared his own experiences with workplace discrimination and how the negative environment at his parole office caused health issues.
“Those who are experiencing toxic workplaces, they need voices. They need us to support them,” President Spence said.
PEF drafted legislation last year that defines workplace bullying and requires training for employers and employees in an effort to reduce the amount of harassment in workplaces. It was passed by the Assembly Majority but is awaiting consideration in the Senate. The union will continue to advocate for its passage in the 2024 legislative session.
Guest speakers
President of the State Civil Service Commission Timothy Hogues and Senator Robert Jackson both addressed the board on September 21.
Hogues described a positive working relationship with President Spence and said he is committed to doing everything he can to recruit and retain state workers.
“As you may know, we have roughly 12,500 vacancies throughout state government that we have to fill,” Hogues said. “These are awesome opportunities for careers, career advancement and career shifts.”
Hogues said that it was thanks to President Spence and PEF that Governor Hochul was able to add money into the budget for Civil Service to address continuous recruitment, examination fees, and opening up testing centers across the state.
Hogues praised his agency for doing more for the employees to help balance their work and personal lives. He wants Civil Service to be present as much as possible at Department of Labor career centers, as well as in public areas like churches, clubs and non-profit organizations, to help educate people on how to get into state employment.
Civil Service is also working on a full review of salary requirements across all titles for the first time in decades, something PEF advocates for as a key recruitment and retention tool in the union’s “Fund Our Future” campaign.
“We haven’t done a full-scale review of our salary and payment structure since the 1950s,” said Hogues. “I know we have tried to address this regionally, but we need a better solution for each and every one of you.”
Hogues ended his address by asking all PEF members to hold him and his agency accountable.
“I need your input, I need your guidance, I need your help to get the word out, and I need your help to provide us with suggestions and input that you’re hearing on the local and state level.”
Senator Robert Jackson
Also invited to speak to the board by President Spence was longtime friend of PEF Senator Robert Jackson. Jackson is one of the founding members of PEF and now serves as senator from the 31st Senate District of New York. He chairs the powerful Civil Service and Pensions committee in the Senate.
Senator Jackson marched with PEF members earlier in the day at the Toxic Workplace Rally and praised them for taking action.
“We’re not here to just sit back and watch, we’re here to act and be involved in a process for change,” he said. “And you heard me say it earlier: Everyone needs to be involved in this process. We need to put pressure on the system to make change.”
The senator urged the board to continue their hard work, and reaffirmed his commitment to the members of PEF, and state workers in general, to protect and strengthen their pensions and benefits.
“Protecting the benefits of public employees will always be a top priority for me and I will fight any efforts by whomever or whatever to diminish these essential elements of your livelihood,” Jackson said.
The senator mentioned a framed T-shirt hanging on the wall of his conference room that reads: “Tier 6 Sucks!”
Jackson is a key supporter of legislation that PEF supports to change the current tier of the state pension plan to standardize employee contributions at 3% of salary after 10 years of state service, as well as various other bills to improve the Tier 6 plan.
PS&T Contract Ratification
President Spence congratulated the Executive Board for voting overwhelmingly to send the contract to the membership aatf their last meeting in June. The contract was ratified on July 28, 2023, 24,516 members voting yes and just 1,255 voting no. That calculates to an affirmative vote of 95%.
“Everybody saw something in this contract that was worthy, that meant something to them,” President Spence said. “I can tell you over and over again, I’ve never received so much overwhelming response to how great this contract was.”
PEF Vice President Darlene Williams and Director of Contract Administration Debra Greenberg were highlighted by Spence as being instrumental in getting the contract ready for the members. Both Williams and Greenberg were gifted copies of the “Pen Certificate”, which is an acknowledgement and codification of the contract signed by Governor Hochul.
Canal Corporation Ratification and Albany Housing Authority Tentative Agreement
The Executive Board voted to send PEF Division 504 members at the Canal Corp. their contract for ratification at the last Executive Board meeting. Since then, the contract was approved by those members with 76% approval.
Meanwhile, negotiators presented the tentative agreement reached between the State and the Albany Housing Authority (AHA). The contract is for a three-year term, retroactive to 2022, with a 3% salary increase in 2022 and 2023, followed by a 3.15% increase in 2024.
AHA members also secured a change in their dental plan. The previous adminstrator, Highmark, canceled its dental plan and the new contract was awarded to Delta Dental. It includes 100% coverage of preventative and routine care, along with 80% coverage on restorative dental procedures and 50% on major procedures. The deductibles are $25 and $75 for individuals and families, respectively.
The Executive Board voted to send the tentative agreement to the members of the AHA for ratification.
Membership growth
PEF Director of Organizing Dan Carpenter reported that despite well-funded and organized attempts to weaken public sector unions, including PEF, more than 5,000 new members have signed membership cards so far in 2023.
“I am proud to report that our union has continued to flourish,” said Carpenter. “These achievements are nothing short of spectacular, especially considering the challenging environment we are operating in.”
Carpenter reported that in 2022 PEF signed up 4,393 new members. He also reported that as of September 2023, 5,308 new members have joined the union in the current calendar year. This surge in membership also means a surge in dues, resulting in nearly $7.32 million in additional revenue since 2022 that PEF can use to advocate for the rights of all members.
Members who worry they may have fallen prey to malicious attempts to get them to leave the union are urged to contact PEF Organizing at (518) 785-1900 so staff can assist them and make sure they don’t lose any valuable benefits.
Current PEF membership stands at 50,273.
A moment of silence
Executive Board member Brian DuBois, Seat 510 (Department of Transportation) called for a moment of silence for those who lost their lives and were injured in a bus accident on Interstate 84. DuBois pointed out that the DOT is supposed to be inspecting buses like the one involved in the crash. According to DuBois, there are some civil service issues with motor carrier investigators.
Plans are in place for DuBois, President Spence and others—including the Office of Employee Relations—to be present at an executive labor management meeting to further discuss the safety of New Yorkers and PEF members.
PEF in good financial health
PEF Secretary-Treasurer Joe Donahue showed during his financial report that PEF remains in good standing financially. Despite the volatile stock market, PEF’s investments are performing well, and dues have increased thanks to all the new members signing their union cards.
Donahue gave a brief presentation on the proper procedures and usage of Employee Organization Leave (EOL), and told the board he has lifted the 2018 suspension of per cap calculations, which will increase funding to PEF divisions.
A new rental car policy is being worked on by the Secretary-Treasurer to be ready to be presented to the Executive Board at their next meeting.
Legislative agenda
PEF Vice President Randi DiAntonio presented PEF’s Federal and State Legislative Agendas, which will be formally approved by Convention delegates next month. This included a quick recap of several bills that PEF advocated for and that were recently passed and signed into law by Governor Hochul.
The first new law requires that any time a public employee spends in a provisional title counts toward any required probationary time period that the employee must serve when they become a permanent employee in the same title.
“Another bill signed into law concerns increased notice around civil service exams,” said Vice President DiAntonio.
This new law requires that the Department of Civil Service and municipal civil service commissions make exam announcements to the Board of Cooperative Education Services (BOCES), high schools, colleges and universities, and more.
The third bill signed by the governor and highlighted by Vice President DiAntonio increases workers’ compensation benefits by setting the minimum weekly benefit for permanent partial disability and temporary partial disability at one-fifth the average wage. If the employee earns less than that, they receive full wages for their injury. Moving forward, this benefit will also be indexed annually to inflation in order to protect the purchasing power of injured workers from rising costs.
And finally, the last new law highlighted was allows workers the ability to refuse showing up at “captive audience” meetings or certain meetings called by their employer where politics or religion or other unwelcome topics are discussed. The law protects workers from retaliation or negative impacts when they refuse to attend such meetings.
Union strength and support
During the meeting, Vice President Darlene Williams shared that Executive Board member Vincent Cicatello, a nurse at Buffalo Psychiatric Center, has a son who will soon undergo bone marrow treatments and chemotherapy in New York City. A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family. Executive Board members “passed the hat” and collected more than $1,300 for the Cicatello family.
The next executive board meeting will be held November 30 and December 1 in Albany.