January 9, 2025 — 2024 was a busy one for PEF – from the fight to save SUNY Downstate, to financial wins for members amounting to thousands of dollars, to title reallocations and contractual pay increases, and so much more. As we move forward together into 2025, let’s take a look back.
PEF hit the ground running on legislative plans. After Gov. Kathy Hochul released her Executive Budget proposal, PEF’s Legislative Department, working in cooperation with the Statewide Political Action Committee, immediately began preparations to advocate for and against the parts of the budget important to PEF members.
“Everyone knows the state is grossly understaffed and underpaid,” said President Wayne Spence at the time. “Some of our priorities address those issues, like reforming the Tier 6 pension plan and fighting bullying in the workplace. We are asking members to support us by sending letters and participating in campaigns.”
Many of the letter-writing campaigns would help bills become laws toward the close of 2024.
Meanwhile, the union was already making calls and attending hearings to make sure that PEF members had a voice during the legislative session to come.
Vice President Randi DiAntonio attended a hearing on Workforce Development and Labor issues on January 30, 2024. Her testimony highlighted the issues agencies are still having with recruitment and retention, as well as offered solutions to those issues.
“The challenge we face is that the state remains unable to attract and retain the staff it needs to deliver services,” DiAntonio told the panel. “This is evidenced by the continued closure of group homes across the state at OPWDD, the proposed closure of state correctional facilities without a clear plan and in a quick fashion, the challenges around wage theft and enforcement responsibilities, and the fact that state employees worked 22 million hours of overtime at a cost of $1.35 billion in 2022.”
According to a report from the Comptroller, the state lost 10,000 staff in 2022 — an increase of more than 40% since 2020 — all due to attrition, not retirement.
PEF also spent time with the New York State Department of Civil Service, attending a hearing on January 18 that discussed the expansion of the NY HELPS program. HELPS (Hiring for Emergency Limited Placement Statewide), which launched in April 2023, waives Civil Service exams for certain titles. PEF’s urged caution at the hearing, advising that the state not rely on a temporary fix to address major long-term staffing issues.
“To PEF, Civil Service protections are so critical, not only to PEF’s members, but to the public, and critical to the individuals served by agencies,” said then PEF Research Associate Jean-Rene Shekerjian, who testified at the hearing, representing the PEF Civil Service Enforcement and Research department. “We have concerns that as Civil Service protections are made more flexible, there are more opportunities for harm to be done.”
State correctional facilities on the chopping block
Members rallied against Governor Hochul’s budget proposal asking the legislature to permit closing up to five New York State correctional facilities with just 90-days’ notice. The previous statute required 12 months’ notice.
At a rally held at the State Capitol on Jan. 31, 2024, organized by Assemblyman Chris Tague, PEF Vice President DiAntonio spoke against fast-tracking any closures.
“Staffing is a problem at every agency across the state,” DiAntonio said. “Instead of proposing closures, why don’t we propose ways to bolster recruitment and retention?”
In August 2024, PEF rallied with fellow unions in Fort Ann, N.Y., near Great Meadow Correctional Facility (CF), one of two facilities the governor proposed to close. PEF Region 8 Coordinator Danielle Bridger and Vice President Bruce Giddings were among those assembled.
In the end, Great Meadow and Sullivan CF were closed in November, but PEF was able to hold the state to its no layoffs pledge and all members who wished to continue state service were transferred to another facility or a similar job with the state.
Fighting to save SUNY Downstate … again
When President Spence and fellow union leaders received a call from SUNY Chancellor John King on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day about a plan to “transition” medical services from SUNY Downstate to Kings County Hospital, a labor coalition was born.
“Brooklyn Needs Downstate” includes PEF, UUP, NYSUT, NYSNA and a handful of other unions, as well as influential clergy from the surrounding communities, and its mission is simple – to make the case that SUNY Downstate does not need to be closed or downsized, but funded and lifted up so it can continue to deliver quality healthcare in Brooklyn.
The coalition organized community meetings, marches, and ran an advertising campaign on location television, in the subways, and via mobile billboards – all pointing out the folly of transitioning services from Downstate to Kings County Hospital across the street.
A crowd of about 1,200 hospital workers, community members, elected officials, and union activists gathered on Clarkson Avenue on a chilly day in late February, just outside the entrance to Downstate Medical Center in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, demanding that SUNY and Governor Hochul reconsider the plan.
“The MRI was invented right here at Downstate,” President Spence said. “This is who we are! We are not fly-by-night; we are not small! We are, intellectually, a powerful organization! We have proven who we are!”
President Spence also called on the crowd and the Governor to remember all the work that the healthcare heroes at SUNY Downstate performed when they were designated a COVID-only hospital in March 2020.
In June 2024, the Governor relented to the coalition’s demands, providing $400 million in the state budget to keep the hospital operating and forming an advisory panel to consider the future of Downstate. PEF will play a leading role in that effort moving forward and plans to keep the pressure on SUNY and the Governor in 2025.
Fix Tier 6!
Meantime, PEF also joined other unions from across the state to deliver a familiar rallying cry: Fix Tier 6!
After more than a decade, Tier 6 of the state’s pension plan still needs to be changed so that New Yorkers are attracted to state service and want to stay employed with the state. In 2022, PEF and other unions successfully advocated to change the vesting period from 10 years to five years. Last year, PEF and various other unions that make up the NYS AFL-CIO lobbied hard to change the final average salary calculation from 5 years to 3, as well as extend the exclusion of overtime earnings when calculating members’ contributions to the pension plan until March 31, 2026.
Union members and legislators took to the steps of the Million Dollar Staircase inside the Capitol Building in Albany on March 5 to rally alongside one another and send the message that Tier 6 is not working, is not retaining employees, and makes it harder for the state to attract more workers.
“Back when I started with my agency (Department of Taxation), we had a pension, decent benefits, and decent wages—the private sector now controls that. And we’re not only unable to recruit, we’re unable to retain,” PEF Secretary-Treasurer Joe Donahue said. “When people say I’m a Tier 4 person, Tier 6 doesn’t affect me — well, sure it does! It affects all of us.”
Tackling toxic work environments
PEF first made news on this topic in September 2023 when members of the Executive Board marched around Empire State Plaza in Albany calling attention to the problem of workplace bullying.
Last year, PEF responded to the requests of members and regional leaders and fought back against bullying at Kingsboro Psychiatric Center in Brooklyn. The consensus among staff at Kingsboro was clear: It’s time to stand up and fight back against the rampant bullying, retaliation, and nepotism that members face every day on the job.
“This is what our members want,” said PEF Region 11 Coordinator and Kingsboro recreation therapist Bernadette O’Connor, who was instrumental in organizing a rally on May 1 outside the facility. “They said to us, enough is enough. They are sick and tired, and we’ve got to do something. I work here and I know firsthand what’s going on at Kingsboro. It is the worst that I’ve ever seen it with the disparities and bullying.”
Rare total solar eclipse
A major celestial event on April 8 which passed over much of New York state captured not only the attention of the state, the country and the world, but also of many PEF members who had a hand in making sure the people of New York could view the event and travel safely.
PEF members at numerous state agencies worked hard behind the scenes in anticipation of crowds flocking to western and northern New York to catch a glimpse of the total solar eclipse that followed a roughly 100-mile-wide path across the state. Cities and towns within the path of totality included Jamestown, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Watertown, Old Forge, Lake Placid and Plattsburgh.
In 2020, members at New York State Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation (Parks) in the Niagara Falls region cast their eyes four years into the future in anticipation of the eclipse, which they compared to the time Nik Wallenda tightroped over the falls in 2012.
“Every summer holiday weekend is a big event, so we’ve been pulling from those playbooks to prepare,” said Angela Berti, who joined PEF in 2007 and is the Director of Public Affairs for the Niagara Region. “Our teams are used to handling big crowds, especially at Niagara Falls, but for this event it has been a matter of working with other local, state and federal agencies to tackle things like, how do we move traffic as smoothly as possible and how do we make sure everyone stays safe?”
Workplace Violence in Buffalo
Also in April, Buffalo Psychiatric Center (BPC) experienced a terrible act of violence that saw three staff members stabbed by a patient. The patient was able to walk into a residence with multiple knives.
“He had a knife in each hand, and he started wielding his fists, stabbing people,” said PEF Region 1 Coordinator Michele Iorfida. “Then he turned and walked out. He sat on the curb. He could have gone in the next building, where there is only one unarmed guard. They are allowed to walk in that building with anything.”
President Spence took the earliest flight to Buffalo when he heard the news.
“They have a long recovery ahead of them,” said President Spence, who met with the victims, families, and members of PEF Division 180 at the BPC.
PEF immediately began advocating for more safety measures at the BPC and other facilities and will mount a Stop Workplace Violence campaign in 2025.
Nurses take center stage
Every May is National Nurses Month and PEF’s Nurse Lobby Day helped yield results in the fight to keep SUNY Downstate open, advocate support for Tier 6 reform and more.
Perhaps one of the biggest pieces of advocacy highlighted during nurses’ month was the rejection of the Interstate Nurses Compact, which PEF successfully helped block.
“New York maintains higher licensure standards than most of the states in the compact and, as a union representing more than 10,000 nurses, PEF opposed watering down standards for New York’s health care professionals,” President Spence said.
‘Brooklyn Needs Downstate’ goes federal
Nearly five months after PEF and UUP learned about the plan to effectively close SUNY Downstate, President Spence and UUP President Fred Kowal found themselves in the Rayburn House Office Building on June 5 thanking U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke for her help saving SUNY Downstate and securing a commitment from her that the critical healthcare hub in her Brooklyn home district will not be neglected.
“We’re here along with PEF and UUP because the fight to save SUNY Downstate continues,” said Bishop Orlando Findlayter, who serves as a pastor at New Hope Christian Fellowship in Brooklyn. “We had a fruitful meeting with Congresswoman Clarke and we are committed to doing what we do – street engagement, community engagement, informing members of the community that SUNY is open, and they should come for services. We’re also providing some level of comfort to the employees – don’t abandon ship – because you are needed by this community.”
PEF notches legislative wins
As soon as the state Legislative session ended on June 6, 2024, PEF began working with members to keep the pressure on Governor Hochul to sign critical bills into law to address issues like bullying, disability and the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI).
More than 800 bills were sent to the Governor, and the union succeeded in securing quite a few priorities including a version of the AI bill that will make the state disclose how it is using the technology, a law that puts the onus on DOCCS to find workable solutions to heat problems in their facilities, and the addition of work-related stress injuries to the Workers’ Compensation law.
“Thanks to the leadership and support of the New York State Senate and Assembly Majorities, led by Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie as well as key partners like the NYS AFL-CIO, our members and other coalition partners, PEF successfully leveraged the ‘Fund Our Future’ campaign to build upon our achievements in the 2024 state budget,” said President Spence.
Answering the call for members in need
On July 16, storms ravaged upstate, central and western New York communities, including Rome, N.Y., which saw devastating tornados touch down in the city and surrounding areas.
Region 6 Coordinator Christopher Dunham and PEF swiftly kicked into recovery mode after the tornado. While the PEF Disaster Relief Fund worked to collect money to help impacted members, Dunham used Region 6 funds to purchase grocery and gas cards to distribute to members immediately.
Leading the way on AI
In July, PEF organized the first “Summit on Artificial Intelligence.“ Legislators, the commissioner of the state Department of Civil Service, and leaders from the Office of Information Technology Services came together in Albany to discuss how the state should approach its use of AI to make sure it doesn’t run rampant and do more harm than good.
“We are connecting all these people together to start a conversation,” said PEF Statewide IT Committee Chair Radhakrishna Mohan, who is a PEF Trustee. “AI is already here. How are we going to catch up with that? How are we going to tackle this and how it will affect our jobs?”
New union leaders take office
On August 3, 2024, old and new PEF leadership were ceremonially sworn in at an event attended by Governor Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James, and emceed by NYS AFL-CIO President Mario Cilento.
President Spence won an historic fourth term, joined by returning Vice Presidents Randi DiAntonio and Darlene Williams, as well as new VP Bruce Giddings. A few new Regional Coordinators also joined the leadership ranks.
PEF members found time in late August to visit the State Fair in Syracuse, where member volunteers and staff spent time at the PEF booth getting to know people from across the state, and rekindling relationships with retirees and former PEF members.
Across the fairgrounds, PEF members from almost all state agencies staffed booths — from the Department of Transportation to the Office of Cannabis Management and the Workers’ Compensation Board. Fairgoers were provided information about what state workers and PEF members do for them, and how they themselves could become part of a strong workforce backed by unions.
The annual PEF Convention welcomed delegates from across the state to Syracuse in mid-September to conduct the business of the union. They congratulated President Spence on winning a fourth term and he encouraged them to continue their strong advocacy on behalf of PEF’s priorities.
More workplace violence
While at Convention, the president received word about a brutal assault that left a PEF member from South Beach Psychiatric Center on a ventilator in a Staten Island hospital.
PEF leaders and staff mobilized to assist and support members at the facility and engaged with management and the Office of Mental Health (OMH) to address security issues.
On September 17, the PEF nurse was hit in the side of the head by a patient, knocking him to the ground. He was rushed to the hospital with multiple brain bleeds.
“I saw the video of Peter get hit on the side of his face,” said VP Williams. “He fell so hard. On September 17, he left for work, probably said goodbye to his family, but he’s not going to come home that same person. He will never go home the way he was when he left.”
As mentioned, PEF is mounting a Stop Workplace Violence campaign in 2025 aimed at educating members about what to do in the event of an attack, as well as advocating for policy changes to protect state workers in dangerous settings.
New dental provider
As part of PEF’s last contract negotiation, New York state had to pay an annual $400 stipend to every member until it secured a new dental provider. Thanks in part to that financial pressure, the state approved Anthem Blue Cross to administer the NYSHIP dental plan as of October 1. Feedback has been mixed, but the contract does contain mechanisms that will allow the state to hold Anthem accountable if they do not deliver according to the contract’s terms.
Salary increases for some
Rounding out the year, PEF celebrated a couple wins that put more money in some members’ pockets. More than 2,100 state employees in professional traineeships at 46 state agencies, many of whom are PEF members, received pay increases of either 5.7% or 11.6%, depending on their title. The increases will raise the salary of those in Trainee 1 titles from Grade 13 to Grade 14, and those in Trainee 2 titles from Grade 14 to Grade 16.
Additionally, the Governor announced that several engineering titles across the state were approved for pay increases. The agencies with the highest number of affected employees include the Department of Transportation, the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, the Department of Health and the Office of General Services. The increases come in the form of geographic pay differentials (geos) and an increased hiring rate (IHR).
“We commend Governor Hochul for her commitment to investing in the State workforce to recruit and retain top talent,” said President Spence. “The PEF members impacted by these pay increases are highly skilled public servants who play critical roles protecting and maintaining New York’s vital infrastructure. Offering compensation on par with the private sector is a positive move toward attracting talented professionals to state employment.”
Editor’s Note: Members can read any of the stories PEF published in 2024 by visiting The Communicator archive. If you have a story in 2025, please reach out to us at Communicator@pef.org!