September 25, 2024 — This year’s Convention keynote speaker helped PEF negotiate some of the strongest contracts in its history.
Mark Richard practices labor law with Philips, Richard & Rind, P.A. He is a long-time leader in the labor movement beginning as an Organizing Director for Cesar Chavez’s United Farm Workers of America and has served as the chief advisor to PEF during contract negotiations. He has been an AFT member for over 45 years and has helped negotiate contracts for other unions across the country.
When he took the stage the morning of Sept. 16, Richard greeted the delegates by reminding them that they are leaders, activists, and that the work they do on behalf of the state and on behalf of 56,000 PEF members is remarkable and special.
“I represent a lot of unions. I don’t know of a lot of unions that have as many job titles as you do in PEF. And each one of you is a subject matter expert,” Richard said. “One of the reasons why PEF does so well at contract negotiations is how smart you are. You sit at the table and when they ask about how your job works, you are there to articulate it.”
Richard highlighted not only the success of PEF’s contract team, but what it takes to create a path toward a good contract. He stressed that no contract is “perfect,” but that members should continue to strive toward perfection and bring back the best possible outcome for members.
In his address, Richard focused on five parts of building on contract success. Key parts of these steps, Richard said, are already being practiced by members of PEF.
“One is to never stop being member driven,” said Richard. “In my incredible honor of working with you, I have never seen a day where the center of this union does not begin and end with your members. You are a member driven union.”
Richard also discussed strategy. Not only at the bargaining table, but at work as well, stressing that although members go to work every day for the people of New York, whether they know it or not, they go in with a plan on how to get the job done, recalling back to his earlier point about state workers knowing their jobs well.
A good strategy, Richard said, is stronger when members organize and are united. Differences of opinion are fine, but to Richard this is no different than one of his favorite sports: football.
“Do you have a team that’s going to win a Super Bowl? If you have a disrupter like Terrell Owens in the locker room, it’s not going to happen,” said Richard. “So, while we can debate through our resolutions, have differences in our opinion — even very strong differences of opinion — once the play is called by the leadership or a head coach, that’s the play we run!”
Those who wish to see unions break apart pay attention to any amount of disunity, based on generation and even job classification, Richard said.
Finally, Richard spoke on his fifth pillar: the strength and leadership of members to make tough decisions or what he calls “the art of what is possible.”
“Do you know how brutal it is to be in bargaining and have 40 top issues and every one of them is fair, and every one of them is deserved, but you know at the end you’re not getting it all? No one ever does. And how do you deal with it?” he asked.
Richard said the best way to keep momentum and use these pillars of success is to apply them to everything. Not just contract negotiations or grievances, but to every aspect of work and union life. He also told delegates to remember that there are forces at work who want to take away their jobs, their benefits and their livelihoods.
“They want to take your work away,” he said. “They want to privatize it off. Hedge funds, investors, donors.”
To close his address, Richard not only praised and thanked the delegates for the work they were about to embark on at this year’s convention, but also told them to take pride in their work and the path they took to get to this moment.
“Can you imagine what priest or rabbi or schoolteacher or grandpa came into your life and put a little ounce into your DNA that you should care about someone else?” he asked the delegates.
“So many people get jaded about fighting and caring. But you know who fights? PEF fights. Who cares? You care! Which leaders believe in the mission? You all! And that speaks volumes about unions, and it speaks volumes about power, and you are moving together!”