March 5, 2025 — It was a full house at the Statler Hotel at Cornell University Feb. 21-23 as leaders from Regions 1 through 5 descended on the venue for a leadership conference full of workshops, from organizing to health and safety to political action.
To start the event, PEF Vice President Randi DiAntonio introduced the guest of honor.
“Some of you don’t know or don’t realize that the union movement is not just us in this room, it’s not just PEF,” she said. “We are a breadth of working people who stand up for each other and there is no one in New York State that exemplifies that fight better than our guest New York State AFL-CIO President Mario Cilento.”
Cilento thanked the leaders for stepping up and being active in their union.
“There are very few people outside of this room who really understand what goes into the job,” he said. “Maybe your immediate family. But outside that, people don’t really understand the 24-hour, seven-days-a week commitment.”
Cilento emphasized the importance of solidarity.
“When you are successful, when PEF is, the entire labor movement feeds off that success,” he said. “When we’re successful as a labor movement, when we are thriving as a labor movement, it’s a result of a few things. First, because we’re advocates, next, we participate, next, we educate ourselves on the issues. As a result of all those things, that’s how we make our voices heard.”
Cilento said 1 in 7 union members are from the state of New York – an impressive number.
“They really are impressive, but those numbers, in and of themselves, they’re useless, they are meaningless, and they are worthless,” he said. “Unless all of us are working off the same page, working out of the same playbook, coordinating public sector, private sector, building trades, upstate, downstate.”
The power of solidarity and working together, he said, have led to some victories over the last few years: fixes to Tier 6 of the State pension plan, workers’ compensation for extreme mental and psychological stress, bonuses for healthcare workers, and farmworker legislation, to name a few.
Political action breeds success
VP DiAntonio led the workshop on political action, focusing on the structure and purpose of political action committees (PACs), the top issues in the state budget impacting PEF members, an overview of the legislative process, and where to find resources.
“I hear a lot of people asking, ‘Why did we endorse this person?’,” she said. “Or ‘we only endorse Democrats.’ As an organization, PEF has to look at the greater good, issues that affect our membership. So, while, individually, something might be important to me, it might not be a priority of the union. We have to look at it as an organization and what is going to advance our members’ needs.”
Leaders in attendance were told their local participation is vital.
“You live in these districts,” DiAntonio said. “Elected officials need to hear from the people who elect them. They can hear from the Regional Coordinator, but that’s just one person, one vote. But if they hear from a group of people, that’s really important.”
Last year, PEF gathered approximately 12,000 letters on Tier 6 advocacy. But, only about 500 on the union’s opposition to HALT (Humane Alternatives to Long-term Solitary Confinement, which is a major flashpoint in the ongoing corrections’ officers strike).
“That’s because Tier 6 was an issue that resonated across different agencies, different constituencies,” she said. “When we were fighting HALT, which PEF has been opposed to since it was introduced in 2019, we only got about 500 letters out of a union of 54,000 members. We all live in our own world with our blinders. If we don’t fight for each other, we weaken our positions.
“You say, ‘Well, that doesn’t affect me,’” she said. “It affects your brothers and sisters. We all have an obligation to each other. And that’s how political action works. When we talk about power, power comes from strength in numbers.”
DiAntonio closed the discussion with a call to action.
“You are the best soldiers in your communities,” she said, urging everyone in the room to take the issues to their legislators – and take as many people with them as they could. “They don’t know what our jobs are. We have to educate them. You are ambassadors, not just of the union’s business, but about the work you love.”
Educating leaders
PEF staff and PEF Membership Benefits Program vendors also gave conference attendees crash courses in how to facilitate new employee orientations; how to leverage their power with health and safety; membership engagement and issue campaigns; how to use the PEF contract; what is COPE (Committee on Political Education); and maximizing membership benefits.
PEF Regions 1 to 5 Organizing Coordinator Libby Militello talked about how best to engage members and what information is important to share in new employee orientations. She covered contract provisions, Membership Benefits, and general union information, as well as what the contract guarantees about the union’s access to new members. There are resources available to leaders conducting orientation here.
She also led a discussion on member engagement.
“An informed and engaged union membership is a strong membership,” she said.
The workshop discussed the basics of member engagement, such as regular meetings and local committees. Using real examples of local issues and activities, attendees learned how to successfully organize conversations, identify effective issues to organize around, and build impactful campaigns.
PEF Health and Safety Training Specialist Josh Kemp focused on leveraging power with health and safety issues, providing leaders with an understanding of key health and safety rights, the role of Health and Safety Committees, when to utilize the Public Employees Safety and Health (PESH) process, and how to approach workplace safety issues strategically.
Conference attendees also learned how to tap into funding sources, brushed up on the labor/management and health and safety processes, and heard about lesser-known contract articles that may be relevant to local leaders and their members from PEF Director of Contract Administration Debra Greenberg.
Vendors that work with the PEF Membership Benefits Program provided information on the services they offer, including insurance options (disability, accident, and life insurance); financial and legal services (tools and resources for financial planning and legal assistance); everyday savings (discounts on gift cards, movie and sporting events, concerts, and attractions); and the new Family and Friends Day Cruise benefit.
Committee on Political Action (COPE) Coordinator Don Morgenstern discussed the importance of members taking an interest in issues decided in Washington and the federal budget, which can directly affect members on the job. He outlined ways for leaders to encourage their members to contribute to COPE to build PEF’s political power.
