September 8, 2025 — “The fight for public services and against privatization is going to be a battle for many years.”
These were the words PEF President Jim Sheedy wrote in his “President’s Message” following the 17th Annual PEF Convention in Kiamesha Lake, N.Y., in November 1995. He charted a plan for the future when the outlook for unions and public services looked bleak.
“I believe that this convention and this coming year can and must start a new era in our union’s history,” said Sheedy. “The world as we know it has changed.”
In 1995, like today, the country faced cuts to Medicare and Medicaid to fund billion-dollar tax breaks, as well as other cuts being made at the federal level. As a result, at the state level, former Governor George Pataki sought to lay off hundreds of public sector workers.
Former President Sheedy, recognizing that political leaders and decision makers across all levels of government were making changes that would negatively affect PEF members and their families, urged members to become politically active organizers.
“Ask yourself this question,” wrote Sheedy. “Where will our union be in five years if we don’t organize, and the current pollical leadership in Albany and Washington have their way? How far could these budget cutters go?”
President Sheedy also recognized the importance of new and younger members joining the union.
“Politics isn’t the only way we’re going to build the union’s political power,” he said. “We also need to begin bringing new blood, new energy and new members into our union.”
Thirty years later, the concerns of 1995 have returned. Federal budget cuts and funding claw backs from earlier in the year have already threatened state jobs, and while Governor Hochul has pledged to support the public workforce, we won’t truly know the impact of federal funding cuts until she proposes her Executive Budget in early 2026.
In 1995, Sheedy believed in organizing with other unions and the private sector. He also believed that by connecting political power and the labor movement with the court of public opinion, PEF and workers across the state could improve services and the lives of working families. To that end, he launched a Public Service Campaign, with the aim of educating New Yorkers about the work done by PEF members every day.
“We’ve got to win the hearts and minds of the 18 million New Yorkers who count on us for everything from safe milk, to well-designed highways, to quality care for disabled loved ones,” he said. “We have no choice. We must meet the challenge of improving government services, state workers’ lives, and the labor movement by building our political power through a stronger COPE and political-action program, by organizing new members and by waging a strong, visible public-service campaign.”
Sheedy said that his main reason for pushing for PEF to become more political at a time when politics was becoming deeply divisive boiled down to two things. The first were the lives of hard-working PEF members. The second was creating a future for his children and grandchildren.
“I feel like we’re fighting not just for ourselves but for those who are going to follow us,” he wrote. “Let’s start the era of PEF’s new political power. Together, we can do it.”
