{"id":6420,"date":"2025-01-07T14:48:09","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T19:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/?p=6420"},"modified":"2025-01-13T09:39:32","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T14:39:32","slug":"presidents-message-union-strong-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-10\/presidents-message-union-strong-in-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"President&#8217;s Message: Union Strong in 2025!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Happy New Year, PEF members! I hope you all enjoyed quality time with loved ones over the holidays and have returned to your jobs with renewed spirts and the same commitment to public service that has always defined PEF members.<\/p>\n<p>You are reading our combined December\/January issue of <em>The Communicator<\/em>, which means the big story is <a href=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-10\/a-look-back-on-a-busy-year-for-pef\/\">a look back on all we accomplished in 2024<\/a>. Reading it, I\u2019m amazed again at everything we did together \u2013 from saving SUNY Downstate, to further reforming Tier 6, to leading the way on calling out toxic workplaces and advocating for transparency and regulation regarding the State\u2019s use of Artificial Intelligence.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, in case you missed it, I was joined by my fellow Statewide Officers for an all-member Telephone Town Hall on Dec. 19, and a r<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pef.org\/articles\/news\/pef-statewide-leaders-update-membership-on-contract-legislative-work-dental-provider\/\">ecording is available<\/a>. We spent some time reviewing union accomplishments and looking ahead to contractual gains that will pay off in 2025, including a change to the way <a href=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-10\/performance-award-changes-coming-for-eligible-pef-members\/\">performance awards<\/a> are calculated. I will continue holding Town Halls this year, as it has proven to be an effective way to communicate with thousands of you at a time.<\/p>\n<p>We are already more than a week into the new year.\u00a0 There is a \u201cGroundhog Day\u201d element to some of our union work, so with a nod to that Bill Murray classic, I encourage you to tune in to Governor Kathy Hochul\u2019s State of the State address on January 14 at 1 p.m.\u00a0 It will be livestreamed on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.governor.ny.gov\/\">Governor\u2019s website<\/a>.\u00a0 The Executive Budget she releases timed to that speech will be thoroughly analyzed by the PEF Legislative Department and inform our advocacy and campaigns in the year ahead.<\/p>\n<p>I expect PEF members to once again be loud and proud about the things we support and what we think is not in the best interest of public employees.\u00a0 Please keep reading <a href=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/\"><em>The Communicator<\/em><\/a>, stay plugged in to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pef.org\/\">website<\/a> and our social media channels (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PublicEmployeesFederation\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NYSPEF\">X<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/nyspef\/\">Instagram<\/a>), and check your personal email for the very latest union news and activities all year long.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, some words that were suggested to me at our last Executive Board by Amy Pacholk, the Division Council leader at SUNY Stony Brook and co-chair of the Statewide Nurses Committee: \u201cThe first wealth is health. A healthy tomorrow begins with the steps we take today. Your four-hour cancer screening benefit renewed on January 1. I encourage you to take advantage of this important benefit to prioritize your well-being. Let\u2019s continue to care for ourselves and each other!&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Happy New Year, PEF members! I hope you all enjoyed quality time with loved ones over the holidays and have returned to your jobs with renewed spirts and the same&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"division":[],"allowed_regions":[],"allowed_divisions":[],"class_list":["post-6420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","issue-volume-42-no-10"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.6 (Yoast SEO v27.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>President&#039;s Message: Union Strong in 2025! - PEF Communicator<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-10\/presidents-message-union-strong-in-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"President&#039;s Message: Union Strong in 2025!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Happy New Year, PEF members! 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