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What do you do for the people of New York?<\/p>\nWhat do you do for the people of New York?<\/p>\n
The answers given during the \u201cIn the Public Interest\u201d workshop at the 2021 PEF Convention ranged widely, from archaeology to social work to Department of Motor Vehicles staff.<\/p>\n
What PEF members do is what PEF wants to know and gather for its Fund Our Future campaign. And not just the basics, like \u201cI\u2019m a teacher\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m a nurse\u201d \u2013 details will drive home the message that New York thrives when services provided by PEF members are funded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you think as a whole New Yorkers think of the New York State workforce?\u201d asked Donald Cohen, co-author of The Privatization of Everything: How the Plunder of Public Goods Transformed American and How We Can Fight Back<\/em>.<\/p>\n Answers ran from \u201clazy\u201d to \u201cfat pensions\u201d to \u201ccouldn\u2019t get into a private sector job, so got a public sector job.\u201d<\/p>\n PEF jobs are so much more, Cohen said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I listen to you talk about what you do, I\u2019m inspired by it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut everybody hates you. There\u2019s the gap we need to fill.\u201d<\/p>\n PEF Vice President Randi DiAntonio said this misconception needs to change.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hear government sucks,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople think we\u2019re the reason taxes are so high.\u201d<\/p>\n Billionaires are busy funding anti-union campaigns \u2013 with more money and, thus far, better messaging.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 40- to 50-year attack on government isn\u2019t an accident,\u201d Cohen said. It\u2019s driven, he says, by ideologues, who truly believe small government is best; those who would benefit from a small government, such as large corporations wanting a piece of the government funding pie; and elected officials.<\/p>\n To save public services, everyone must unite and promote the public good.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only way is together,\u201d Cohen said. \u201cGovernment is complicated. We have to rebuild trust in government and build support for the idea.\u201d<\/p>\n Cohen said it\u2019s up to the people to decide democratically what constitutes the \u201cpublic good.\u201d<\/p>\n Is it child care? Health care? Higher education?<\/p>\n \u201cWe can decide that and we believe we should be able to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The biggest threats to public services include turning them into a commodity, competitors saying they can do the work cheaper, austerity budgets, and the upstate\/downstate divide, according to members attending the workshop.<\/p>\n So what do we do about it?<\/p>\n \u201cSome of it is your fault if all you do is talk in jargon and complain about your job,\u201d Cohen said candidly. \u201cYou have to become advocates for the public good.\u201d<\/p>\n This is where Fund Our Future comes in. Drop the jargon and tell the stories.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are the faces of public service,\u201d DiAntonio said. \u201cTell stories that they are going to remember. We need an army of educators.\u201d<\/p>\n About 130 delegates at the Convention stopped by the Fund Our Future room to record their stories. PEF produced one video that was shown on the last day of Convention and plans to use the additional material to mount a public awareness campaign in the year ahead.<\/p>\n