{"id":8634,"date":"2026-03-23T10:00:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T14:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/?p=8634"},"modified":"2026-04-01T10:49:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T14:49:54","slug":"pef-secures-third-higher-education-differential-other-items-outside-of-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-44-no-3\/pef-secures-third-higher-education-differential-other-items-outside-of-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"PEF secures third Higher Education Differential, other items outside of contract"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8636 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Contract-Logo.jpg\" alt=\"PEF Does It\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Contract-Logo.jpg 400w, https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Contract-Logo-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Contract-Logo-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Contract-Logo-125x125.jpg 125w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/>April 2, 2026 &#8212;<\/em> As Contract negotiations continue, PEF President Wayne Spence and members of the Contract Team succeeded in extending three items from PEF\u2019s last contract that were set to expire. The three items are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The $600 Higher Education Differential (HED) that was paid in 2024 and 2025 to PEF members with a two-year college degree or higher or any license issued by the State Education Department will now be paid this Spring for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. The Contract Team continues to advocate for an increase in the amount of the HED and will fight to make it an annual, permanent payment.<\/li>\n<li>Expedited Suspension Review and virtual Article 33 hearings for any member facing disciplinary suspensions will be continued. This benefit is very important for those members unfortunate enough to face suspensions while disciplinary charges are pending.<\/li>\n<li>Enhanced Supplemental Workers\u2019 Compensation benefits for employees in Parole titles will continue. This guarantees that PEF Parole Officers working a dangerous job will have improved benefits should they be injured at work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Extending these three items now means the State cannot use them as leverage as they negotiate the rest of the PS&amp;T contract with PEF. These wins guarantee some extra money in nearly every member&#8217;s pocket and provide significant benefits to members facing disciplinary suspensions and Parole members who are injured on the job.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;d like to thank VP Williams and the entire Contract Team for their determination and hard work to secure these wins,&#8221; said President Spence. &#8220;I wish to also express my thanks to Director of State Operations Jackie Bray for her willingness to consider and then act on PEF&#8217;s requests, as well as the PEF staff who helped get this deal done.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m proud of the Contract Team for aggressively pursuing the goals President Spence set for us at the start of negotiations,\u201d said Contract Chair Darlene Williams. \u201cHis direct involvement with the Governor&#8217;s office was instrumental in getting these items into a signed Memorandum of Agreement outside of the overall contract.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>April 2, 2026 &#8212; As Contract negotiations continue, PEF President Wayne Spence and members of the Contract Team succeeded in extending three items from PEF\u2019s last contract that were set&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":8638,"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-8634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","issue-volume-44-no-3"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.6 (Yoast SEO v27.9) - 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