{"id":8812,"date":"2026-04-22T11:04:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T15:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/?p=8812"},"modified":"2026-05-11T13:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T17:36:10","slug":"somos-albany-building-coalitions-with-union-leaders-elected-officials-and-community-advocates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-44-no-4\/somos-albany-building-coalitions-with-union-leaders-elected-officials-and-community-advocates\/","title":{"rendered":"Somos Albany: Building coalitions with union leaders, elected officials, and community advocates"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SomosMay 7, 2026 —<\/em> Union activists descended on Albany from April 17 to 19 for the Somos New York 2026 Conference, attending legislative workshops, touring expo booths, and taking part in panel discussions and gala events.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomos Albany has served for 40 years as a premier annual gathering of Latino leaders, elected officials and community advocates that shape policy and promote economic and civic advancement of Latino communities and workers,\u201d said PEF Hispanic Committee Chair Vivian Falto. \u201cPEF\u2019s presence is pivotal in building coalitions with elected officials and community advocates in the pursuit of our goals of social justice and better working conditions for public workers, our members and our union family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Hispanic Committee is a vehicle to highlight the needs of all of our members, while highlighting what is germane to Latinos in the workforce,\u201d said Falto, who works at the State Education Department in Queens. \u201cThe needs of one are the needs of all — like fixing Tier 6, ensuring safety in the workplace, ensuring funding for cultural education, and working to keep communities and schools safe from ICE, to name a few.\u201d<\/p>\n

Labor leaders and elected officials, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James, and State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, packed the Governor\u2019s Ballroom for the annual labor breakfast on April 18.<\/p>\n

Hochul touted minimum wage increases tied to inflation, paying off the $7 billion unemployment insurance fund debt, and Tier 6 reforms as wins for working people.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody\u2019s been listening for a long time on Tier 6 until I showed up on this,\u201d she said. \u201cWe changed the way the benefit is determined. We shortened the vesting period. Guess what? We\u2019re going to do even more this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s good news because union leaders in the room had a lot to say about Tier 6, some of which was highlighted during a panel discussion moderated by Assemblyman Jonathan Rivera with panelists including PEF Vice President and Statewide Political Action Committee Chair Randi DiAntonio.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do we need to fix Tier 6? Because it sucks and it\u2019s broken,\u201d she said to applause. \u201cWe are experiencing recruitment and retention problems that are related to Tier 6. We cannot keep our workforce. Last year, the state spent $1.6 billion on overtime. Our members and their fellow state employees worked over 24 million hours of overtime. Why? Because we can\u2019t keep people. And without adequate staff, the critical services that New Yorkers rely on will be negatively impacted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Approximately 66% of PEF members are now in Tiers 5 and 6.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pension used to be an equalizer,\u201d VP DiAntonio said. \u201cIt used to be what brought us into state service because we knew we were going to make less money as professionals, but we knew that there was a benefit and that kept us going. We are laser-focused on affordability and putting money back into our members pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n

The efforts of the Hispanic Committee in support of the labor breakfast, women\u2019s lunch and vendor area resulted in more than 250 signed letters of support for PEF\u2019s legislative priorities. You can lend your voice to the efforts by signing letters at PEF’s online Legislative Action Center<\/a> or via the PEF app. (Click for download instructions.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\u201cMembers enjoyed access to legislators and community leaders across the activities,\u201d Falto said. \u201cDeveloping personal connections can open doors when our leaders need to lobby for support on behalf of members.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stay tuned for more from the committee, Falto said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to offer networking and learning opportunities across the Regions, and we are exploring member interest in forming Hispanic Committee chapters in collaboration with Regional Coordinators,\u201d she said. \u201cOne of our goals is to educate, so we will be offering information sessions on Workers\u2019 Compensation, Article 15 benefits, and more, with bilingual support, because nothing feels better than being able to ask questions or express our thoughts in the language of our hearts \u2013 and for most of us in the Hispanic community, that is Spanish.\u201d<\/p>\n

For information, reach out to a member of the committee: Statewide Hispanic Committee Chair Vivian Falto (Vivian.Falto@pef.org<\/u><\/a>); Leticia Rivera, Co-Chair (Leticia.Rivera@pef.org<\/u><\/a>); or Vikky Urena, secretary (Vikky.Urena@pef.org<\/u><\/a>). (Iris Carrasquillo serves as Co-Chair Emerita.)<\/p>\n

\"Somos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May 7, 2026 — Union activists descended on Albany from April 17 to 19 for the Somos New York 2026 Conference, attending legislative workshops, touring expo booths, and taking part…<\/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-8812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","issue-volume-44-no-4"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSomos Albany: Building coalitions with union leaders, elected officials, and community advocates - 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-44-no-4\/somos-albany-building-coalitions-with-union-leaders-elected-officials-and-community-advocates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Somos Albany: Building coalitions with union leaders, elected officials, and community advocates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"May 7, 2026 — Union activists descended on Albany from April 17 to 19 for the Somos New York 2026 Conference, attending legislative workshops, touring expo booths, and taking part...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-44-no-4\/somos-albany-building-coalitions-with-union-leaders-elected-officials-and-community-advocates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PEF Communicator\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-22T15:04:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-11T17:36:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/11\/Somos-Story-logo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"177\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ksheehan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ksheehan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-4\\\/somos-albany-building-coalitions-with-union-leaders-elected-officials-and-community-advocates\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-4\\\/somos-albany-building-coalitions-with-union-leaders-elected-officials-and-community-advocates\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ksheehan\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b56382350a9a958e03dcd60443bfbf7e\"},\"headline\":\"Somos Albany: Building coalitions with union leaders, elected officials, and community advocates\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-22T15:04:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-11T17:36:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-4\\\/somos-albany-building-coalitions-with-union-leaders-elected-officials-and-community-advocates\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":704,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-4\\\/somos-albany-building-coalitions-with-union-leaders-elected-officials-and-community-advocates\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/Somos-Story-logo.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-4\\\/somos-albany-building-coalitions-with-union-leaders-elected-officials-and-community-advocates\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-4\\\/somos-albany-building-coalitions-with-union-leaders-elected-officials-and-community-advocates\\\/\",\"name\":\"Somos Albany: Building coalitions with union leaders, elected officials, and community advocates - 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