PEF union leaders hopeful ahead of member vote tomorrow

By Karen DeWitt, New York Public Radio Capital Bureau Chief

The state worker union PEF will announce Thursday afternoon whether members have accepted or rejected a second contract offer from Governor Cuomo.  If the vote is no, 3500 employees face likely lay offs.

The leadership of the Public Employees Federation has gone all out to try to convince the 56,000 PEF members to approve the contract this time around, after a resounding rejection of the initial contract back in September. They’ve distributed flyers in state office complexes, rented out a billboard in downtown Albany, and PEF President Ken Brynien issued a video message.

“As President of PEF, I’m going to share with you why I’m recommending that you vote yes,” Brynien says in the message, who lists job security as the number one reason.

PEF spokeswoman Darcy Wells says PEF leaders want to save the 3,500 jobs targeted for elimination, but also believe the second offer is a better deal for members.

“There were several improvements,” said Wells. “There’s some significant changes in this revised contract.”

After the first contract was voted down, the Cuomo Administration and PEF Leadership agreed to some “tweaks." Among them, nine proposed furlough days would be converted to essentially a pay lag: workers would be paid for those mandatory days off when the contract ends in four years.

The resulting decrease in pay over the first two years of the contract would not affect workers' pension rates. And anyone who retires before the contract ends would be reimbursed for the
furlough days. Health benefit costs would rise on a sliding scale, and workers could trade unused vacation time to help pay for premiums.

Governor Cuomo says this is his last, best offer to the union. He says the outcome is now in the members’ hands.

“It’s up to PEF,” Cuomo said.