Nearly 3,500 layoffs averted thanks
to contract deal

By a count of 27,718 to 11,645, members of the New York State Public Employees Federation ratified a revised four-year agreement with the state that averts significant layoffs.

The Nov. 3 vote count ended a stormy five-week period, which started when PEF members rejected a five-year contract proposal 19,629 to 16,906 in late September. Leading up to the vote, Gov. Andrew Cuomo maintained that if state employee unions, including PEF, did not accommodate his $450 million workforce savings target, there would be layoffs. Within days of September vote, Cuomo issued nearly 3,500 layoff notices to PEF-represented state employees.

In an effort to save jobs and services, PEF and the governor’s office returned to the bargaining table and hammered out a new deal. Thanks to its passage, the layoff notices, set to go into effect Nov. 4, were automatically rescinded.

PEF vice president and contract chair Tom Comanzo says the revised agreement “addresses many of the concerns our members voiced with the first tentative agreement,” including shortening the lifespan from five years to four years. Workers now will be reimbursed for the nine deficit-reduction leave days they are required to take, too.

Comanzo also said that once layoffs notices went out, “we had names, and faces, and agencies, and work locations,” which made the layoffs very personal.

The four-year agreement, spanning fiscal years 2011 through 2015, covers 56,000 professional, scientific and technical employees, and preserves the pay scale. It maintains increments and salary-grade parity, longevity payments and doctor visit co-pays. It provides a 2 percent increase in 2014. While employees will pay more toward their health insurance premiums under the pact, they may use vacation time to offset health insurance costs.

Within minutes of the ratification announcement, PEF’s Facebook page started buzzing with activity. Josh Tomlin posted: “Thank you all for saving my job. I appreciate it.” Nancy Karpeles posted: “I am literally sitting in the hair salon, foils all over my head, with tears streaming down my face. Thank God! And thank the PEF members who voted to avert these layoffs!”

“Although this was a difficult decision for our members, it demonstrates they are willing to do their part to put New York state on a stable financial footing,” says PEF president Ken Brynien, who also is an AFT vice president.

“PEF members displayed incredible compassion and sacrifice in voting for a contract that is pivotal to New York state’s fiscal viability,” says AFT president Randi Weingarten. “New York state public workers didn’t create the fiscal crisis, but they have been asked to help solve it.”

 Reprinted from the December 2011/January 2012 issue of Public Employee Advocate.