Legislative action is the essence of public sector unionism 

State employee salaries, benefits and workplace rights are in large part determined by what happens in the state legislature. So it is no coincidence that the AFT's Federation of Public Employees (FPE) has built its reputation on legislative and political action.

"The legislature is the battleground for the civil service," says Jo Romero, president of the FPE/AFT-affiliated Colorado Federation of Public Employees (CFPE), succinctly stating the reality for local, state and federal employees nationwide.

Throughout the FPE/AFT, legislative and political action is key to member representation--even in the presence of collective bargaining.

"A union is there to represent the members and to improve their lot through better contracts and better laws," says Bob Bain, political director of the FPE/AFT's largest union, the 55,000-member New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF). "Collective bargaining is important in negotiating terms of employment, but legislative action is what brings about statutory changes that affect such important issues as pensions, job safety and job security. You are not going to change laws through collective bargaining."

The Battleground

"If you are going to effect change and keep government where it belongs--with the people--you have to be prepared to go into that battleground in a structured and organized way," says Romero. "I think unions have a long history of being able to organize issues in a unified way, and [unions have] a long history of presenting those issues with a unified voice."

The FPE/AFT's unified voice was ringing clearly in 2001 in the nation's capital as well as in state capitals from Albany, N.Y., to Bismarck, N.D., to Topeka, Kan., to Annapolis, Md.

In North Dakota, the FPE/AFT-affiliated North Dakota Public Employees Association (NDPEA) defeated "paycheck deception," stalled an anti-affirmative action proposition and passed an anti-privatization bill that will prevent private prison transport companies from transporting dangerous criminals.

In Kansas, the FPE/AFT-affiliated Kansas Association of Public Employees (KAPE) prevailed in the Legislature to secure funding for an 8 percent salary increase for correctional officers, which the union had successfully bargained during contract negotiations. KAPE also pushed through legislation establishing a pilot program to subsidize health insurance coverage for children of low-income state employees, and the union secured Gov. Bill Graves's veto over lawmaker efforts to delay pay raises.

In Maryland, the FPE/AFT-affiliated Maryland Professional Employees Council (MPEC) lobbied for and won collective bargaining rights for University System of Maryland non-teaching employees. Their persistent lobbying also resulted in full funding for the collective bargaining agreement for state employee professionals, despite lawmaker attempts to reduce money for state employee benefits.

These victories are achieved because FPE/AFT affiliates maintain a daily presence in state capitals and on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. That presence does not go unrecognized. "The only thing public employees have in North Dakota is the union," says Chris Runge, executive director of the NDPEA. "Legislators know that, and they take into consideration what NDPEA will do--that was stated during the last session."

Runge was referring to the Legislature's 1999 session when the union successfully "locked down" the session for two days over salaries. "They could not pass out a bad pay bill," she recalls. "We got more than they wanted to give us, but without NDPEA, that never would have happened. When we went into the 2001 session, that fight was still fresh in the minds of the legislators, and it was clear they did not want to go down that road again."

While some state legislatures have adjourned for the 2001 session and others, like New York, continue their work on next year's budgets, legislative activity continues on Capitol Hill where the FPE/AFT is lobbying on behalf of working families on such important issues as patients' rights, campaign finance reform and affordable prescription drugs.

One of the FPE/AFT's major legislative victories this year was public pension reform enacted by the U.S. Congress. The new law, among other things, changes IRS rules for Section 457, deferred-compensation plans, by allowing public pensioners to move their money into Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) when they leave or retire from public service. Such rollovers enable public pensioners to withdraw money as needs demand. Under the previous law, employees were forced to make an irrevocable payout election when they left or retired from public service.

Collective Bargaining and Legislative Action

Without legislative action, public employees "would have whatever the sitting governor and the Department of Administration wanted them to have," says Betty Vines, KAPE president. "They would not have longevity pay. They would not have COLAs. They would have defined-contribution pension plans instead of defined benefits. They would be working right now on pay for performance instead of merit steps. They would not have good insurance becuase [the Legislature] is always trying to figure out how to erode that benefit to save money."

"So much of what we do and how we do it is decided in the legislative and political arenas," says Marty O'Connor, supervisor of budget policy for PEF, noting that under New York law, the way public employees are treated in the civil service system is legislated.

"We are the government," says O'Connor. "Everything we do is governed by what the Legislature does, so we are affected more directly than anybody else. The governor is our boss, and so is the Legislature. They have a very definite say, not only in the jobs we perform, but in the working environment in which we exist."