Statement of PEF President Ken Brynien As Hundreds Rally in Albany in Support of the Millionaires Tax

ALBANY, NY (03/22/2011)(readMedia)-- The governor has proposed a budget that cuts spending for state agencies by 10 percent. He has threatened my members with thousands of layoffs unless we make concessions worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Yet, wealthy New Yorkers are going to realize a tax cut on January 1.

The unions, the students, the advocates for the poor, and thousands of others who have protested here in Albany as we are today, are being ignored. As it turns out, those that "vote" with large amounts of cash are the ones being heard loud and clear. New York's wealthiest have committed more than $10 million to fight against the rest of us, so they can keep their millions and billions.

New York is a great state and a great place to live and raise a family. Every New Yorker should be willing to do whatever it takes to keep New York great. I have said repeatedly that we, the members of the Public Employees Federation, are willing to make sacrifices, but we are not willing to be sacrificed. We will do our part but we fully expect all New Yorkers should do their part too.

PEF is the state's second-largest state-employee union, representing 56,000 professional, scientific and technical employees.

###