Statement of PEF President Kenneth Brynien on state worker pay raises

ALBANY, NY (04/08/2010)(readMedia)-- "If the governor witholds state employee raises, that is a violation of our contract," said PEF President Kenneth Brynien.

"The New York State Public Employees Federation will hold the state accountable.

"The governor, himself, has said breaking our contract is illegal.

"We will take every action necessary to ensure our members get their negotiated raises.

"I met with the governor yesterday to discuss the financial problems the state is facing and we agreed to have further discussions. We reminded the governor of PEF's solutions to help close the budget deficit, including the millions in savings to be realized by replacing high-cost consultants with lower-cost state employees."

PEF is the state's second-largest state-employee union representing 58,000 professional, scientific and technical employees.

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