News from New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF)

For more information contact: Darcy Wells, 785-1900 Ext. 277

PEF Backs State Workforce; Offers Solutions to Recession

ALBANY, NY (07/30/2008; 1535)(readMedia)-- The New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF), the state's largest white-collar union, today extends its recommendations to help address the state's fiscal crisis after Gov. David Paterson officially announced this morning the state is in a recession.

"The governor's willingness to work with labor and be open to ways to address the plummeting revenues related to a deteriorating economy is encouraging," said PEF President Ken Brynien.

"No one wants to see families suffer during hard times. But taking jobs away from people only creates more hard times," Brynien said. "The state was in a recession after Sept. 11 and pulled out of it. New York can do it again by focusing on options to reduce state spending while maintaining the backbone of the state, its workforce.

"We agree with the governor that responsibility needs to be shared during this fiscal crisis," Brynien said. "But the union is disappointed and does not agree the state workforce should be taking a disproportionate share of the burden.

"There are ways to reduce costs without adversely affecting services. Last year, the state spent $3.1 billion on consultants. If state employees were hired to do this work, the state could save between $500 and $750 million annually.

"The state also spent more than $518 million last year in all overtime expenses had the state hired state employees instead of paying overtime, it could save $150 million a year," Brynien said.

The union president also noted that the bigger better bottle bill, New York's Returnable Container Act, would raise $25 million this year and $100 million a year, thereafter.

"And, a fourth way we could save $200 million annually is by using combined purchasing for all state-funded health care programs. This would allow the state to use its purchasing power to negotiate lower prices from the drug companies and cut costs for not only the state, but for local governments too," Brynien said.

"Our top priority is the job security of our members. We strongly oppose cuts to the state workforce that could result in layoffs and will take whatever action is necessary to preserve the job security of our members and the services they provide. But PEF also remains available to work creatively and wisely address the fiscal downturn," Brynien said.

PEF is the state's second-largest state-employee union, representing 59,000 professional, scientific and technical employees.