Local
Official Publication of The Civil
Service Employees Association
1000,
Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees
Friday, February 11, 1983
CISSN 0164 9949),
American
Joseph McDermott
named Executive
Vice President
AFL-CIO
Vol. 5, No.9
Gay
«+ See page 20
Crumbling economy creates
a difficult state budget
CSEA offers legislators
an alternative to layoffs
CSEA is well aware of the difficult financial situation
that New York State finds itself in this year, but we believe
that there are alternatives to Gov. Cuomo’s budget
proposal for 8,500 state employee layoffs. In view of the
present condition of the state and national economy, we
believe that such mass layoffs would not only be inhumane
for the individuals losing their jobs, but also harmful to the
ability of the economy to recover from the recession.
We believe that any reductions in public services
should be brought about by gradual measures which
balance the interests of all New Yorkers. Mass layoffs put
all of the financial burdens on only a small segment of the
state’s population. An alternative that makes more sense
is a reduction in services through attrition coupled with
temporary revenue enhancements
by a temporary increase on income
taxes for New Yorkers in high
income brackets.
In the next few weeks, CSEA
will be preparing detailed proposals
for the legislature to implement a
proposal we believe represents a
better approach than the
governor’s plan.
Basically, we envision a one- or
two-year increase only affecting those with gross earnings
above $30,000. These are the same people who have
realized substantial tax reductions over the past two
years through reduced federal income tax rates and a
reduction in the state’s maximum income tax rate.
We estimate that a one or two percent increase could
produce sufficient revenues to avoid any additional layoffs
of state employees. A hiring freeze would take effect with
the new tax, and the state’s normal rate of retirements
and resignations would account for reductions in the state
workforce over the one or two year period sufficient to
meet the governor's ultimate employment targets.
In addition to the obvious humanitarian advantages of
avoiding layoffs, the state would avoid increased costs for
unemployment benefits, payment of vacation and “lag”
accruals, and productivity reductions which accompany
actual layoffs.
Your letter, today, can help save jobs
—see legislators listing, Page 12
Moreover, even those New Yorkers subject to the
increase would effectively recoup about half of the cost of
it through deductions in federal income tax liability. The
obvious effect is to increase federal contributions to state
services.
State employees have incurred enormous personal
financial sacrifices over the past decade to help bail out
New York. In addition to enormous losses in real earnings
which we estimate at up to 40
percent in 1975 dollars, state
employees have seen their pension
benefits cut from Tier Ito Tier Ill.
Even this year, state workers
are in the midst of a payroll “lag”
system that will give them one less
paycheck in this fiscal year than
they normally would be entitled to,
and they have also accepted a 10
percent minimum contribution
toward their health insurance premiums.
When times are as bad as they are now, CSEA thinks it
makes far more sense to impose a temporary, deductible
income tax increase on high income families that have
benefitted significantly from tax cuts over the past two
years, rather than to worsen the state’s economic
conditions, cut services to all New York and wreak
financial havoc on 8,500 families by laying off state
workers.
William L. McGowan, President
The. Civil Service Employees Association, Inc.
Local 1000, AFSCME, AFL-CIO
Union research program
credited with key role
in saving nearly 50 jobs
BUFFALO — Nearly 50 jobs in Erie County
have been saved from contracting out. And the
county Legislature has gone beyond simply
defeating the proposed measure affecting the in-
home health services jobs by declaring they
should continue to be performed by county
workers.
Credit for the success, according to Local 815
President John Kiss, should go “‘to our continu-
ing political action, and very importantly, to an
excellent research report, prepared under the
pressure of a very short deadline, by our
research department at CSEA headquarters.”
The defeated plan had called for the elimina-
tion of the In-Home Health Division in the
county’s Social Services Department and the
contracting for $898,041 worth of services with
» the Coordinated Care Management Corporation.
The county administration’s proposal, Eiss
said, as designed as part of a statewide pilot
project that sought to show how $7.8 million in
Medicaid dollars could be saved annually,
statewide, by keeping the elderly out of nursing
homes and hospitals if they can be cared for at
home.
“But Cindy Chavonec and Kathy Albowicz (of
CSEA’s research staff), working with limited in-
formation and under a deadline, put together a
document that would remove doubt in anyone’s
mind as to the reliability of the program already
in place, and the savings that would be ac-
complished by keeping it in place,” Kiss
continued.
After the county Legislature defeated the con-
tracting proposal, Hiss said several legislators
informed him they were impressed and aided in
their consideration by the research paper, which
was delivered to each lawmaker before the vote.
“Many said the paper either changed their
minds or gave them needed ammunition to shoot
it down,” Eiss continued. “I even received a let-
ter from the Legislature’s chairman, Richard
Slisz, complimenting our ‘excellent report,’ call-
ing it comprehensive and well done.
“T don’t think it’s too often that a measure is
defeated, and then a resolution passed to declare
the feelings of the Legislature that county
workers should perform county services in the
face of a contracting out proposal,” Eiss said.
“But that’s exactly what happened, and we’re
extremely pleased with our research depart-
ment. They just don’t get the credit they
deserve.”
RIVERHEAD — Yet another public employee
has been severely beaten on the job by amember of
the public.
Suffolk social
service worker
latest victim
of on-the-job
violence
In the latest incident, Dominick Zito, 41, was
beaten by a 300-pound female welfare applicant
following an interview at the Riverhead County
Center offices of the Suffolk County Department of
Social Services.
Zito was treated and X-rayed at Central Suffolk
Hospital after the attack, and has been on sick
leave and under the care of an orthopedic doctor,
physical therapist and dentist since.
Incidents of on-the-job violence at the hands of
members of the public have apparently been in-
creasing. For instance, a caseworker at the Nassau
County Department of Social Services was slashed
on the throat and narrowly escaped death recently,
and there have been scores of other incidents.
Security personnel in the Suffolk case were prais-
ed, however, for their prompt response. Two
civilian security guards were on the scene, and
were joined by four deputy sheriffs who happened
to be in the building. In Nassau, CSEA officials said
wade Wbed War pledges
respect rights of organized labor
NIAGARA — The United Way of Niagara has
become the latest in a lengthening list of United
Way affiliates across New York State responding
to the concerns of organized labor about the anti-
union activities of some organizations receiving
United Way funds.
The Niagara organization adopted the United
Way’s “labor resolution’? on Jan. 31, pledging to
respect the rights of organized workers,
according to Susan Hager, executive director of
the United Way of New York State.
CSEA President William L. McGowan issued a
call for United Way affiliates receiving support
from CSEA members to adopt the policy
respecting the rights of workers to organize and
Page y
respecting bargaining relationships as well as
the negotiated terms and conditions provided in
contracts.
CSEA asked for the voluntary action after the
AFL-CIO and AFSCME expressed growing
concerns that some organizations supported with
United Way funds collected with the help of
organized labor were using those funds in anti-
union activities.
The union continues to recommend that locals
and units involved in fund-raising activities with
United Way affiliates determine if that affiliate
has adopted the labor policy. If not, the local or
unit is asked to contact President McGowan’s
office.
~ THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 11, 1983
LOCAL 815 PRESIDENT JOHN EISS — he
credits union’s research effort with major role in
defeating effort to contract out jobs in Erie
County.
Social Services Commissioner Joseph D’Elia had
responded energetically to the security problem
and had secured plans for renovations of the client-
interview area of the Mineola offices that would
isolate members of the public from employees. The
design provides for interview booths with
plexiglass separating employees from clients.
Zito suffered cuts, bruises, loosened lower front
teeth and undetermined injuries to his neck and
back. The attack came about 20 minutes after a
man and his wife had been escorted out of his office
because they became abusive. The woman
reportedly returned and suddenly attacked Zito,
whose back was turned to her. He said he was
knocked over his office chair to the floor and beaten
and kicked, until rescuers arrived.
Zito, who said it was the first time in six years on
the job as a community service worker doing initial
screening interviews that he had had any trouble
with a client.
“It seems ironic,” he said, ‘‘because all my co-
workers call me the ‘bleeding heart.’ ”
Southampton votes to
affiliate with CSEA
SOUTHAMPTON — Employees of the world-
famous resort Village of Southampton have voted to
affilate with CSEA.
The village had been one of the few in Suffolk
County still lacking union representation, and had
backed away from organizing after flirting with the
idea several times in recent years.
The lack of formal contract rights and
protections finally prompted village workers to
petition for an election. They voted 17-3 to affiliate
with CSEA.
The new unit, attached to Suffolk Local 852,
immediately demanded negotiations for a formal
contract.
A major union victory
GOER agrees to enforce rights of
permanent workers in layoff units
ALBANY — CSEA has triumphed in getting the Governor’s Office of
Employee Relations to agree that permanent employees have the right to
displace any temporary or provisional job holder in the same job title
anywhere in New York State.
The agreement was reached on Jan. 24 as the result of a union grievance
which charged the state with failing to comply with Section 20.2 of the
State/CSEA contracts. The section requires, in part, that “when permanent
employees are to be laid off within a given layoff unit and there are provisional
or temporary employees in the same title in another layoff unit not projected
for layoff, such provisional or temporary employees will be displaced in order
to provide continued employment for those affected permanent employees.”
For instance: now, a (permanent) stenographer working for the Office of
Mental Retardation/Development Services in New York City can displace a
(provisional) stenographer working in the Nassau-Suffolk layoff unit.
Previously, if there were no provisionals or temporaries that could have been
replaced in New York City, the employee would have been laid off, even though
there were provisional/temporary appointees in other layoff units.
Layoff units define the geographic area in which employees may exercise
seniority rights. And, the state was attempting to confine displacements to
temporaries and provisionals within the affected employee’s layoff unit only.
CSEA Attorney Pauline Rogers Kinsella adds, “‘the State of New York has
agreed with our position that ‘other layoff units’ means not only other
geographic areas within the same department or agency from which the
employee is being laid off, but other department or agency layoff units within,
and outside, the employee’s geographic area.” Thus, permanent employees
may also displace temporary or provisional appointees with the same job title
in other agencies.
The state will have the new procedures in place for any layoffs which may
occur in the future.
Pilot project offers free
advancement courses
be held at 7 p.m. weeknights at locations yet to be
ALBANY — A new pilot program designed to
help lower-graded clerical and secretarial
employees prepare for job advancements will be
tested in the Capital Region during March.
Under the pilot project, free educational
courses will be provided to 120 grade 3, 4 and 5
employees in CSEA’s Administrative
Bargaining Unit only.
“This is another opportunity for CSEA
Administrative Services Bargaining Unit
members to break out of deadend job
situations,” says CSEA Region IV President
Joseph E. McDermott of the Clerical and
Secretarial Employee Advancement/Program
(CSEA/P) project.
CSEA/P is offering the first 120 eligible CSEA
members to apply, the opportunity to take part
in one of four courses to be offered. The course to
be offered are: ‘Goal Setting and Career
Planning’ (14 hours); ‘New York State Merit
System’ (7 hours); ‘Preparing for a Job
Interview’ (14 hours); and ‘Resume
Preparation” (7 hours).
The courses will begin about March 7 and
continue through the end of March. Classes will
announced.
McDermott said.
out.
For Region Vi stewards, officers
A skills seminar
ROCHESTER — A number of Region VI members will be beneficiaries of
the CSEA Labor Institute’s combined seminar on internal organizing and
advanced steward training, on March 4 and 5.
The normally separate courses will be combined to enable stewards and
officers to approach a wider variety of workplace problems, according to Sally
Bouton, of CSEA’s Education and Training Department.
Members will receive CSEA Labor Institute credit for both courses,
scheduled to begin at 7:45 p.m., Friday, March 4, at the Rochester Rowntowner
Motor Inn, 800 Jefferson Rd.
Only 120 people will be accommodated for the seminar, which will continue
on Saturday at 9 a.m. till about 4 p.m. Region VI President Robert L. Lattimer
has requested that local and unit presidents submit the names of members
wishing to attend, to the region office no later than Friday, Feb. 25.
Bouton said the seminar will provide the more experienced steward or
officer with enhanced skills and abilities to deal with complex situations in the
workplace
Emphasis will be placed on effective communications tools for
investigating and presenting grievances, application of an internal organizing
plan. to build the strength of the local or unit, and a variety of creative
techniques for solving workplace problems.
DEADLINE FOR ENROLLING IS
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1983.
INTERESTED CSEA MEMBERS
MAY ENROLL ON A FIRST COME,
FIRST SERVED BASIS BY
CONTACTING THEIR CSEA LOCAL
PRESIDENT. INFORMATION MAY
ALSO BE OBTAINED BY
CONTACTING BETTY KURTIK OF
THE CSEA/P LABOR-
MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE AT
(518) 473-0667 OR. 473-3416.
“I want this pilot project to succeed so that this
opportunity can be offered to our statewide
Administrative Services Unit membership,”
“Ihave told our Local
presidents to search out and encourage
interested members to take this opportunity so
that we do not let this possible chance for career
advancement slip from our members’ grasp.”
Interested members should select two possible
courses in the event their first choice is closed
APPLY:
Free Coursey
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A special thanks from the
family of Tom McDonough
The family of Thomas H. McDonough wish to take this opportunity to
extend our thanks to all our friends for their generous and warm support
during our time of sorrow. Particular thanks to Doctor William Conway,
our physician and friend; the doctors, nurses, and clergy at St. Peter’s
Hospital, who under Doctor Conway’s guidance, provided such excellent
care to Tom during his hospitalization; the Midway and West Albany
Rescue Squads, who responded with such dedicated effort; all CSEA
officials, staff and friends whose caring support provided much comfort;
all of our dear friends who so unselfishly provided spiritual support and
the many of you who expressed their sympathy through flowers, cards,
food, visits, calls, and donations to St. Peter’s Hospital facilities. Special
thanks to Father John Provost of St. Francis de Sales Parish in Albany,
and Father Paul Roman of St. Mary’s Parish in Granville for the
beautiful service and for the many words of consolation and
encouragement they provided. The Memorial Service at St. Francis de
Sales Church, provided by Bill McGowan, CSEA President, for those
friends who could not travel to Granville, was especially appreciated.
May God bless you all.
PAULINE McDONOUGH
and FAMILY
\
Page 3
Pu
SECTOR
Official publication of
The Civil Service Employees Association
Local 1000, AFSCME, AFL-CIO
33 Elk Street, Albany, New York 12224
The Public Sector (445010) is published every
other Friday by the Civil Service Employees
Association, 33 Elk Street, Albany, New York
12224.
Publication office, 1 Columbia Place, Albany,
New York 12207.
Second Class Postage paid at Post Office,
Albany, New York.
GARY G. FRYER — Publisher
ROGER A. COLE — Editor
TINA LINCER FIRST — Associate Editor
GWENN M. BELLCOURT — Assistant Editor
Address changes should be sent to Civil Ser-
vice Employees Association, The Public Sector,
33 Elk Street, Albany, New York 12224.
STATEWIDE TREASURER BARBARA Supervisor of General Accounts Cathy Bruno,
FAUSER, right, discusses financial manage-
ment techniques with CSEA Region III
Treasurer Eleanor McDonald, center, and CSEA
left. The discussion occurred during one of two
seminars for local treasurers conducted by
Fauser in Region II this month.
CSEA LOCAL 424 at Syracuse Developmental Center recently honored Rose
James Ditch for her 17 years of dedicated state service and 14 years as local
treasurer and other union activities. Shown at a dinner in her honor, Region V
President James Moore, right, and Local 424 President Santo DeVito, left,
presented awards while Tom Ditch adds a smile of approval as his wife
receives honors.
Unselfish service earns
a tribute for Rose Ditch
SYRACUSE — For the past 17 years Rose James Ditch has devoted much
oe her life to helping the handicapped residents at Syracuse Developmental
enter.
At a dinner given in her honor, Region V President James Moore and
nearly 200 of Ditch’s friends and fellow employees paid tribute to her
cealcaion to her job and for the 14 years of unselfish service to CSEA Local
During her 17 years at the mental retardation facility, Ditch worked
in food service and later became a seamstress. She ended her career with the
state as a housekeeper.
In recalling her union activities, Santo DeVito, president of Local 424,
noted that Ditch not only served as treasurer of the Local for 14 years, she
was also a member of the CSEA Region V Women’s Committee, and active
with the Political Action and Employee Assistance Program at Syracuse
Developmental Center. :
“We are going to miss Rose,” DeVito said. “She loved her job and the
residents here at the facility. She was also totally dedicated to CSEA and her
fellow members. She is, and will continue to be, a true inspiration to all of us.”
CSEA REGIONAL OFFICES
LONG ISLAND REGION |
Hauppauge Atrium Building
300 Vanderbilt Motor Pkwy.
Hauppauge, N.Y. 11788
(516) 273-2280
(516) 435-0962
———
CAPITAL REGION IV
1215 Western Avenue
Albany, N.Y. 12203
(618) 489-5424
METROPOLITAN
REGION Il
100 Church St.
Room 1620
New York, N.Y. 10007
(212) 587-8200
CENTRAL REGION V
Suite 308
290 Elwood David Road
Liverpool, N.Y. 13088
(315) 451-6330
SOUTHERN REGION III
Rural Route 1
Box 34
Old Route 9
Fishkill, N.Y. 12524
(914) 896-8180
WESTERN REGION VI
Cambridge Square
4245 Union Road
Cheektowaga, N.Y. 14225
(716) 634-3540
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 11, 1963
Page 4
ALBANY — When workers recently noticed a
e small amount of asbestos dust inside a projection
booth at the 450-seat auditorium of the Empire
State Plaza’s Cultural Education Center here, it
naturally caused a great deal of concern. But
after testing by representatives of the state
Health Department, the area is described as
“perfectly safe.”
Apparently a contractor installing a new audio
visual system cut into the asbestos wallboard
without taking the standard procedure for such
work beforehand. A spokesman for the state
@ Office of General Services said the proper OSHA-
mandated procedure should have included
screening off the work area, wetting the asbestos
cement wallboard before cutting into it, and
collecting the dust afterwards. There were
Cultural Center
‘perfectly safe’
After asbestos is found in auditorium booth _ pire State Plaza
reports that the contractor, however, was
unaware that the wallboard contained asbestos.
In any event, the projection booth is an
enclosed area with its own ventilation system,
which greatly limited the spreading of the small
amount of dust, and the Health Department said
an air check of the entire auditorium and the
booth itself showed only normal levels of
asbestos. The auditorium had been locked and
closed during the renovation, further limiting the
possibility of general exposure to the dust.
The CSEA Capital Region office is monitoring
the situation, and all CSEA Locals with members
assigned to the general area of the problem were
notified, according to Angela DeVito, CSEA
Region IV OSHA representative.
WASSAIC — “The blame for that client’s
death should be placed on the State of New
York,” charges Region III Field Rep. John
Deyo, commenting in response to the death of
a 53-year-old resident of the Wassaic
Developmental Center in eastern Dutchess
County on Friday night, Jan. 14.
On that night, Richard Grissow was killed
on the grounds of Wassaic in a car-pedestrian
accident. Troopers at the scene attributed the
accident, in part, to broken street lights.
CSEA Local 426 President Harold Ryan
says, “There was not one light on that hill
(where the accident took place) Friday
night.” Ryan also made a tour of the facility
the following Monday night and counted 91
street lights out.
Ryan notes, “Our main concern is for the
safety of our employees and clients. Our
workers fear rape, mugging, even gasoline
thefts from their cars because this place is so
dark at night.”” He adds, ‘‘What makes it
worse is that the taxpayers have had their
money wasted once by the State, and the
problem still hasn’t been corrected.”
ne Ryan points out that a contractor had been
paid to make repairs to the street lighting
LOCAL 426 PRESIDENT Harold Ryan at the scene of a
fatal car-pedestrian accident at the Wassaic
Developmental Center in eastern Dutchess County.
Troopers say non-working street lights were partly to
blame for the mishap, which left one client dead. Local 426
has been pushing for working street lights for over eight
months.
system well over a year ago, but they were
found to be unsatisfactory. ‘Now,’ says
Ryan, ‘‘another contractor has been hired by
Albany, and who knows how long it’s going to
take to have the proper lighting installed?
This time, we hope the lights work.”’
According to Ryan, ‘“‘Our local has been
Blame cast on state for
death of Wassaic client
complaining about this for about eight
months, and all we’ve gotten is a run around,
even from Commissioner Zygmond Slezak in
Albany. Unfortunately, nothing seems to get
done unless someone’s seriously hurt or
killed. Now that that has happened, let’s see
how long it takes to get those street lights put
in. I hope it’s not too long, because each night
those lights are out means another night when
a life could be lost.”
On his tour of the facility Jan. 17, Ryan took
the Administrator on Duty and showed her a
resident walking down the middle of an
unlighted road. The client couldn’t be seen
until the car’s headlights made him visible.
That’s not the only concern of Local 426,
which represents 2400 employees at Wassaic.
Even though there are signs stating a 15
m.p.h. speed limit, it is unenforceable
because the Department of Transportation
has not been called in to certify that speed.
Ryan says safety officers at Wassaic have
been told not to give out tickets for speeding.
The Public Sector has learned that the son
of a facility administrator even got a ticket,
but it could be squashed because there’s no
official speed limit other than the state limit of
55. Says Ryan, ‘Having no street lights and an
unreasonably fast speed is a deadly
combination.”
Local 426 is calling for immediate action to
have a lower enforceable speed limit
approved by D.O.T., and to have working
street lights installed throughout the Wassaic
Developmental Center.
Upgradings
negotiated for
Wyoming Co.
welfare
e examiners
WARSAW — Mid-contract labor-
management negotiations have
resulted in an upgrading for
approximately 20 Wyoming County
welfare examiners, boosting their
pay by about 20 percent.
“They had been wrongly placed
to start with,’’ said Field
Representative Robert Young, who
teamed with Penny Bush,
president of the county employees
unit of CSEA Local 861, to work out
the upgrading.
The county’s welfare examiners
will now be placed at pay grade 10,
up from the previous level of grade
7. Senior welfare examiners will
remain at pay grade 12.
The upgrading will be step for
step, with workers retaining their
increment level in addition to the
pay boost. This could mean an
increase in pay by as much as
$2,200 for some, according to
Young.
“The county saw the inequity in
the wide disparity from welfare
examiner to senior welfare
examiner, and they were very
cooperative in correcting it,” said
Young.
The Wyoming County unit is in
the second year of three-year
contract which calls for an $800
across-the-board pay boost plus
increments in the third and final
year.
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 11, 1983
Page 5
The town based its actions on contract language
which defines seniority as ‘‘continuous time in service.”
Since both men had breaks in service, the town
attempted to have them forfeit all time served prior to
their discipline.
For Havens, that would have meant a loss of five
years of service, and for Havens, a loss of six years’
seniority.
In his decision, Arbitrator Louis R. Salkever noted,
“The pay and vacation time treatment accorded Hughes
and Havens by the town is consonent with a ‘substitution
by practice,’ without formal notation of a suspension in
replacement of ‘involuntary’ resignations.”’
He concluded, ‘‘Imposition of a penalty eight years
after its occurrence, short of the most heinous offense,
would not be countenanced in our judicial system. How
can we be less judicious in our employee relations?”
Hughes and Havens were awarded full recovery of
time and incremental pay lost due to the town’s improper
action.
Legal representation was provided by CSEA’s Legal
Assistance Program.
The Town of Queensbury tried to change a
disciplinary penalty against two town workers eight
years after it enacted the original punishment, but an
arbitrator has ruled against the town.
“Tt would be wrong for the law to allow such a delay
in punishment,” Dona Bulluck, CSEA counsel in the
arbitration, explained. ‘If the town had corrected the
punishment shortly after the incident, it may have been
allowed. But an eight-year delay is far too long.”
On Jan. 18, 1974, CSEA members William Hughes
and Ronald Havens were disciplined for an infraction of
the town rules.
At that time, both had to sign involuntary
resignations and leave town service with the
understanding they would be rehired shortly with full
accruals and benefits. Hughes was rehired Feb. 1;
Havens Feb. 25.
However, in February 1982, the town reduced the
workers’ pay rates and vacation entitlements on the
grounds that their seniority credits were improperly
computed since they included service prior to their
involuntary resignation date.
It’s too
late to
change
penalty,
says
arbitrator
New Orangefown contract gives
employees several new benefits
ORANGETOWN — It was a long time in coming,
but well worth the wait. A contract between this
Rockland County town and its CSEA employees has
been resolved by a fact finder, and members made.
substantial gains in the two-year pact.
Town employees were granted two retroactive
pay increases for 1982 — 6.5 percent effective Jan. 1
and 3 percent as of July 1. An 8 percent raise took
effect Jan. 1, 1983. The pay hikes are in addition to
increments where due.
The town must also provide safety shoes to those
employees whose jobs require such protection.
Bereavement leave will no longer be charged to
employees’ sick leave. Two days off with pay will
be granted in the event of the death of an
employee’s spouse, parents, or children.
Employees will be granted the option of taking a
four-hour rest period during emergencies, such as
Employee
wins back
work schedule,
conditions
snowstorms.
If Orangetown must lay off personnel, seniority
by job classification will be the determining factor @
in the layoffs. All substitutes, temporary, part-
time, provisional, and probational employees
assigned to that classification will be laid off before
any permanent employees. If any permanent
workers are to be laid off, the furloughs will be in
reverse seniority, and those employees have the
right to be reclassified into a lower grade.
Collective Bargaining Specialist Manny Vitale
calls the contract ‘‘a fair agreement where CSEA
employees won a number of additional benefits.”
Vitale credits the work of the negotiating e
committee, chaired by Orangetown Unit President
William Fitzgerald. Other committee members
were Donald Fanell, Michael Menegant, Muriel
Kelleher and Clark Brown.
ITHACA — It took more than 14 months for
the grievance procedure to run its proper
course, but patience and the efforts of CSEA
legal assistance finally paid a dividend for
William Baker when he was recently notified
of reassignment to his former work schedule
and conditions.
Baker, a water treatment plant operator for
the City of Ithaca, and member of the City of
Ithaca Administrative Unit of Tompkins
County Local 855, filed a grievance in October
1981 claiming the terms of the contract had
been violated when the city unilaterally
changed his work schedule from a regular
Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift.
In his grievance Baker claimed the city had
Cornwall school district pact approved
Part-time employees are now categorized as
those who work four hours or less per day. Any time @
more than that classified an employee as full-time.
The number of accumulated sick days has been
increased to 200. In addition, bereavernent leave
has been extended to cover the death of a
grandchild and any relative living in the
employee’s home.
CORNWALL-ON-HUDSON — Pay raises of 16
percent spread over the two-year term of the
agreement and a change in the definitions of full-
and part-time employees are just two of the
highlights in a contract approved between the
Cornwall School District Unit of Orange County
Local 836 and the Cornwall Board of Education.
Workers got an initial increase of 8.5 percent
retroactive to July 1, 1982, and will get an additional
7.5 percent across-the-board effective July 1. Those
who work on holidays will be paid time-and-a-half
in addition to the regular day’s pay, with the
exception of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New
Year’s Day, when the rate will be double time in
addition to regular holiday pay.
violated a long-standing past practice
regarding his working conditions and had
failed to notify CSEA in writing at least seven
days before ‘‘any changes in working methods
or conditions.”
At the PERB arbitration hearing last
month, CSEA Regional Attorney John
Rittinger argued that by not negotiating
Baker’s change of work schedule with the
union, Baker suffered a ‘‘diminishment and
impairment” in benefits, privileges, wages,
hours and working conditions. Rittinger
further argued that the city had unilaterally a
Collective Bargaining Specialist Manny Vitale
hammered out the agreement with the help of the
CSEA Negotiating Committee. That group was
chaired by Unit President Ken Woodruff, and @
contained members Alvin Clark, Robert Hunter
and Joseph Bradley.
=~
changed a past practice and denied the record
grievant the option of overtime pay and no ae his ne Peru school custodians
reasonable warning of days and times he i sail
ree Shee Ags: 68 join CSEA unit
{ WASHINGTON — The social and economic
i Although the arbitrator’s decision did policies of the Reagan administration are PERU — A unit of 31 custodians in the Peru
| recognize the right of the city to direct the making the struggle for equal opportunity a | Central Sehool District has joined CSEA. @
} workforce and reorganize for maximum major civil rights challenge of the 1980s, the The Peru Central School Board of Education
efficiency, it also pointed out the contract Leadership Conference on Civil Rights charged | Voluntarily recognized CSEA as the bargaining
} language clearly states that the union should at its 33rd annual meeting here. agent for the school workers after Charles Scott,
| be notified in writing before any changes in AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland told the | CSEA field representative, informed them that the
\ working methods and conditions are participants that the labor and civil rights | employees wanted to join the other non-teaching
| implemented. movements ‘knew that Reaganomics was a | employees im the district already represented by
| a i rey 7 \ disaster, and our people couldn’t afford to wait | the union.
| aa appitraton dir ected the city to reassign ...and we were right,” Kirkland said. During the interim, CSEA will represent the
| 7 ve f f pele snmediately ’ a fee anne LCCR Chairperson Benjamin L. Hooks, who is | Janitors through their contract with the district and
i toe TOR eC onattons he held prior | also executive director of the NAACP, | willmergethe custodians into the larger CSEA unit e
DDE) SEL characterized the Reagan administration’s * aeaihooneee contract expires.
record on civil rights as ‘‘disastrous.”
Page 6
THE PUBLIC SECTOR! 'Priday; February 4]; 1988
J
Union urges creation of
ALBANY — A high-level CSEA official has reiterated the union’s long-held
position that a board of trustees with public employee representation should be
placed in control of investing the common funds of the state public employee
pension funds.
CSEA Attorney James D. Featherstonhaugh testified before a State
Democratic Task Force on Jobs hearing here recently that with changes in the
administration of those investments and in the standards used for investments,
the assets of the retirement systems could provide New York State with an
exceptional resource to boost economic development.
Featherstonhaugh, calling for appointment of a board of trustees to
replace the state comptroller as the sole trustee, said “no single person should
have sole and unfettered discretion over the investment of $18 billion belonging
to other people.” He said the establishment of the board, with public employee
representation and a guarantee that some of the members be experienced in
investments and financial affairs, would provide the necessary diversity and
expertise to operate a fund of that size.
And, he said, the union strongly supports changing the standard used for
investments from the funds from the present ‘‘legal list’ system to a “prudent
person”’ standard to more effectively utilize the funds assets for investments to
spur economic development within New York State.
That type of investment standard, similar to that employed in federal law
in the employee retirement income security act, was embraced by Gov. Mario
Cuomo in his message to the Legislature last month, Featherstonhaugh noted.
CSEA has urged creating a board of trustees for several years, and
Featherstonhaugh told the Task Force that it should forge ahead in support of
such a proposal. He also disputed State Comptroller Reagan’s contention that
such a change should be by constitutional amendment, saying “‘it seems to me
that the constitutional amendment approach is merely a red herring that will
have the effect of putting off serious consideration on the board of trustees
issue indefinitely.”
The union attorney closed by telling task force members, “I would like to
... Make clear that CSEA is ready to work with you in utilizing, to the extent
consistent with general fiduciary responsibilities, the assets of the common
retirement fund to stimulate economic development in New York State.”
pension fund board
ATTORNEY JAMES FEATHERSTONHAUGH
New civil service exam study booklets due this month
ALBANY — Three new instructional booklets are
being added to the five already available under the
new educational service being offered by CSEA to
help members improve their Civil Service exam
test scores.
Expected to be available Feb. 28, the booklets will
be just in time to help those taking the Senior
Clerical Series being given by Civil Service March
26,
The exam series will be for the positions of Senior
Account Clerk, Senior Audit Clerk, Senior Clerk,
Payroll Clerk II, Purchasing Assistant I and Senior
Statistics Clerk.
“The first five booklets, which were designed for
those taking the PATT exam, will also be very
helpful for the senior clerical exam series,” noted
CSEA Education Director Thomas Quimby. “The
three new booklets deal with supervision,
purchasing and payroll practices and_ basic
algebra, focusing in on the material covered in the
senior clerical exams.”
All eight study booklets, as well as a four-part
videotape program soon to be available, were
developed in cooperation with the New York State
School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell
University, under a grant from CWEP, the joint
labor/management Committee on the Work
Environment and Productivity.
“The booklets are self-study guides with lots of
practice problems or questions,’’ Quimby
explained. ‘‘They review basic areas of knowledge
as well as test-taking skills, so some of them should
be helpful for members taking a wide variety of
state and local exams, not just these particular
tests.”
The three new booklets are:
* Booklet 6 SUPERVISION. This booklet
contains 50 questions on supervision, and includes a
self-study guide with full explanations.
« Booklet 7 PURCHASING AND PAYROLL
PRACTICES. This booklet contains information on
purchasing and payroll practices and principles, as
well as sample exam questions, and a self-study
guide with full explanations.
* Booklet 8 BASIC ALGEBRA. This booklet
describes basic algebraic methods and provides
plenty of practice questions. It’s designed for those
who have previously had a difficult time with
algebra. It also includes work with elementary
statistical methods and computations.
Orders are being accepted now, but the three new
booklets aren’t expected to be available for mailing
until Feb. 28. There is a cost of $1.50 for each of the
eight booklets in the series. CSEA members may
order copies directly from the union by using the
coupon below.
Listed below are the exams being given March 26
and the list of booklets that will be helpful for each:
exam.
Senior Account Clerk
Senior Audit Clerk Booklets 2, 3, 4and6
Senior Clerk
Payroll Clerk II
Purchasing Assistant I } Booklets 2, 4,6 and7
Senior Statistics Clerk } Booklets 3, 4,6and8
CIVIL SERVICE EMPLOYEES
ASSOCIATION Date__
ATTN: CSEA EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
33 ELK STREET,
ALBANY, NEW YORK 12207
Please send me the booklet(s) indicated. I under-
stand the price is $1.50 (includes postage) for
EACH booklet ordered, and | have enclosed a
check or money order for $__ to cover the
cost of this order.
© #1 BASIC MATH
#2 ARITHMETIC REASONING
#3 UNDERSTANDING AND INTERPRETING
TABULAR MATERIAL
( #4 UNDERSTANDING AND INTERPRETING
WRITTEN MATERIAL
O #5 PREPARING WRITTEN MATERIAL
#6 SUPERVISION
| #7 PURCHASING AND PAYROLL
PRACTICES
(#8 BASIC ALGEBRA
Send to:
Name sats ee
Address eee rts
City. State/ZIP__
Social Security Number. CSEA Local__
a a ee ee
Employer.
THE PUBLIC SEGTOR,.Friday, February 1}; 1983
P9997
Inflation slows but
still outstrips the
purchasing power
of average worker
Labor leads call for
WASHINGTON — An American battered by recession and strained by
social conflict can’t afford another year of “‘disastrous’’ Reagan
administration policies, AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland has warned.
Labor’s protest at the ‘“‘stay-the-course” theme of President Reagan’s
recent State of the Union address was joined by major civil rights and women’s
organizations. In a statement read by Kirkland at a news conference at AFL-
CIO headquarters, they called on Congress to inject “fairness and equity” into
the government’s budget and policy decisions.
Only the wealthy have been “immune from the pain of Reaganism,” the
joint statement stressed.
NAACP Executive Director Benjamin L. Hooks protested Reagan’s
continued use of domestic spending as a scapegoat even though it is the
President’s tax cuts that have brought about record deficits.
AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee said 12 million jobless Americans
don’t share President Reagan’s confidence that ‘‘America is on the mend” or
his opposition to large-scale job programs.
The president of the National Organization for Women, Judith Goldsmith,
ARE WE WORKING WHILE HE'S DOZING...
i or DOZING WHILE HE'S WORKING?
“yore WE
HAVE ENOUGH
wood TO KEEP US
‘COMFORTABLE
THIS WINTER
No
Care
Ee
g ?
ey
FEDERAL AID
FOR NEEDY.
FEBRUARY
11-13—Central Region V Local presidents meeting, Hotel Syracuse,
Syracuse.
15—New York Metropolitan Retirees Local 910 meeting, 1 p.m., Room
§890, 2 World Trade Center, New York City.
19—Region V Education Seminar for school district unit presidents and
negotiating teams in Franklin,
Counties, 9 a.m., Raymond Hall,
Jefferson and St. Lawrence
8th floor, SUNY Potsdam,
Potsdam.
22—Region II treasurers seminar, 1 p.m., Region Office, 100 Church
Street, New York City.
25—CSEA Region II Legislative Breakfast with New York City
assemblymen and senators, 8:30 a.m., Roosevelt Hotel, New York
City.
26—CSEA Legislative Seminar, 9 a.m., Meeting Room 6, Empire State
Convention Center, Albany.
28—Region | treasurers seminar, 7 p.m., Region Office, Hauppauge.
MARCH
4-5—CSEA Labor Institute program, Rowntowner Motor Inn, Rochester.
Page 8
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 11, 1983
‘Gross a s it Belem Ree $270.92, compared
with $269.97 the month before. But after adjustment for the impact of in- _
- flation since 1977, jecember weekly earnings averaged only $167.65.
qinwidcl heheh
2S pecompcas power, the Bureau of
In its report on consumer prices, BLS noted that the 1982 inflation
rate was the Jowest annual rise since a 3.4-percent increase in 1972 when
wage and price controls were in effect, The CPI posted a seasonally ad-
justed three-tenths of 1 Bercent decline in December.
limes in budget
told the news conference that women are “tired of empty gestures” from an
administration that regards serious human rights issues as merely “image
problems.”
Other signers of the statement included President Dorothy S. Riding of the
League of Women Voters, National Urban League President John Jacob and
Auto Workers President Douglas Fraser.
A host of other unions issued statements sharply critical of portions of the
President’s State of the Union message directly affecting their members. They
included federal employee and postal unions angered by Reagan’s plan to
freeze all pay raises and retirement benefits for both federal civilian
employees and persons in the military services.
Kirkland acknowledged the ‘relatively moderate tone” used by Reagan.
“But the substance of the program that he put forward,” Kirkland stressed, is
“clearly the same old stuff — further cuts for the poor, further tax breaks for
employers, and a continuation of the same doctrine.”
As for Reagan’s call for “bipartisanship,” Kirkland observed that a
president who is riding high in the public opinion polls asserts a “mandate” for
whatever he wants to put through. But “when the polls begin to slip, he calls for
bipartisanship.”
Reagan will be spelling out his Administration’s proposals in greater detail’
in the budget proposals that will soon be sent to Congress. But these are some
of the measures he outlined in his State of the Union message:
¢ A freeze of most domestic programs at current levels, without allowance
for inflation. This would amount to a cutback in constant dollars. The president
also said he will ask Congress to cut back on food stamp entitlements so that
only the “truly needy” will be helped.
¢ A one-year freeze for federal civilian and military pay and pension
programs.
* An employment program keyed to giving tax credits to employers who
hire the long-term unemployed, providing some additional job training funds,
more tax breaks for businesses under a revised Enterprise Zones proposal, and
improving “incentives” for employers to hire youths for summer jobs. The
temporary program of federal supplemental unemployment compensation
would be given another short-term renewal.
Other segments of the president’s speech included an education program
composed of tax credits for parents who send children to private schools,
grants to further math and science instruction and a constitutional amendment
to allow “voluntary” school prayer.
Reagan also proposed a cumbersome standby surtax starting in fiscal 1986
that would take effect ‘‘only if Congress has first approved our spending freeze .
and budget control program.” But Congress, he insisted, should not tamper
with the tax cuts already scheduled — including a 10 percent reduction in July
and future indexing of tax brackets.
The most influential Republicans in Congress have already said they want
no ‘part of Reagan’s standby tax plan, but its inclusion in the budget
presumably would allow the administration to project a future balanced
budget despite record high deficits in the years immediately ahead.
Kirkland said in response to questions from reporters that the president’s
freeze and cutback program is both “wrong” and “unfair.” The heaviest blow
would fall on social programs that have already been cut back the most during
the administration’s first two years.
a for what should be done, Kirkland responded:
“There should be a major program of industiral reconstruction, . eee
There should be large-scale programs to create jobs doing useful work
and providing public services. . . . There should he access to housing for
people of low and middle incomes. .
“There should be provisions made for those millions who have lost
their health insurance coverage and can’t pay their medical bills for
themselves or their families during those periods of unemployment, and
who stand in danger of eviction.”
These are among the problems that should have been addressed in
President Reagan’s State we the Union message, Kirkland said. But they
weren't.” ;
Layoffs, taxes,
local aid plan
all unacceptable
in state budget
ALBANY — Take a $1.8 billion state budget deficit, then add $80
million in increased sales taxes and “‘user fees,”’ limit portions to schools
and local government, and then cut 8,500 active state employees and 6,000
additional jobs and what do you get?
A budget that is unfair to public employees, and all low and middle in-
come New Yorkers, answers CSEA President William L. McGowan.
The union leader took Gov. M. Cuomo’s first Executive Budget to
task February 1, telling capitol reporters that Cuomo’s announcement of
mass layoffs created ‘‘Black Tuesday” for public workers.
CSEA wasted little time in summoning reporters to criticize the
budget’s plans to trade off increased fees, expanded sales taxes and huge
cuts in state employment to balance what the governor said was ‘“‘the
highest budget deficit in the history of New York State.”
While McGowan and CSEA Chief Lobbyist James Featherstonhaugh
told newsmen they didn’t dispute the state’s grave financial decision not
to increase the state’s business or personal income taxes at all while he
was proposing increases in regressive sales taxes and user fees and
wholesale layoffs of state workers.
And while it’s hardly a surprise to reporters that CSEA opposes state
employee layoffs, there was wide coverage of the CSEA alternative pro-
posal for a temporary increase in the maximum state personal income
tax for higher income New Yorkers.
“We believe that any reduction in public services should be brought
about by gradual measures which balance the interests of all New
Yorkers,”” McGowan told the press. ‘Mass layoffs put all of the financial
burdens on only a small segment of the state’s population. An alternative
that makes more sense is a reduction in services through attrition coupl-
ed with temporary revenue enhancements by an increase on income taxes for
New Yorkers in higher income brackets.”
Specifically, the CSEA plan would increase the state’s maximum per-
sonal income tax rate from the present 10 percent to 11 or 12 percent for a
two year period. New Yorkers earning more than approximately $36,000 a
year would see a one percent increase and those earning more than
$50,000 would see a two percent increase. In both cases the increases
would be temporary and offset by deductibility for federal income tax
purposes.
CSEA PRESIDENT WILLIAM L. McGOWAN explains details of union’s
proposal to increase the state’s maximum personal income tax rate to a
reporter following a press conference held by CSEA to comment on Gov.
Cuomo’s first Executive Budget.
In a public. statement released to the news medi
reprinted on page 1 of this issue, CSEA President jam L,
McGowan has offered state legislators a viable alternative to
mass layoffs of state employees in order to balance the next
state budget. But layoffs are not the only problems the union
sees in Gov. Cuomo’s first Executive Budget. There are, say
President McGowan and CSEA Chief Lobbyist James
Featherstonhaugh, other inequities in the proposed budget as
well. Some of those concerns, as well as some initial details of
CSEA’s proposed income tax plan to prevent layoffs or reduced
public services, are discussed in the article below. And on the
following pages are details of a new research report prepared
by AFSCME and the Public Employee Department of the AFL-
CIO which suggests that severe reductions in federal aid to
states and localities are the chief culprit of state and local
government budget problems. And on yet another page is a
listing of state legislators and th mailing addresses in
Albany. These are the people who will eventually vote on the
new state budget, and you should let your legislators know
how you feel about that document. Get involved with your
union in preserving your future.
seme,
CSEA CHIEF LOBBYIST James
Featherstonhaugh, right, is surrounded by
news media representatives interested in
‘information on union’s proposal.
ae :
“The people who would be taxed temporarily are the same people
who have realized substantial tax reductions over the past two years
through reductions in state and federal income tax rates,” McGowan ex-
plained. He noted the state’s maximum income tax rate had been reduced
from 14 percent since 1975.
And state layoffs were not CSEA’s only complaint about the budget.
“The average CSEA member makes about $17,000 a year,” union
President McGowan noted. ‘‘This budget, even with the mass layoffs of
state employees, proposes to raise $800 million through unfair expansion
of sales taxes and higher fees for driver’s license renewals, auto registra-
tions, and so on. The problem is that everyone, whether they are a $5,000 a
year Social Security pensioner or a $500,000 a year executive, will pay the
same increased taxes and that is unfair. Taxes should be based on ‘ability
to pay,’ and these taxes are not.”
Again and again, McGowan and Featherstonhaugh hammered home
the point that it can’t be fair to raise taxes for low and middle income New
Yorkers, cut their public services, throw 8,500 active employees on the
streets, and not ask those fortunate enough to have a comfortable income
to make any additional sacrifices at all; particularly when they have
benefited from enormous tax cuts already and will receive another
federal tax cut in July.
A similar concern about equity was raised later in the week by
Assembly Speaker Stanley Fink who questioned the even-handedness of a
budget that calls for more sacrifice in some areas, but not much in others.
While the Speaker took no formal position on the issue yet, he said he
would not rule out increases in “‘broad based taxes.””
Senate Republicans, meanwhile, were complaining about the
budget’s plans for education aid which would, in part, redistribute aid
from “wealthier” districts to ‘poorer’ districts. They also broached
some concern at what they saw as taking money from upstate com-
munities to the benefit of New York City, a concern flatly refuted by the
Cuomo Administration.
Clearly though, the legislature seems no more inclined to accept the
Cuomo budget as proposed any more than it was ever inclined to accept a
Carey budget as proposal. While the Administration’s relationship with
the lawmakers still seems cordial, the budget process has just begun.
With a constitutional mandate for a budget in place by the start of the
state’s fiscal year on April 1, the 1983 battle of the budget was quickly
developing battle lines only one week after Gov. Mario Cuomo’s first Ex-
ecutive Budget became public domain.
LAYOFFS: WHERE
AND HOW MANY...
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 11, 1983
Page 9
Yj
ALBANY — More than 8,500 current New York
State employees will lose their jobs through layoffs
in the coming months unless CSEA and other public
service advocates can convince the state
Legislature that Gov. Mario Cuomo’s proposed state
budget contains too many sacrifices for public
services and too few for the wealthy.
The union has already gone on record in
opposition to the Cuomo plan to cut more than 8,500
active employees while eliminating an additional
6,000 jobs through normal attrition, a proposed
early retirement incentive program and an as yet
unspecified ‘voluntary furlough” program.
CSEA is advocating increased state revenues
through temporary taxes on high income families
as an alternative to the layoffs. (see related story,
page 9)
A budget review by CSEA’s Research
Department indicates the heaviest job cuts would
come in the state’s largest agencies. For example,
Cuomo proposes to axe 2,015 jobs from the Office of
Mental Retardation and Developmental
Disabilities, mostly through ‘‘programmatic”’
reductions. In the state’s Office of Mental Health,
an additional 1,743 jobs would be abolished, but
mostly through ‘‘budgeted”’ reductions. The effect,
of course, is the same.
The State University would lose 1,569 jobs under
the Executive Budget as proposed. The
Department of Transportation would lose 693 jobs as
well. Taxation and Finance would be cut by 365 jobs
and Motor Vehicles would lose an additional 325
jobs. The Health Department would lose 257 jobs.
Another big loser would be the City University of
New York, targeted for 558 layoffs under the Cuomo
plan.
Other state agency targets include: Education,
158; General Services, 162; Division for Youth, 155;
Social Services, 163; Parks, 104; Environmental
Conservation, 102; Audit and Control, 78;
Commerce, 77; Worker’s Comp, 78; and Substance
Abuse Services, 50.
Virtually every other state agency would also be
targeted, but for varying numbers less than 50.
All of the numbers listed above are for actual
layoffs of active employees. The 6,000 jobs to be
oy
Virtually every
agency a target
abolished through attrition and early retirement
would be additional.
CSEA’s Research Department emphasizes that
all of the layoff numbers are proposals contained in
the Executive Budget. All are subject to change
based on whatever action the state Legislature
might take to amend the proposed budget. It is in
that arena that CSEA will be the most active in
attempting to modify the staggering layoff
proposal.
The governor gave various agency executives
until March 1 to outline how they proposed to
implement the layoffs targeted for their agencies.
Until then a facility by facility break down will not
be available, yet some estimates in the Office of
Mental Retardation and Developmental
Disabilities have already surfaced.
Hardest hit would be the Craig Developmental
Center where 584 layoffs are proposed as part of a
phase out of the facility. Also hard hit would be
Letchworth Developmental Center where OMRDD
is proposing 466 layoffs.
Staten Island, which has already received
hundreds of layoffs, is targeted for an additional 387
layoffs under the new budget. Wassaic
Developmental Center would lose 242 positions to
layoffs and Suffolk D.C. would lose 135, Others
targeted for layoffs include: Newark D.C., 75; J.N.
Adam D.C., 34; West Seneca D.C., 32; Monroe D.C.,
9; Monroe Secure Unit, 4; O.D. Heck Autism Unit,
20; Westchester D.C., 40; Brooklyn D.C., 90;
Fineson D.C., 95; Creedmore DMRU, 24;
Manhattan D.C., 71.
But while some facilities would lose many
positions through the proposed layoffs, others
would increase staffing as clients are shifted as a
result of the changes.
For example, a new MDU unit at Creedmore
would create 132 jobs. At Rome D.C., 126 jobs would
be added. Other increases would be at: Bronx D.C.,
104; a new Metro Secure Unit at Brooklyn D.C., 78;
DMRU Sagtikos at Suffolk D.C., 23; Letchworth
Discrete Unit (Rockland MMRU), 85; Broome
D.C., 46; O.D. Heck D.C., 46; Sunmount D.C., 39;
Wilton D,C., 8; and Syracuse D.C., 64.
The net effect of the shifts brings the actual
overall job loss through layoffs to 1,557 in OMRDD.
Page 10.
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 11, 1983
Some good news,
the spending
ae we oa ol
dormitory
students charged $25 to pay for small computers.
In another belt measure, a $400,000
state plane will be sold, and the use of official
cars curtailed. The use of outside lawyers by
Urban Development Corp. will also b
significantly reduced. Meanwhile, the governor
wants to create 7,000 new prison spaces and 7,000
units of permanent housing for the homeless.
In order to bolster the state’s economic base,
Cuomo wants a $13 billion investment, through
yarious bond issues, for projects including $4
billion for water systems improvement, $4.5
billion for highway and bridge improvements,
$1.25 billion for public works, $1 billion for
housing, $730 million for public utilities capit®
conversion, and $500 million for a regional
development bank. These bonds are expected to
ereate at least 100,000 permanent jobs.
In a move closer to home, the governor has
chopped $1.7 million from his executive chamber
serve as a $1-a year-special adviser.
and some bad |
ALBANY — — There is some good news in the
state budget for New York State’s 62 counties,
The governor wants: the state to take over a
larger share of local Medicaid costs.
Specifically, his five-year plan would freeze local
costs at this year’s level and then, through 1!
Sradually reduce the local share to 10 percent.
County governments would save an estimated
$6.1 billion.
But there is bad news, too. Cuomo wants te
eliminate $79 million in aid to small cities, cut $34
million in funds to operate sewers, and put a $800
million cap on local revenue sharing money.
Road and bridge maintenance programs would
also be slashed for an, overall, $210 million
reduction in general state aid to localities.
e
School aid has
a new formula
ALBANY — Poorer school districts will get a
bigger share of the pie under a new school aid
formula that Gov. Mario Cuomo has proposed to _
the state Legislature. e
Under the budget, 430 school districts would
receive increased assistance while 273 wealthier
districts would have to make do on less. New aid —
would he targeted to urban magnet schools and
large cities would receive additional funding for
occupational education, At the same time,
textbook aid would be increased for all districts
and, overall, public school aid will go up $74
million if the state Legislature buys the plan.
budget and announced that his son, Andrew, will
Wsig @
TIER III
F BENEFITS
LAG PAYRO
arora es x
PENSION PLAN |
i °
OKAY, IF WE
UP THERE, IT
SHOULD BE THE
LAST STRAW.
eowT
AGAIN!
CAN GET THIS ONE
BALE -ING
THE STATE
YOU CAN HELP PREVENT LAYOFFS
A letter, today, will do it. . .see page 12
Loss of
federal aid
causes fiscal
chaos on
local level
WASHINGTON — A comprehensive
research report prepared jointly by
AFSCME and the Public Employee Depart-
ment of the AFL-CIO concludes that “state
and local governments are facing a finan-
cial squeeze of a size and scope unknown
since the Great Depression.”
The cause: a 19-month recession com-
pounded by severe reductions in federal
assistane to state and local governments
during the same period.
The result: fiscal chaos.
Among chief findings are that overall,
since 1981, state and lucal governments
have suffered a loss of $57 billion in
federal assistance, and those losses have
grown each year.
Key programs such as employment and
training, community services, center for
disease control and economic develop-
ment have been cut by more than 50 per-
cent, the report shows. And, by 1985, if
current spending trends continue, overall
federal aid to states will fall to pre-Great
Depression levels.
Among the startling figures contained in
the lengthy document is this one of prime
importance to public employees and all
New Yorkers: New York ranks 4th among
all states in the per capita loss in federal aid,
and leads the nation in per capita loss in
federal assistance for Medicaid.
‘Anticipated reductions in Federal aid is
one reason why a serious deficit must be
made up in order to balance the next state
budget. In the next issue of the Public Sec-
tor, we'll examine this important research
report in detail and discuss the direct rela-
tlonship between reduced federal aid and
a faltering state economy.
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 11, 1983
Page 11
Use your o}
where you
@ suggeste
Your letters CAN
The Executive Budget submitted by Gov. Mario Cuomo, and strongly opposed by
CSEA as unfair to public employees and lower and middle income New Yorkers in ae
- general, is still just a proposal. it can be changed. And the people who can alter it, UpPore CSEA’s
. the people who must approve the State Budget in its final form, are the members in the
-.ef State Legislature. CSEA feels with deep conviction that the proposed budget
- must be changed, and the union has proposed an alternative measure to prevent
“mass layoffs. Now we must convince as many members of the State Legislature as
we can to support the union’s alternative in arriving at a final state budget. And
you can help, in fact you must help if our efforts are to succeed. How? By writing, REME,
immediately, to your senator and assemblyman, in your own words, that you are lett ‘MBER — Sign your
‘opposed to mass layoffs and drastic service cuts as proposed in the governor’s es immediately. Toda; name and address and
Executive Budget. And that you favor CSEA’s plan for a temporary increase in the Y, if possible, Send your
--state’s maximum personal income tax rate for higher income earners.
Keep in touch with your assemblym
MEMBERS OF THE NEW 50 Joseph R. Lentol 114 H. Robert Nortz 132 Audre T. Cooke
| YORK STATE ASSEMBLY 51 Joseph Ferris 115 William R. Sears 133 David F. Gantt
| ARE LISTED BELOW. 52 Eileen C. Dugan 116 Richard S. Ruggiero 134 Roger J. Robach
| CORRESPONDENCE SHOULD 53 Victor L. Robles 117 Raymond T. Chesbro 135 James F. Nagle
}| BE SENT TO THE AP- 54 Thomas F. Catapano 118 Michael J. Bragman 136 Richard C. Wesley
| PROPRIATE ASSEMBLYMAN 55 William S. Boyland 119 im E. Bush 137 A. Stephen
| clo STATE CAPITOL, AL- 56 Albert Vann 120 Melvin N. Zimmer 138 Joseph T. Pi
| BANY, NEW YORK 12248. 57 Roger L. Green 121 Hyman M. Miller 139 Matthew J. Murphy
| 58 Elizabeth A. Connelly 122 Clarence D. 140 Robin L. Schimminger
} 59 Eric N. Vitaliano Rappleyea 141 Arthur O. Eve
| 60 Robert A. Straniere 123. James W. McCabe 142 = John B. Sheffer, II
DIST. ASSEMBLYMAN 61 William F. 124 James R. Tallon, Jr. 143° Dennis T. Gorski
Passannante 125 Hugh S. MacNeil 144 = William B. Hoyt
62 Sheldon Silver 126 George H. Winner, Jr. 145 Richard J. Keane
1 Joseph Sawicki, Jr. 63 Steven Sanders 127 John R. Kuhl 146 Francis J. Pordum
2 Johnl.Behan _ 64 =‘ Richard N. Gottfried 128 Michael F. Nozzolio 147 L. William Paxon
3 1. William Bianchi 65 Alexander B. Grannis 129 FrankG.Talomie, Sr. 148 Vincent J. Graber, Sr.
4 George J. 66 Mark Alan Siegel 130 Louise M. Slaughter 149 Daniel B. Walsh
Hochbruckner 67 Jerrold Nadler 131 Gary Proud 150 William L. Parment oy
5 Paul E. Harenberg 68 Angelo DelToro
6 Robert C. Wertz 69 Edward C. Sullivan fi
7 Thomas F. Barraga 70 Geraldine L. Daniels ln =~
8 John C. Cochrane 71 Herman D. Farrell
9 John J. Flanagan — 72 John Brian Murtaugh wey con
10 Antonia P. Rettaliata 73 Jose E. Serrano
A Eatrick G. Helps 74 Louis Nine
12 Philip B. Healey 75 John C. Dearie ‘| fe to
13 Lewis J. Yevoli 76 Aurelia Greene your $ a send r
14 ~+Frederick E. Parola, 77. ~+~«Jose Rivera
Jr. 78 Gloria Davis
15 Angelo F. Orazio 79 George Friedman MEMBERS OF THE NEW 26 oyGoodman
16 May W. Newburger 80 G. Oliver Koppell YORK STATE SENATE ARE 27 Manfred Ohrenstein
17 Kemp Hannon 81 Eliot L. Engel LISTED BELOW. CORRE- 28 Franz Leichter
18 Barbara A. Patton 82 Vincent A. Marchiselli SPONDENCE SHOULD BE 29 Leon Bogues
49 Armand P. D’Amato 83 Nicholas A. Spano SENT TO THE APPROPRIATE 30 Olga Mendez
20 Arthur J. Kremer 84 Gordon W. Burrows SENATOR, clo STATE CAP- 31 Joseph Galiber
21 Gregory R. Becker 85 John M. Perone ITOL, ALBANY NEW YORK 32 Israel Ruiz Jr.
22 George H. Madison 86 Richard L. Brodsky 12224, 33 Abraham Bernstein
23° Gerdi L. Lipschutz 87 Peter M. Sullivan 34 John Calandra
24 Saul Weprin 88 John R. Branca DIST. SENATOR 36, John ryan
25 John F. Duane 89 Henry W. Barnett 36 = Joseph Pisani
26 Leonard P. Stavisky 90 Vincent L. Leibell, III 1 Kenneth Lavalle 37 | Mary Goodhue
27 Nattie Mayersohn 91 William J. Ryan 2 James Lack 38 Linda Winikow
28 ~«=Alan G. Hevesi 92. Robert J. Connor 3 Caesar Trunzo 39 Richard Schermerhorn
29 Cynthia Jenkins 93 Eugene Levy 4 Owen Johnson 40 Charles Cook
30 Ralph Goldstein 94 Mary M. McPhillips 5 Ralph Marino 41 Jay Rolison Jr.
31 Anthony S. Seminerio 95 William J. Larkin, Jr. 6 John Dunne Ge-; Howard Nolanidr.
32 Edward Abramson 96 Lawrence E, Bennett 7 Michael Tully 43 Joseph Bruno
33 Alton R. Waldon, Jr. 97 Stephen M. Saland 8 Norman Levy 44 Hugh Farley
34 Ivan C. Lafayette 98 Richard I. Coombe 9 Garol Berman 45 Ronald Statford
35 Helen M. Marshall 99 Glenn E. Warren 10 Andrew Jenkins 46 Douglas Barclay
36 Denis J. Butler 100 _—Neil W. Kelleher 11 Frank Padavan 47 James Donovan
37 Clifford E. Wilson 101 Maurice D. Hinchey 12 'y Ackerman 48 = Martin Auer
38 Frederick D. Schmidt 102 Clarence D. Lane 13 Emanuel Gold 49 > Tarky Lombardl
39 Stanley Fink 103 Michael J. Hoblock 14 Anthony Gazzara S90: Moye Altord Jr,
40 Edward Griffith 104 Richard J. Conners 15 Martin Knorr 51 Warren Anderson
41 Helene E. Weinstein 4105 (Vacant) 16 Jeremy Weinstein 52 William Smith
42 Rhoda S. Jacobs 4106 Michael R. McNulty 17 Howard Babbush 53 L. Paul Kehoe
43 Clarence Norman, Jr. 107. James Tedisco 18 Donald Halperin 54 John Perry
44 ~=Melvin H. Miller 108 Robert A. D’Andrea 19 Martin Solomon 55 William Steinfeldt
45 Daniel L. Feldman 109 Glenn H. Harris 20 Thomas Bartosiewicz 536 Jess Present -
46 Howard L. Lasher 410 Andrew W. Ryan, Jr. 21 Martin Markowitz 57 = William Stachowski
47 Frank J. Barbaro 411 John W. McCann 22. Anna Jefferson 58. Anthony Masisio
48 Dov Hikind 112 John G. A. O'Neil a uoaeph Montalte a Cale Nolats
49 Louis Fredo I; onn Mare
Sey 113 Anthony J. Casale a \ 25 Manin Connor 61 John Daly J
Rage,]?: THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday «February, }]., 1983,
DUTCHESS COUNTY EXECUTIVE Lucille Pattison recently held her fifth
annual open house program, and several CSEA officials attended. In photo at
left, Dutchess County’Unit President Mary Rich is shown with Pattison,
and in photo above, Dutchess County Unit Vice President Helen Zocco and
Unit Political Action Chairman Carl Matheson talk with Congressman
Hamilton Fish Jr., right.
into account, in cases of partial
- disability, not only actual earnings
but whether or not those earnings
reflect the individual’s skills and
abilities. The new criteria could
‘result in higher awards but would
also require a more thorough
review of the employee’s record.
Finally, a 12-member
; Temporary State Commission on
ly : ‘Kaaltlves oacues under Workers’ Compensation and
eee. - consideration would require Disability Benefits would be
e increase to $225 maximum Administrative Law Judges to take established.
S Labor Committee, ond. es
Assembly counterpa! Ti
Barbaro, consider
STATE JOB CALENDAR
FILING ENDS FEBRUARY 14, 1983
Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor Assistant 15,770
5 THREE Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor Assistant *
Title Beginning Salary . (Spaniah Speaking)
Workers’ Compensation Examiner, Assistant
Buoy Tender $11,500 | Workers’ Compensation Examiner, Assistant
Canal Maintenance Shop Supervisor | 17,102 = (Spanish Speaking)
Canal Maintenance Shop Supervisor II 20,925 Z Senior Clerk
Canal Maintenance Supervisor | 17,102 2 20-985
Canal Maintenance Supervisor II 20,925 5 Senior Clerk (Spanish Speaking)
Canal Structure Operator 12,163 fs Metropolitan Regional Director, Alcoholism Program
30,526 Services 28-488
Civil Engineer Il, New York City Only thru Regional Director, Alcoholism Program Services 28-487
35,664 Supervisor of Medical Malpractice Claims Reporting 28-481
Thruway Commercial Representative, Assistant 28-480
Farm Products Grading Inspector Trainee 14,668 Vending Services Specialist i 5 i 80-067
Industrial Hygienist Trainee | 15,473 = File Applications with NYS Department of Social Services
Industrial Hygienist Trainee I! 16,383 Detailed announcements and applications may be obtained from the
Industrial Hygienist, Associate 26,640 following locations:
Industrial Hygienist, Senior 20,492
Malitecaneatadeeriiecy Wl 18,718 25- ALBANY: Examination Information, Department of Civil Service, State Of-
Maintenance Supervisor III 20,925 =i fice Building Campus, Albany, NY 12239.
Maintenance Supervisor IV 23,351 : BUFFALO: State Department of Civil Service, Room 303, 65 Court Street,
Real Estate Appraiser (Mass Appraisal Systems) 22,132 Buffalo, NY 14202.
Real Estate Appraiser (Mass Appraisal Systems), Senior 28,778 : NEW YORK: State Department of Civil Service, 55th Floor, 2 World Trade
Real Property Information System Specialist, Center, New York, NY 10047 or Harlem State Office Building, 163 West
Associate ene aaecial a ont ae t 125th Street, New York, NY 10027.
Real Property Information System Specialist, Senior i LOCAL OFFICES: New York State Employment Service (no mail handled or
Rehabilitation Interviewer . . 42,852 1 applications accepted).
Behabllitaiign inserviawer:(Spanish Speaking) Special Test Arrangements Will Be Made For Saturday Relic 2us
Unemployment Insurance Reviewing Examiner 17,694 a Observers
Unemployment Insurance Reviewing Examiner Trainee 16,711 And Handicapped Persons When A Written Test Is Held.
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 11, 1983 Page 13
aaaaEOEOEOEOEOeeeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeE—E—ee—E—EeEeEeee
1983 changes in
Social Security,
Medicare
‘EDITOR’S NOTE: A number of changes took place in Social Security
and Medicare on Jan. 1. The changes are summarized in the chart
low.
Changes in Social Security and Medicare
Effective January 1, 1983
1982 1983
Wage Base: (The maximum amount of annual
earnings on which Social Security taxes are paid.) $32,400 $35,700
Earnings Test: (The amount people can earn
annually without having any Social Security
benefits withheld. For every $2 earned over the
exempt amount, $1 in Social Security benefits is
withheld.)
Age at which earnings test does not apply 72 70
Age 65-70 s $6,000 $6,600
Under age 65
Social Security Credits: (The amount a worker
must earn to receive one quarter of coverage. A
maximum of four quarters of coverage can be
earned in a year.) $340 $370
Medicare Hospital Insurance:
Hospital insurance deductible and coinsurance
Your cost for up to the first 60 days in the
hospital: $260 $304
Your cost for the 61st through 90th day in the
hospital: $65 per day $76 per day
$130 per day $152 per day
Your cost for the 60 reserve days
Skilled Nursing Facility: Your cost for the 2ist
throug:. 100th day $32.50 per day $38 per day
JOINING HANDS IN A SHOW OF SOLIDARITY at a Rev. Dr. Martin
Luther King Day ceremoney sponsored by AFSCME District Council 37
are (L to R): Metropolitan Region II Sergeant-at Arms Audley Batiste;
New York City Local 010 President Joseph Johnson, Jr.; Manhattan
Psychiatric Center Local 413 2nd Vice President Charles Perry; Brooklyn’
Developmental Center Local 447 Ist Vice President Rajeeyah Muwwakil;
at
Pagesi4° __ THECPUBLIC. SECTOR, Friday, Fabryary, 1) 1988
Staten Island Developmental Center Local 429 President John Jackson;
Region Il President George Caloumeno; State Insurance Fund Local 351
President Harriet Harte; Brooklyn Developmental Center Local 447
President Denise Berkley; and Region II Ist Vice President and
Downstate Medical Center Local 646 President Frances DuBose-Batiste.
Lewis County members ratify pact
LOWVILLE — A new one-year agreement providing a salary increase of 7
percent and other improved benefits for nearly 200 Lewis County employees
was recently ratified by the members of CSEA Local 825.
The new contract, which has also been approved by the Lewis County
Board of Legislators, became effective Jan. 1 and concluded more than seven
months at the bargaining table.
Thomas Dupee, CSEA field representative, served as chief negotiator for
the employees’ committee, which was headed by Local President Fred Tabolt.
In addition to inereased wages, the agreement provides an increase in
uniform and uniform maintenance allowances for deputy sheriffs.
“Although it does not contain some things we had hoped for, it does offer
additional money and some improvements in benefits at a time when the
nationwide economy is feeling the pinch,” said Dupee of the new pact.
“We arrived at the best contract possible under the circumstances, and I
want to acknowledge the efforts of Fred Tabolt, Charles Lavika, Joyce Rice,
Rita Bero, Jim Freeman, Kenneth Walker, and Ramona Salmon, the hard-
working members of the negotiating team.”
McEntee: Reagan's State of Union
address all talk, no action
WASHINGTON — Reacting to President Reagan’s State of the Union
address, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME) President Gerald W. McEntee has branded Reaganomics as a
“neon-flashing, star-spangled, 21-gun fiasco.”
McEntee noted that a report released earlier by AFSCME and the AFL-
CIO projected a $57 billion loss in revenue to state and local government in
1982-84 as a result of cuts already enacted under the Reagan administration.
“President Reagan’s State of the Union message expressed the
administration’s hope and optimism that our nation’s economic woes will be
solved. But, there were no new programs or policies proposed to match the
president’s expectations,’ said McEntee.
McEntee called on the administration and the Congress to propose a
massive jobs creation program to get Americans back to work.
“Twelve million Americans are without a job, and I can assure you that
they don’t think that ‘America’s on the mend’ as the president suggests,”
declared McEntee. ‘Unless the president modifies his positions, we’re in for a
guns and cheese vs. meat and potatoes debate. I agree with President Reagan
that ‘the government must take the lead in restoring the economy.’ But, we
need more than applause lines from the administration, we need action. If the
president won’t propose a substantial jobs creation program, I’m confident
that the Congress will. And the American labor movement will support that
effort.”
By Charles McGeary
CSEA Communications Associate
@ NORTH SYRACUSE — The anonymous per-
son who once said, “If you want something done,
give it to a busy person,” must have had Liz
Wiemeier in mind.
The affable, quick-thinking president of the
North Syracuse School District Transportation
Unit is a veritable dynamo when it comes to ser-
ving the 95 drivers, mechanics and monitors in
her unit.
In the nine years she has been president of the
CSEA unit (one of four in her school district and
t } the 23 units in Onondaga County Local 834),
Wiemeier says she has never been confronted
with more serious problems than the current
threat of contracting out bus service to a private
firm.
“Nothing remains a secret for long in this
district,” Wiemeier began with a wry smile.
“When we learned school officials had talked to
private sector bus companies who pay no taxes
in this district, we decided to swing into action
e and go directly to the entire school board and the
taxpayers.”’
After forming a committee and discussing the
problem with CSEA Field Representative Jack
Miller, Wiemeier began to prepare her presenta-
tion to the school board.
“The more I worked on it, the more I was con-
vinced we had an important message to tell,’’
she said.
“I wanted to stress the importance that every
driver, every mechanic and monitor places on
e the safety factors. I wanted the school board and
every concerned parent at the meeting to know
we live, eat and breathe safety every minute on
roneeewsinsie
North Syracuse bus unit
. (ape up for contracting fight |
the job. Safety is a way of life for us and it shows
in our record. We are proud to say we have the
best safety record in the state. And, to go with it,
we have the best preventative maintenance pro-
gram and the best DOT inspection record in the
state.
“We also wanted board members and parents
to know we (bus drivers) treat our buses as
‘classrooms on wheels.’ We insist on maintain-
ing discipline and encouraging good manners
and courtesy on our buses. We want to create
good habits that will carry over into the
classroom and, hopefully, when they go home.”
In her final preparation, Wiemeier also includ-
ed impressive figures covering the average
length of service of unit members, low employee
turnover rate, and financial comparisons be-
tween local ownership and contracting out.
At the conclusion of her 20-minute presentation
at a recent open board meeting, Wiemeier
received a rousing ovation from the standing-
room-only crowd.
A school official was later heard to say, “It
was a good presentation — one I’m sure required
a lot of time to prepare — but, I’m never surpris-
ed any more by Liz Wiemeier. When she sets out
to do something, consider it done!”
When someone repeated the official’s remark
to Wiemeier after the meeting, she smiled and
said, ‘“That’s nice to hear, but we still have a
long way to go. Now we’re going after more
signatures on those petitions (anti-contracting)
being circulated in the district.”
At last count there were more than 2,000 names
on the petitions, with more coming in every day.
No one in North Syracuse School District is
betting Liz Wiemeier will not get the job done.
ORO SAMARAS OM
MOTH SYRICUE TRUS. MAS: bey
Bot fy
role Many ¥
Steer Rograw mn Sake
SAFETY FIRST — Liz Wiemeier, president of
the North Syracuse School District
Transportation Unit, calls attention to her unit’s
top-rated safety and maintenance record during
a recent presentation at an open meeting of the
school board. Wiemeier heads a unit of 95 bus
drivers, mechanics and monitors, who are
fighting the threat of bus contracting by the
school district.
ALBANY — “Albany County workers are now
suffering a loss of health insurance benefit coverage due
to the ineptness of the county administration,” charges
CSEA Collective Bargaining Specialist Patrick
Monachino.
Monachino, assigned to assit four CSEA bargaining
units in Albany County, says the county illegally
terminated its statewide health insurance plan at
midnight, Jan. 31, and instituted its own plan Feb. 1.
“After months of warning the county that it wasn’t
prepared for the switch, we find that the county was, in
fact, unable to provide health insurance cards and drug
prescription cards to their employees prior to the
transfer date,” Monachino says. “This failure on
management’s part means that current employees and
retirees will be burdened with an out-of-pocket expense
for prescription drugs and possibly other normally
covered charges until the county gets its act together and
distributes the proper cards.”’
CSEA cited one instance in which a county employee
will have to pay $58 bi-weekly for prescribed drugs which
previously only cost the individual $2. The person will
now have to apply for reimbursement of the charge and
wait for the insurance carrier to process the claim.
“Tf that’s the efficient, effective manner in which
county management is going to administer this program,
then our members are certainly not being covered by
‘the same, if not a better program,’ which the county
promised,” said Monachino.
CSEA believed that a formal Public Employment
Relations Board hearing on its improper practice charge
could be eliminated if the parties could agree to a
stipulation of facts concerning the county’s refusal to
comply with a PERB recommendation of this matter.
Since Albany County would not comply to that
stipulation, a PERB hearing is scheduled for Feb. 15.
“We’re going to demand that the county be required
to rejoin the statewide plan, pay our members any
incurred benefit losses, and negotiate the change with us
according to the terms of the Taylor Law,”’ Monachino
says.
PATRICK MONACHINO,
collective bargaining specialist
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Wridbl ; Hebriiary 14), toda T
2 EE EE————————EEeVXKXrrroonneeererererererererererereeeee
Pagecd6'i
tant committees represent the first step in a long chain of lawmaking
procedure.
e In the articles below, these committee’s chairmen and ranking}
minority members talk about their roles, views and philosophies on
state government.
These are the second in a series of legislative committees to be}
profiled in the Public Sector.
Senate Education Committee
By Gwenn M. Bellcourt
Assistant Editor
It took more than four years for the CSEA-
endorsed ‘Alternatives to Austerity’ bill to pass in
the Senate, says Education Committee Chairman
James Donovan (R-47th Dist.,), only to meet
considerable opposition and eventual death in the
Assembly.
“Tt didn’t even die a dignified death . . .no matter
what we do over here, it still has to make it in the
other house,” remarked the senator, who co-
sponsored the bill with Assembly Education
Committee Chairman Leonard Stavisky.
Back on CSEA’s legislative roster again this year
where it is referred to as the ‘‘Contingency Budget”
bill, it’s a proposal which would include such vital
services as lunch programs, health education and
transportation in austerity school budgets, instead
‘of placing them on the ballot as separate
referendums.
Senator James Donovan
Committee Chairman
Senator Howard Babbush
Ranking Minority Member
This bill is one of a number of CSEA legislative
proposals that will come before the committees of
the state Senate and Assembly during the current
legislative session.
Donovan said his earlier bill went through the
gruesome test of public hearings, staff analysis and
partisan conferences. This isn’t unusual, he said,
because this determination of whether a bill
complies with the state education law is a major
part of his role as senate education committee
chairman.
The chairman has complete control over the
agenda. With nine Republicans and six Democrats,
Donovan has a comfortable edge over which bills
get reported out of and which bills die in committee.
Or so says the ranking minority member of this
committee, Senator Howard Babbush, (D-17th
Dist.) “I have little control or influence, except
when the Republicans need votes. Then I rally my
members together.”
Babbush, a four-term senator from New York,
described his role as one of ‘loyal opposition”
tempered by a good working relationship with the
chairman.
Like Donovan, Babbush supported the
“Alternative to Austerity’ bill and advocates
equalizing state aid for districts which operate their
own bus services.
Yet on the topic of Gov. Cuomo’s “Save
Harmless” phase-out proposal in the recently
submitted state budget, both committee leaders
differ.
Donovan feels that Cuomo “‘will get little if any
support in his own party’ for the provision which
grants select school districts the same amount of
funding as the previous year, regardless of student
attendance (a primary factor in the state education
funding formula).
Senator Babbush ‘‘greatly favors’ phasing out
the funding guarantee, as it will ‘equalize
distribution of poorly needed funds,” he explained.
The two committee leaders say they look forward
to a good working relationship with the new
governor and his administration. “I hope the seeds
of friendship the governor is planting will
germinate,’ Donovan analogized. Remarked
Babbush: ‘The new governor is a great asset. He’s
much more accessible than previous governors.”
And the governor’s proposed budget, which was
presented to legislators earlier this month?
The projected 14,000 layoffs of state workers are
“horrendous,” says Babbush and furloughs are
“even nastier.’ While he predicts austerity for the
state work force, layoffs are a “last solution. . . I’d
rather raise taxes.”” He added that massive layoffs
are highly unlikely.
Donovan posed a different approach. The nine-
term senator suggested that public employee
unions “‘sit down with Gov. Cuomo and talk the
matter over,” alluding to a “special influence”
with the governor’s office.
The elimination of Tier III and the Agency Shop
bill are strongly favored by Babbush and strongly
opposed by Donovan. Yet both committee leaders
agree that if the controversial retirement system
doesn’t come up for a vote in both houses this year,
it probably never will.
“Tier III has difficulties because of the
implications of the new budget,” Babbush pointed
out. “We're truly facing a fiscal crisis.”
Page 16
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 11, 1983
. .- BULLETIN. .
ALBANY — Shortly after the interviews with
the ranking members of the Senate Education
Committee were conducted this week, and just
as this issue of The Public Sector was going to
press, the Senate Committee reported an impor-
tant CSEA program bill out of committee and to
the floor of the Senate for further consideration.
The committee reported Senate Bill 1333,
which is CSEA’s “contingency budget bill,”’ out
of committee and sent it to the full Senate. The
proposed bill, of extreme importance to all non-
teaching school district CSEA members, would
establish a procedure whereby school districts
cole tax for items now not austerity budget
items.
The Committee:
An Overview
Legislative committees within the Senate and
Assembly play a major role in the process of a
bill becoming a law.
Both the Senate and Assembly have 30
committees. These committees deal with a wide
and diverse range of topics, from aging to
transportation.
Legislative committees are comprised of a
chairman and members. The number of
members within the various committees range
from eight to 27, depending upon the importance
of the committee and the number of bills that
must be reviewed by the committee.
The main function of a committee is to review
bills which fall within its particular field of
expertise. Committee meetings are usually held
on a weekly basis, with certain bills being
reviewed at the upcoming meeting.
At the meeting, the bills on the agenda are
voted on by the members. There are several
ways a bill is dealt with. The members may vote
to pass the bill, otherwise known as “reporting
the bill” out of committee to first reading on the
legislative calendar. In some instances, usually
at the end of the legislative session, the bill may
be reported directly to third reading for
immediate action by the legislature.
A bill may be reported to another committee
for their review. Or, a bill may be ‘‘held” by the
committee. This means no definite action is
taken on the bill. It is held for further discussion
and may appear on the agenda for action at a
later date. It can also be “killed” in committee.
This term applies when a bill is held in
committee and no action is taken on it. The bill is
he allowed to the floor of the legislature for a
vote.
SENATE EDUCATION
COMMITTEE FOR 1983
NAME ADDRESS
JAMES H. DONOVAN, CHAIRMAN
(R) Utica State Office Bldg.,
Utiea, N.Y, 13501
270 Broadway
Suite 2400
New York, N.Y. 10007
ROY M. GOODMAN (R)
NORMAN J. LEVY (R)
Room 305, Freeport, N.Y. 11520
804 N.Y.S. Office Bldg.,
Syracuse, N.Y. 13202
251 North Ave.,
TARKY J. LOMBARDI, JR. (R)
JOSEPH R. PISANI (R)
JAY P. ROLISON, JR. (R)
JESS J. PRESENT (R)
1779 Middle Country Rd.,
Centereach, N.Y. 11777
25 Westchester Sq.,
Bronx, N.Y. 10461
270 Broadway, Rm. 1002,
New York, N.¥. 10007
KENNETH P. LaVALLE (R)
JOHN D. CALANDRA (R)
HOWARD E. BABBUSH (D)
JOHN D. PERRY (D) 1134 Titus Ave.,
Roches weit
MARTIN M. SOLOMON (D) 2075-861
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11214
GARY L, ACKERMAN (D) 46-07 Kissena Blvd.,
Flushing, N.Y. 11255
CAROL BERMAN (D) 1 Johnson Pl.,
Woodmere, N.Y. 11598
WILLIAM T, STACHOWSKI (D) Room 159,
Donovan Office Bldg., 125 Main
St.,
Buffalo, N.Y. 14203
Lawmaking: An analogy
to collective bargaining |
The Assembly Education Committee
By Gwenn M. Bellcourt
Assistant Editor
Lawmaking is very similar to collective bargain-
ing, says Assembly Education Committee Chair-
man Leonard Stavisky (D-26th Dist.). Both sides
take a position, negotiate a compromise and agree
on a mutual package.
“It may sound simple,’ said the Queens
assemblyman, “‘but it requires avery delicate
balance of interests.” For example, the chairman
cited the variety of organizations where bills
originate — from state and local education agen-
cies, school boards and school supervisors to public
employee unions and parents groups.
As a courtesy, Stavisky will introduce legislation
from any of these sources, but only if he “feels com-
fortable’’ with it’s intent. He added: “I must have a
valid interest in it.”
The Assembly Education Committee handles
anywhere from 700 to 1,000 bills a year. And con-
sidering the size of his committee — a total of 28
members — Stavisky says he can’t be ‘provincial’
in his views.
“T must be fair to all members . . . my role is a
catalyst, an initiator, an advisor, a listener,” noted
the eight-term assemblyman.
In a separate interview, the committee’s ranking
minority leader, Assemblyman John Flanagan
(R-9th Dist.) described himself as a “‘veteran labor
negotiator.”
Flanagan, an attorney who has represented both
school boards and teacher’s unions, notes that
although the Democrats control the agenda, “‘it’s
very much a bi-partisan effort.”
“T put in my demands, they respond or vice versa
and we come up with a solution,” explained
Flanagan, who represents Suffolk County, where
there is a heavy concentration of CSEA members.
Yet a compromise wasn’t reached on the CSEA-
endorsed ‘‘Alternative to Austerity” bill on the floor
of the Assembly last year. Stavisky, who co-
sponsored the bill with Senate Education Commit-
tee Chairman James Donovan, attributes the
defeat to what legislators perceive as a loss of
“voter authority.”
“Education is the only area where voters can
have a say on expenditures. They watch the local,
city, state and federal budget result in increased
taxes. This is their one chance to vent their opposi-
tion to budgets,” Stavisky said, pointing out that
“it’s unfair education is singled out for voter
resentment.”
If passed, the ‘‘Alternative to Austerity’’ bill
again being considered this year would include ser-
vices such as lunch programs, health education and
transportation in a school’s austerity or contingen-
cy budget.
Both committee leaders support equalizing state
aid for districts which operate their own bus ser-
vices, thus putting these schools on par with those
which contract out for bus services. Stavisky notes
that several bills have been passed to narrow this
funding gap.
In related issues, Stavisky termed the ‘Save
Harmless” clause in the state education law a
“mindless grab bag.’’ He said the governor is on the
right track by phasing out the provision, which
guarantees select schools the same amount of
funding as the year before.
“What we’re doing is paying for pupils who have
already graduated,” noted the committee chair-
man. “It can’t be rationalized . . . it bears no rela-
tionship to the number of students, the wealth of a
district or educational needs.”
Flanagan, on the other hand, called for the conti-
nuance of the controversial clause. “I’m a strong
advocate of rural and suburban schools, and these
schools would be greatly harmed,” he added.
Both committee leaders favor the repeal of the
Tier II retirement system and the permanency of
Agency Shop. The projected layoffs of 14,000 state
workers were also an issue of mutual concern for
the two assemblymen.
“The budget will probably be balanced through
ASSEMBLY EDUCATION COMMITTEE FOR 1983
NAME OFFICE
LEONARD P. STAVISKY, CHAIRMAN
(D) 142-04 Bayside Ave.,
Room 836,
Flushing, N.Y, 11354
270 Broadway, Room 738,
New York, N.Y. 10007
167 Main St.,
Room 716,
‘Owego, N.Y. 13827
GEORGE J. HOCHBRUECKNER (D) P.O. Box T,
Room 622,
Port Jefferson Sta,, 11776
210 Post Ave.,
Room 626,
Westbury, N.¥, 11590
1360 Fulton St.,
Room 519,
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11216
EDWARD GRIFFITH (D)
JAMES W. McCABE, SR. (D)
ANGELO F, ORAZIO (D)
ALBERT VANN (D)
STEVEN SANDERS (D)
JOHN R. BRANCA (D)
GLORIA DAVIS (D)
DANI
AURELIA GREENE (D)
Suite D,
Bronx, N.Y. 10456
101 N. Wellwood Ave.,
Lindenhurst, N.Y. 11757
6808 Bay Parkway,
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11204
PATRICK G, HALPIN (D)
FRANK J. BARBARO (D)
NAME
OFFICE
177 Dreiser Loop, R., 3,
Bronx, N.Y. 10475
GEL (D)
MICHAEL J. BRAGMAN (D) 708 S. Main St.,
North Syracuse, N.Y. 13212
DOV HIKIND (D) ‘5212-13th Ave.,
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11219
CYNTHIA JENKINS (D) 226-18 Merrick Blvd.,
Laurelton, N.Y. 11413
126 N. Franklin St.,
Hempstead, N.Y. 11550
BARBARA J, PATTON (D)
WILLIAM J. RYAN (D) 983 Main St.,
Peekskill, N.Y. 10566
ERIC N. VITALIANO (D) 61 Central Ave.,
Staten Island, N.¥. 10301
237 E. Main St.,
Huntington, N.Y.
5102 W. Genesee St.,
Camillus, N.Y. 13031
Room 723, LOB,
Albany, N.Y. 12248
3700 Hempstead Tpke.,
Levittown, N.Y. 11756
1783 New York Ave.,
Huntington Station, N.Y. 11746
8 Free
JOHN J. FLANAGAN (R)
USH (R)
MICHAEL J. HOBLOCK (R)
FREDERICK E. PAROLA (R)
TONI P. RETTALIATA (R)
GREGORY R. BECKER (R)
RAY T. CHESBRO (R) 67 South Second St.,
Ful 3069
JAMES TEDISCO (R) 609 Si
Schenectady, N.Y. 12305
tax incentives,” Flanagan said. Monumental
layoffs are out of the question.”
Stravisky attributed the huge state budget deficit
to President Reagan and his ‘misguided version of
the New Federalism.”
The state is suffering from a recession, not caus-
ed by the governor or the Legislature, but by a loss
of federal aid, Stavisky said, adding that “‘we (the
state) cannot be expected to bail out Ronald
Reagan.”
Assemblyman Leonard Stavisky
Committee Chairman
Assemblyman John Flanagan
Ranking Minority Member
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 11, 1983
Page 17
Persistent efforts of local president help
save Westchester Developmental Center
WINGDALE — It looked like it was going to be a bleak Christmas for
about 300 CSEA employees at the Westchester Developmental Center in
eastern Dutchess County. Local 432 President Gary Eldridge had been told
in April that the center, located on the grounds of the Harlem Valley
Psychiatric Center, would be closed down by Dec. 31.
“What a great present we all thought we were going to get from New
York State,”’ says Eldridge.
But instead of being a Scrooge, the state turned out to be Santa Claus.
Now the campus is not only open, but is in a rebuilding phase, due to the
many months of hard negotiating by Eldridge.
The phase-down toward the eventual closing of Westchester
Developmental Center started last spring. The staff dwindled to about 100 at
its lowest point. During this time, Eldridge started a special task force made
up of CSEA local presidents and management from nearby Wassaic
Developmental Center and Harlem Valley. He wanted those employees who
were due to be furloughed to be allowed to transfer to the neighboring
facilities and be protected during the move.
Through his negotiations, Eldridge was able to have Westchester
employees transfer without any probationary period with accrued vacation
time, and a chance to bid for pass days. Normally, any transfer to another
facility requires that employee to be on a period of probation.
Still, Eldridge didn’t want the Westchester facility to close. He went to
work, getting the backing of the Clients Rights Committee.
Says Eldridge, ‘“‘Those parents knew this facility was better for their
children than any other one their sons and daughters may be sent to. They
received good care here, and the parents exercised their clout to keep our
place from closing.”’
There were nine months of meetings with Westchester’s directors, the
Board of Visitors, the CSEA Region III Labor-Management Committee,
Regional President Raymond J. O’Connor and candidates for political
office, as well as membership meetings.
“We even got great support from the director and people in the
personnel office. I guess they knew if the CSEA employees’ jobs were going,
theirs couldn’t be too far behind.”
In December, Eldridge got word that Westchester Developmental
Center would not close. In fact, a rebuilding stage has begun.
According to Eldridge, fire tunnels, overhead passageways, and other
safety features were improved, ‘‘and the buildings themselves are getting a
good going-over.””
Union files third IP against
military and naval division
‘Parents knew this facility
was better for their
children.’
—Gary Eldridge
PERSISTENCE PAYS — Gary Eldridge, president of Local 432 at the
Westchester Developmental Center in Dutchess County’s Harlem Valley, is
pictured at his desk. Eldridge’s work has not only kept the facility from
closing, but contributed to the renovations and new hirings that are taking
place.
What about those employees who had transferred? Eldridge explains,
“Many of them were unsatisfied working at Harlem Valley and Wassaic.
They wanted to come back here, and a hell of a lot of them did.”’ About 95
percent of those who did transfer came back to Westchester, and Eldridge
credits that to a good working relationship between the union and
management.
“Until Westchester County can build its own facility,” says Eldridge,
“we'll be right here. There are about 26 group homes in the county, but the
people who worked here didn’t want to go into community work. They really
like it here.” ‘
Thanks to the efforts of Gary Eldridge, it looks like they’ll get to work in
Wingdale for some time to:come.
CSEA staff openings
ALBANY — A third improper practice charge
has been filed by CSEA against Major General
Vito J. Castellano and his administration of the
Division of Military and Naval Affairs.
In November, after the Capital Region had
begun an organizational drive for all Albany
area DMNA employees deemed public
employees by PERB Director Harvey Milowe,
DMNA informed all CSEA officers and delegates
in armory locals that they were no longer eligible
to use organizational leave for attendance at
CSEA Conventions, since the ‘Conference of
Armory Employees” had been disbanded.
All CSEA armory local offices and delegates
were charged 40 hours of leave from their
personal accruals for attending the October
CSEA Convention.
“The region has already filed two IPs against
DMNA for its actions against the rights of DMNA
workers who have been determined by PERB to
be eligible for union membership,” John D.
Corcoran Jr., Capital Region director,
explained.
“But this action is against a 25-year-old
established past practice and it shows just how
scared DMNA is of total unionization. If DMNA
Jeadership thinks that CSEA is going to back off
because of this, they are wrong.
“This action will just increase our
commitment to our current armory members
and our determination to organize the other
downtrodden workers in DMNA. It’s about time
that the civilian employees had the same rights
as the generals,”’ Corcoran said.
CSEA looks forward to a PERB hearing on the
IP in the near future. ‘DMNA top brass should
get used to the PERB offices,’’ Corcoran
warned. ‘“They’re going to be spending a lot of
time there.”
applications for the
CSEA is now accepting
position of internal
auditor, — : me
The position, in the union’s headquarters in
Albany, is responsible for reviewing financial
affairs within the union and providing
assistance on budgets and the filing of
required forms in accordance with federal
regulations. :
Qualifications for the position include a
bachelor’s degree in accounting plus one to
two years of experience in internal or public
accounting. A valid driver’s license and car
for business use are required.
Interested candidates should submit a
resume, including salary history, to
Personnel Director, CSEA, P.O. Box 125,
Albany, N.Y. 12224.
Calling CSEA?
Make sure
you have the
right number
Page 18
ALBANY — What a difference one telephone to dois dial 4-0191.
s! Unfortunately, that means they are calling the
ome to CSEA’s attention that for some Driver Education Office of the Department of
reason, numerous state workers mistakenly Motor Vehicles. That number is 474-0191 and is part
believe that the CSEA Headquarters is somehow of the state tieline system.
tied into the state telephone system. Many believe The CSEA Headquarters phone number is e
that if they want to call Headquarters, alltheyhave 434-0191.
Legislature rejects
Suffolk settlement |
Political aspirations one reason,
regional president charges
HAUPPAUGE — Suffolk County CSEA Local 852 was set to resume
negotiations for a contract for 7,000 county workers after the county
Legislature this week — before an overflow audience of about 1,000 CSEA
members — refused to approve the four-year settlement reached earlier
with County Executive Peter Cohalan.
The crowd, which had been complimented by Presiding Officer Louis T.
Howard for their ‘‘very orderly demonstration,” broke into jeers after the
vote went 10-7 against the settlement.
Suffolk Local 852 President Charles Novo angrily denounced the
legislators who killed the settlement, and Long Island Region I President
Danny Donohue declared that they had placed their own political aspira-
tions above all else.
The vote put seven Republican legislators in favor of the settlement, and
six Democrats were joined by four Republicans in opposition.
Some of these, however, may have voted negatively because the
Legislature earlier voted down a resolution to deny equal terms to exempt
employees. Much of the debate centered on the disproportionate effect of
granting equal pay increases to highly-paid appointees.
The settlement, overwhelmingly approved by the union earlier, had pro-
vided a 7 percent increase for 1982, and an increase in the salary scale of 14
percent this year and 8 percent in each of the following two years.
Many legislators conceded that the proposed settlement corrected
many inequities of the previous contract.
The Democratic minority solidly objected that the settlement would
cost too much money. However, the Legislature’s own budget analyst,
Donald Gruin, had reported that the county had sufficient funds already
budgeted for the 1982 and 1983 terms and could pay the 1984 and 1985 in-
‘Suffolk employees have
waited for 13 months,
What the Legislature
has done borders on the
unconscionable.’
—Region | President
Danny Donohue
DANNY DONOHUE
creases unless there was a sharp decrease in the county’s expected
revenues.
Strangely, the coalition that blocked the contract also had blocked the
proposed repeal of the law guaranteeing equal terms for exempt personnel.
Novo and Donohue called on Cohalan to place the budgeted increases in-
to an interest-bearing money-market account so that those to whom it
rightfully belongs will receive some compensation for the delay.
Declared Donohoe: ‘Suffolk employees have waited for 13 months.
What the Legislature has done borders on the unconscionable.”’
‘Legal program restores rights fo 3 L.l. members
HAUPPAUGE — The CSEA Legal Assistance
Program has posted three significant victories in
recent weeks in the Long Island Region.
The cases involved securing a $4,996 raise for a
Nassau County employee, reversing a disciplinary
penalty for a Smithtown worker and securing the
right of 14 Suffolk County probation officers to take
a promotional examination.
The cases illustrated the range of employee
rights enforced by legal action by CSEA — and also
the patient determination of CSEA lawyers. All of
the cases involved repeated court hearings.
In the Nassau County case, Supreme Court
Justice Francis X. Becker in Mineola ruled that it
was “‘self-evident” that CSEA was correct in
@ demanding the top-step pay for a member who had
heen rehired in a lower grade after having been laid
off.
CSEA protested, and then went to court, after the
county rehired the member in 1979 at step 1 of a
lower grade.
The judge found that the CSEA contract
guaranteed that an employee rehired from a
preferred rehiring list ‘shall receive the salary
closest to but not higher than the salary he was
@receiving” before his layoff.
The ruling means the employee will be boosted
from a step 1 rate of $12,373 a year to the step 8 rate
of $17,369, with about $15,000 in back pay that he had
been denied,
The judge marvelled that “significant by its
absence is any attempt by the county to justify their
failure to give any effect to the contractual
provisions. ...”’
e The Town of Smithtown worker would similarly
gain back any back pay since January 1980, along
with restoration to a higher grade as a result of the
CSEA legal defense.
Originally, the town highway commissioner had
fired the employee, but CSEA won a court order
reversing that. Then the commissioner demoted the
employee from equipment operator to laborer, and
CSEA won a second ruling setting that aside.
The Appellate Division of Supreme Court told the
commissioner that a suspension for 30 days is the
maximum that would be allowed in view of the
minor and technical nature of the charges. “The
penalty of demotion is so disproportionate as to
shock one’s sense of fairness,” the court ruled.
The member must be restored to his equipment
operator grade with more than $15,000 in back pay
that he had been denied.
Fourteen Suffolk County probation officers were
ordered to be included on a civil service eligible list
because CSEA took their case to Supreme Court
Justice Joseph Jaspan in Hauppauge Supreme
Court. :
They had originally been barred from the test on
Nassau local offers free
GARDEN CITY — Nassau Local 830 has an-
nounced it will offer a free ‘prep’ course design-
ed to coach its members on how to score well on
civil service examinations.
The program was conceived to help about 500
provisional clerks for whom a qualifying ex-
amination was being prepared. The county has
not been able to make any but provisional ap-
pointments in this category since 1972 because of
protracted federal litigation challenging the
the ground that they lacked the required two years
in grade. But CSEA argued that they had been
improperly graded as probation officer trainees for
two years despite state regulations limiting the
trainee period to one year.
The difference determined whether they met the
two year requirement,
First, a CSEA suit gained the right for the 14
members to take the examination for senior
probation officer. But then it was necessary to
return to court to force the county to recognize their
test scores and include them in the list of eligibles.
At showdown time in court, the county settled the
case by agreeing to recognize the 14 members as
eligibles.
The Nassau case was argued by Barry J. Peek of
the firm of CSEA’s regional attorney Richard M.
Gaba. Both Suffolk cases were handled by CSEA
Regional Attorney Lester B. Lipkind.
exam prep course
Nassau Civil Service Commission's
examination.
The course will be useful to other members
preparing for promotional examinations, ac-
coring to Jerry Donahue, president.
Members interested should contact the CSEA
office, 1101 Stewart Ave., Garden City 11530, or
use the inter-office mail, requesting to he
registered.
The course is tentatively scheduled for March
12,
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 11, 1983 Page 19
Proposal gets unanimous OK
at Winter Conference
ROCHESTER—A full-scale drive to aid the needy in western New York
will be underway soon in Region VI, to be conducted in memory of Tom
McDonough, CSEA executive vice president who died unexpectedly on Jan.
16 of an apparent heart attack.
Members at the region’s recent Winter Conference unanimously ac-
cepted a proposal by Region President Robert L. Lattimer to start a drive to
collect canned goods, clothing and other non-perishable items to replenish
supplies of charitable groups involved in aiding the unemployed, elderly and
homeless.
“This will be a fitting tribute to Tom,” Lattimer said of the drive that
will seek to ‘‘ease some of the suffering brought on by the current and conti-
nuing economic decline in western New York.”
Lattimer suggested that each of the region’s 14 counties be consdered a
unit for purposes of the drive, and all locals within a county coordinate their
efforts for collection and distribution of donated items.
Region VI Director Lee Frank said field representatives will be
available to assist in coordinating the collection and distribution activities,
and also suggested that local officers contact Ron Wofford, regional com-
munications associate, for publicity assistance when plans have been
stabilized. ;
Other suggestions included forming a local committee or special task
force and contacting the local United Way for further suggestions on
disbursement of materials.
Lattimer said the drive will “‘be a positive indication to the general
public that public employees are indeed concerned about their fellow
citizens and are quite willing to assist those in need.”
In other business, Region VI Attorney Ronald L. Jaros outlined im-
proper practices as defined under the state’s Taylor Law for region
delegates.
His presentation included review of types of improper practices by an
employer as well as an employee organization, distinctions and similarities
of IP’s versus grievances, and statutes of limitations on both.
Procedures and practices, practical considerations, staff and attorney
functions regarding IP’s were also covered.
ROBERT LATTIMER ...
‘public
employees are indeed concerned tribute,
about their fellow citizens.’
TOM MCDONOUGH... a fitting
Details and changes in insurance programs were outlined for state and
county CSEA members by Tim Mullen, CSEA director of insurance.
Regional representatives elected to the statewide nominations commit-
tee are Sheila Brogan, region secretary and Local 003 member, Tom
Warzel, Local 602, and Barbara Bienicki, Local 427.
The Winter Conference weekend wound down with an appreciation din-
ner for volunteers in the eastern portion of the region who worked in the
recent election campaign.
Region VI Political Action Committee Co-chairman Florence Tripi
thanked all in attendance for their “hearty support for the CSEA political
and legislative program.”
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 11, 1983
ee A Pe cL AACR A ER RS PAB
BULLETIN. . . BULLETIN
McDermott new
CSEA executive
vice president
Joseph E. McDermott, CSEA Capital Region president
and an international vice president of AFSCME, has been
elected statewide CSEA executive vice president by the
union’s Board of Directors as this issue of The Public Sector
went to press.
McDermott was named to fill the unexpired term of the
late Executive Vice President Thomas H. McDonough, who
died unexpectedly of an apparent heart attack on January
16. Mr. McDonough had been re-elected to a 3-year term last
May.
Under a provision of the union’s Constitution, the
statewide Board of Directors fills a vacancy in the office of
executive vice president by appointing a successor from the
union’s six regional presidents.
C. Allen Mead has been sworn in as the new Capital
Region president succeeding McDermott. Mead was
elevated to the regional presidency from his former position
as Capital Region first vice president.
Detailed information on both McDermott and Mead will
be published in the next issue of The Public Sector.
