Official Publication of The Civil
Service Employees Association
Local 1000, American
Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees
Vol. 4, No. 11
Friday, February 26, 1982
ae,
CISSIN 0164 9949)
CHIEF NEGOTIATORS of tentative 3-year con-
tract discuss details of new agreement at a press
conference. From left are CSEA Counsel and chief
negotiator James Roemer; CSEA President
William L. McGowan; and Meyer S. Frucher,
director of the Governor’s Office of Employee
Relations.
| STATE AGREEMENT
ALBANY — After three months of hard
bargaining ending in a 48-hour marathon
negotiating session, CSEA and the State of New
York have tentatively agreed on a new three-
year contract that would increase the-current
salary schedule by about 32 percent over three
years, end the controversial Performance
Evaluation system, restore regular increments
and longevity payments, and maintain current
health benefits and leave accruals.
In a February 27th press conference, CSEA
President William L. McGowan termed the
agreement, “the best contract ever negotiated
with the State of New York” and ‘“‘the first real
Tentative agreement
HIGHLIGHTS - Pg. 14
gain on the cost of living for state workers in a
long time.”
CSEA Chief Counsel James W. Roemer, Jr.,
chief negotiator for the talks, and Meyer S.
Frucher, Director of the Governor’s Office of
Employee Relations, joined McGowan in prais-
ing the agreement.
“Tt took a lot of hard work and tough bargain-
ing, but we have won the kind of contract that our
(Continued on Page 16)
-Furloughs? NEVER!
ALBANY — By the overwhelming majority of 98
percent, state employees represented by CSEA
have backed their union’s vehement opposition to a
legislative proposal to ‘‘furlough” state employees.
As of February 25th, more than 34,000 state
workers had responded to a CSEA survey on the
issue and the actual results showed 33,486
employees opposed to the furlough scheme. About
330 employees favored the furlough idea, often
citing their lack of seniority and the likelihood of
their layoff in the event of a reduction in force, and
an additional 334 members said they had no opinion
on the issue but would back CSEA’s position.
“This is the most overwhelming response that we
have ever received to a survey,’ said CSEA
President William L. McGowan, whose strong
opposition to the furlough proposal was affirmed by
the rank and file survey. ‘“This proposal would open
a Pandora’s box that would haunt us forever.”’
President McGowan ordered union lobbyists to
inform legislative leaders of the membership’s
opposition to the issue and asked that
arrangements be made to dump the tens of
thousands of survey cards on the desks of
legislators to let them know that the members of
(Continued on Page 16)
Delegation will be largest at convention
ALBANY — As Local 1000 of the American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, CSEA will be sending 223
delegates to the biennial AFSCME convention set for June 21 through
June 25 in Atlantic City, N.J.
CSEA’s delegation, the largest single delegation to attend the
AFSCME Convention, will be elected by the union’s rank-and-file
membership during the month of April. Nominations for candidates for
that election will be taking place on March 6 at regional nominating
meetings being held in each of the union’s six regions. Details of the
location and procedures for nominations appeared on page 20 of the
Feb. 12 edition of the Sector and on page 20 of this edition.
After candidates have been nominated, procedures are followed and
ballots are prepared, CSEA members in good standing as of March 6, 1982
will be mailed ballots for the election of AFSCME delegates on April 1,
1982. Members will then be able to mark their ballots and mail them back
for counting.
Ballots will be picked up for counting from the post office on April 23
(ballots received after that date will not be counted) and actual
canvassing of ballots will take place on April 26 following verification of
the ballots.
Winners will be notified by mail and results will be printed in the May
7, 1982 edition of the Public Sector.
The elected delegates will travel to the convention site on June 20 and
will attend five days of lengthy AFSCME delegate meetings where
amendments to the AFSCME. Copstiiision and various resolutions on
“AFSCME policy wig be considered.
Saegenionem
Union charges Watertown attempted to ngiese
terms and conditions beyond contract limit
WATERTOWN — Charging the Watertown City Council imposed _ . It is expected that both sides will be asked to resolve the issues at an
conditions, terms and hours of employment beyond terms of the contract, informal PERB hearing in the near future. If no agreement is reached, a
CSEA has filed an Improper Practice on behalf of 250 city employees formal hearing will be arranged and a final decision rendered later by the
represented by the City of Watertown Unit of Jefferson County Local 823. hearing officer.
According to Tom Cupee, CSEA field representative for the unit, the
charge stems from the Nov. 16, 1981, city council imposition which followed an
impasse in negotiations for a 1981-82 contract which would have carried
through June 30, 1982.
“We contend that although the city had the right to impose a contract, the
law clearly states that it shall be imposed for one contract year which covers
July 1, 1981, through June 30, 1982,”’ Dupee stated.
“In its resolution of imposition the Watertown Council has declared that
Article 11, Sections 1 and 2 of the contract dealing with early closing hours at
city hall during summer months, and the payment of compensatory time for all
not affected by the early closing hours, shall only be effective through Dec. 31,
1981. It is our interpretation the city has imposed terms in. excess of one year,”
Dupee said.
Clarence town employees have new contract
CLARENCE — The Town of Clarence Unit of Erie County Local 815
has reached agreement on a one-year contract.
The town employees will receive a 9 percent wage increase as well as
an increase in mileage alicwance to 22 cents per mile.
Full payment for unused vacation pay will be granted upon
retirement, death or other separation from service, and a four-hour
minimum call-in guarantee, at the applicable straight or overtime rate
was established.
Contract language improvements allow for class action grievance
filing by the union and bulletin boards for posting of union notices.
2 ee
| NORTH TONAWANDA CON-
| TRACT SIGNING — As members
" of the City Employees CSEA Unit
look on, North Tonawanda Mayor
Betty Hoffman signs new contract.
Aj Standing from left are Edgy
. . Skovenski, Paul Szczepzniec, Russ
ma Horvath, Brian Hess, Unit Presi-
AOR ss _— dent David Maziarz and Ben
= Dziadzio.
sn
North Tonawanda peste nohiiss dental plan
| NORTH TONAWANDA — The North Tonawanda City Employees Unit
| of Niagara County CSEA Local 832 has reached agreement on a two-year
contract that provides the 150-member unit with the CSEA Dental Plan.
Unit President David Maziarz said the unit’s negotiating team “burned
the candle low many evenings”’ to convince the city’s negotiatiors of the
benefits of the dental plan.
Other benefits of the pact, which was ratified by an 80 percent margin,
include a 6 percent salary increase each year, plus restoration. of a step
increment. The increment addition represents another 4 percent increase
for about 60 percent of the bargaining unit’s members.
The agreement also provides increased vacation days, based on |
seniority, and an additional holiday. A revised Blue Cross-Blue Shield plan
is provided for retirees, based on sick leave accumulation.
ces
|
#
a
The negotiating team included CSEA Field Representative Thomas B. |
Christy, Jeri Mazur, Brian Hess, Russ Horvath, Edgy Skovenski, Jim
Kissel, Paul Szezepzniec, Ben Dziadzio, and Unit President Maziarz. a
285 bOe OU EGErE YI
"THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, F
CDSE thd
ry 26,1982
Page 2
Caring and sharing keys to raising kids,
says CSEA couple with ‘outstanding’ daughter
ALBANY — Cleaner Ernestine
Gailliard and her husband Joseph, a
janitor, have some definite ideas
about parenting.
“You have to definitely set some
time aside for your children,
regardless of how hard it is,” says
Gailliard. “When you get involved
and concerned with what your
children are doing, and you show
them love and caring and concern, it
wears off on them.”
These days, the Gailliards, long-
standing CSEA members, are feeling
especially sure and proud of their
parenting abilities. And with good
reason. Their 26-year-old-daughter,
Dorothy Theresa, was recently
selected one of the Outstanding Young
Women of America for 1981. The
awards program recognizes young
women “who give their time, talents
and unselfish service to enrich the
quality of American life.”
A business teacher at ‘Voorhees
College in South Carolina, Dorothy
worked her way up from a business
school certification program in
honor. A soft-spoken, mild-mannered
gentleman, he mused, “‘I feel proud I
had a hand in helping her to achieve
an honor like this, mostly by raising
her with love and through guiding her
on the right path.”
A grade 9 supervising janitor and 25
years a state worker; Gailliard works
a7a.m.-to-3 p.m. shift at OGS. He has
been a shop steward for Local 660 for
the past three years, and previously
served as the local’s operational
services representative for a number
of years. He comes from a large and
closely-knit old Albany family that
was known for its church- and
community-mindedness, as well as
for being informed of the important
issues of the day.
Mrs. Gailliard, a native of Mobile,
Ala., also hails from a large family,
where, she says, “we always did
things together and went places
together. And my mother always had
time to listen to us. That’s
important.” With 18 years of state
service to her credit, Mrs. Gailliard
currently works a 5 p.m.-to-l a.m.
shift.
secretarial administration to a
master’s degree in business
administration from the State
University at Albany. While at the
university, she started a ministry
PROUD PARENTS — State workers Joseph and Ernestine Gailliard of
CSEA Local 660 proudly display a graduation photo of their daughter
Dorothy, who was recently chosen one of the Outstanding Young Women of
America for 1981.
When do husband and wife see each
other? ‘‘That’s a good question,” says
Mrs. Gailliard with a laugh, adding,
“on weekends.’’ Quips her spouse:
“Oh, I don’t sleep much.”
In addition to Dorothy, the
gospel group and coordinated
religious services on campus. She has
also worked with economically-
disadvantaged students and with
troubled teen-age girls.
e Her mother recalls being
“shocked” when the award letter ar-
rived at the Galliards’ Albany home.
“J wasn’t expecting anything like
this,” she said. “Not that I figured she
couldn’t do it. She’s a good teacher
and her students are crazy about her.
I’m very, very proud.”
A grade 4 night cleaner for the
Office of General Services, Mrs.
Gailliard beamed as she displayed the
letter and award certificate. She
remembered how she started her
daughter on the typewriter ‘“‘when she
was 7 years old,” and said she and her
husband had to ‘“‘save a lot’ to help
send her to college.
Joseph Gailliard waxed
philosophical when contemplating the
Gailliards have a 31-year-old
daughter, Donna, who works for the
state. The two stress they have never
compromised their parenting beliefs.
“(Love and sharing and
understanding — these I’ve always
believed in,” said Gailliard.
Suffolk County local opens the way
for establishing countywide seniority procedure
HOLTSVILLE — Two Suffolk County employees
who were in serious danger of being laid off due to
budget tightening have found new positions thanks
to dogged work by CSEA Local 852.
Along with 200 other county workers, Wallace
Vogel and Mal Shapiro were handed layoff notices
the day before Thanksgiving. While most of the
layoffs were made unnecessary by the county’s
high attrition rate and many employees exercised
“bump” and “retreat”? procedures, Vogel and
Shapiro faced special problems which made their
positions more precarious.
Vogel, then a senior illustrator with the traffic
control unit of the Department of Public Works, had
a “unique title’ — his was the only job of its type in
the department. As for Shapiro, he had recently
transferred into a job as an accountant in the parks
department. Since accountant was an entry level
position, he lacked the seniority to bump other
accountants.
What made matters worse for the two CSEA
members was that the county insisted that bump
and retreat procedures could only be exercised
within departments, which precluded them from
retreating to positions they had held in other county
departments.
The county’s effort to eliminate them from the
payroll was counteracted by Local 852’s insistence
that the county obey civil service rules and
regulations. In fighting for and winning new jobs
for Vogel and Shapiro and other members in
similar situations, Local 852 may have taken the
first steps in establishing countywide rather than
departmentwide seniority.
“Most of the layoffs we were able to handle by
attrition and bump and retreat, but there were
unique titles — medical photographer, computer
analysts, illustrators — that were difficult to
place,” said Charles Novo, Local 852 president.
“We had to force the county to go to the state
Department of Civil Service, who agreed with us
that civil service employees could bump
provisionals in other departments.”
Local 852 set up a team to help reduce the number
of employees that would be laid off. Its members
included Grievance Representative and Recording
Secretary Sue Smith; Executive Vice President
Shirley Germain; First Vice President Kevin
Mastridge; and Sergeant-at-Arms Sam Tadiccicco.
The team argued that the employees should be able
to bump and retreat countywide. At the same time,
it began an item-by-item search for jobs held by
provisional employees to be established by the
county.
“Our contention was that civil servants on
preferred lists could take any position in the county
occupied by a provisional employee, whether it be a
promotional or an open competitive position,” said
Smith.
After insistent arguing by Local 852, the Suffolk
County Civil Service Department decided to seek
an opinion from the state Civil Service Department,
which upheld Local 852’s position.
Vogel located a provisional employee working as
an illustrator in the health service department.
“We told the health department they were faced
with a choice: if they did not hire Mr. Vogel, which
is their right, they had to vacate the position
because a list had been established,” Smith said.
“J bumped a woman,” Vogel said. “‘She was a
good worker. Unfortunately, she didn’t take the
civil service test. If she had, I would have been out
of a job, not her.”
Mal Shapiro found an empty position in the
Department of Public Works.
Explained Smith: “They had a vacant position. If
the department didn’t fill it, they would most likely
lose it next year because of the tightening budget.
We pushed for them to fill it.”
Through their efforts, Local 852 has whittled
down the originally planned layoff of 600 employees
to 25 actual job losses. The local also has been
instrumental in having three resolutions drafted,
now before the Suffolk Legislature, which would
restore the jobs of the 25 employees as well as those
of all victims of bumping.
CSEA is also examining layoffs on a case-by-case
basis to see if it can bring a lawsuit to force the
county to establish countywide seniority as county
policy, Novo said.
a
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 26, 1982
Page 3
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 for $5 by the Civil Service Employees
Association, 33 Elk Street, Albany, New York 12224.
Second Class Postage paid at Post Office, Albany,
New York.
Send address changes to The Public Sector, 33 Elk
Street, Albany, New York 12224.
Publication office, 1 Columbia Place, Albany, New
York 12207. Single copy price 25¢.
Gary G. Fryer—Publisher
Roger A. Cole—Editor
Tina Lincer First—Associate Editor
Gwenn M. Bellcourt—Assistant Editor
Published every other Friday by Civil Service
Employees Association, 33 Elk Street, Albany, N.Y.
12224 (518) 434-0191.
TAKE THIS JOB & SHOVEL IT!
COORDINATED \
ESCALATOR
RETIREMENT \
f° Dergpant? . °
RBeruy tine 8°
—~ KEEPING —
(Peat Ty pegs
: IM WSLS.
Union urges lifting of sexual preference bias
ALBANY — No state worker should be discriminated against for any
reason, including that of sexual preference, according to a memo sent to state
offices as a result of a CSEA demand.
Union representatives asked for an expanded anti-discrimination clause
during ongoing negotiations for a contract to replace state contracts expiring
on March 31.
After some reluctance, Meyer S. Frucher, director of the Governor’s
Goetz congratulated
AHEARTY WELCOME comes from both sides for Dorothy Goetz following
her installation as president of the Town of Huntington CSEA Unit. At left is
Suffolk County Local President Charles Novo, and at right is Long Island
Region I CSEA President Danny Donohue.
State treasurer to tour
upstate union offices March 15-30
ALBANY — CSEA statewide Treasurer Jack Gallagher is continuing his
series of visits to region and satellite offices to meet with members, answer
questions and hear complaints.
Visits are scheduled as follows:
Region IV office in Albany, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., March 15
¢ Region V Office in Syracuse, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., March 16
* Utica satellite office, 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., March 17
¢ Region VI office in Buffalo, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., March 22
* Rochester satellite office, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., March 23
¢ Binghamton satellite office, 9 a.m. - 1 p.m., March 24
Canton satellite office, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., March 29.
e Plattsburgh satellite office, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., March 30.
Plans are also being finalized for another series of seminars for local and
unit treasurers. The first in this series is scheduled for March 6, as part of the
Region V workshop in Utica.
4 THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 26, 1982
Office of Employee Relations, sent a letter to all state departments and
agencies saying “‘an individual’s sexual preference should not be a criterion to
deny state employment or promotion.”
The memo is advisory in nature, without the strength of legal enforcement
behind it, until the Legislature passes a law forbidding such discrimination.
While the state Human Rights Law does ban discrimination based on
gender, race or national origin, it does not prohibit job discrimination based on
sexual preference, thus the state’s reluctance at actual contract language on
the subject.
Efforts to provide such protection for New York City municipal employees
have failed several times before that city’s council. :
Gov. Hugh Carey has said he will not issue an executive order or submit
legislation prohibiting job discrimination against state employees based on
their sexual preference.
Union representatives have said they will look for compliance with the
state’s be judged nonetheless. “Our feeling has always been that an employee
should be judged solely on the quality of the work he or she does,”’ said William
L. McGowan, CSEA president.
Members mourn Jean McAvoy death
ROCHESTER — Fellow CSEA members and friends of Jean K. McAvoy of
Monroe County Local 828 are mourning the death of the union activist, who died
at her home Feb. 7 following a lengthy illness.
Mrs. McAvoy, a 17-year employee of Monroe Community College, had
served as Local 828 first vice president, college section president and Monroe
County employees unit first vice president.
She served on three contract negotiating committees and was ‘‘one of those
rare individuals who gave freely of herself and her time for the betterment of
CSEA without asking for or wanting the recognition due her,” said Unit
President Florence Tripi.
“Our union’s loss is great and I have lost a friend and confidant,”’ she said
of the college employee who was honored with a Distinguished Service Award
in 1981, and many other awards during her career.
Region VI President Robert L. Lattimer said Mrs. McAvoy “‘was a real ac-
tivist and a dedicated member who contributed greatly to her fellow members.
She will be sorely missed.”
CSEA Field Representative Thomas Pomidoro said Mrs. McAvoy was
“the backbone of Local 828 and will never be replaced.”
Region Il steward training seminar slated
QUEENS — Metropolitan Region II is sponsoring a 2-day training seminar
for shop stewards on Friday and Saturday, March 26-27, at the Adria
Conference Center here:
The seminar will be the third in a series designed to better prepare shop
stewards to meet their responsibilities. Stewards who did not attend a previous
seminar sponsored by the region this year are eligible to attend.
In addition to workshops, the seminar will include a banquet Friday night
during which CSEA President William L. McGowan will be keynote speaker.
CSEA Executive Director Joseph Dolan, Region II President George
Caloumeno and Regional Director George Bispham are other listed speakers.
Shop stewards interested in attending should contact their local
presidents.
72 OVO
~ State of union Is
one of readiness
Last month the President of the United States delivered his
State of the Union address to Congress. At about the same time,
the Governor of the State of New York was issuing his State of the
State message to the Legislature. Neither speech provided much
for public employees except bad news.
Simply stated, Ronald Reagan wants to continue to gut the
federal budget at the expense of low and middle income
Americans and, at the same time, dump some of the nation’s most
troublesome social programs into the laps of the states.
Governor Carey, meanwhile, was saying that the state can’t
handle what it has now and he was proposing more austerity,
limited aid to local government, new taxes for schools, inadequate
pay raises for state workers and the slashing of thousands of state
jobs.
: CSEA will, of course, fight like hell to defend public services.
The people of this country fought and sacrificed to get decent
services from their government and they deserve it. For millions
of Americans, public services are the difference between making
it and not making it in a souely, where bag ladies can freeze to
death on the streets of New York because nobody cares.
Let’s face it, in the current political climate, even
maintaining the status quo in public services will really test us.
But we have been tested before and as we proved earlier this
month by saving 1,500 employment service jobs in this state from
the Reagan axe; unity, determination and action can still bring
victory.
The challenge facing us is tough, but the “‘state of our union”
is better than it ever had been before. CSEA has become a real
union instead of what it used to be and we now have the tools we
need to do the job of protecting our members.
The strength of any union rests with the determination of its
members and their belief in the union. CSEA members have more
reason to believe in their union than ever before. From the
enactment of public arp Ov ee OSHA to creation of our first
Employee Benefit Fund, this union is moving and the membership
is responding to our progress. That makes us a stronger union and
that, in turn, is good news for all of us.
Spalty is beginning to give way to activism. A recent survey
of state employees on a legislative pee osal for furloughs resulted
in 40,000 responses within two weeks. inety-eight percent of the
responses agreed with the position of the union!
When the working people of America decided to demonstrate
against Reaganomics on Solidarity Day, CSEA asked _ its
members to be a part of it and 9,000 union members and their
families rode the buses to Washington. When the jobs of 1,500
Labor Department workers were on the line, we asked our
members to speak out. Thousands of letters protesting the cuts
landed in Congress. Just one week ago, our union sponsored a
legislative briefing in Albany and 400 CSEA activitists gave up
their Saturday to attend.
Our union is moving and the membership is moving with us.
Let’s be honest. For 65 yeas our union had a reputation, right
or wrong, as a social club. I honestly believe that is changing. No
one is completely satisfied with the new CSEA, including me, but
we are a much better union than we were even five years ago and
we're getting better every day.
President’s.
Message |
Fraternally,
Vea
wie! McGOWAN
CSEA is now part of the American labor movement. We have
affiliated with our brothers and sisters in AFSCME, AFL-CIO.
We are politically poet OSHA, agency shop, reduction in
Taylor Law penalties, defeat of Civil Service ‘‘reform,”’ are just a
few examples of our growing political strength. For the first time
we spoke out on Presidential politics in an effort to prevent
Reaganomics from ever being born. A President of the United
States came before our Delegates to seek your support. Perhaps
even more importantly, scores of candidates for state and local
office — your future bosses — are coming to our union seeking our
political support.
We have a real education program in our union now for the
first time to train your leaders to negotiate better contracts and
improve their protection of your rights. Soon we will have asafety
department to watchdog the tough new public employee
occupational safety and health law that this union had enacted.
e’re using sophisticated communication techniques to fight
the attacks on our jobs and the erosion of the pubes opinion of us
that makes it so easy for pppuetunists to make us Whipping boys
for society’s problems. We have a new, colorful Public Sector that
is much better (and far less expensive) at telling you what your
union is doing than the Civil Service Leader it replaced.
CSEA created an Employee Assistance Program and a
statewide network of trained volunteers to identify members with
personal problems that could lead to job problems. EAP is saving
jobs and improving thousands of lives.
Our Employee Benefit Fund, born from state negotiations,
brings prescription drug, dental and optical insurance to 107,000
state workers and it’s spreading into local government contracts
as quickly as we can negotiate it. Already 20,000 local government
members are protected and that number is growing.
CSEA is now the “real union” that we all needed. And we’re
peeing, better and stronger every day.
I believe our improvements are being recognized by our
members and they are responding with increased interest and
activity. We are becoming a more active union and a strong union
and that means better contracts and more protection for us all.
The challenges facing us are formidable. But so is our
strength. CSEA isn’t what it used to be. We are an active,
prngtestive and damn fine labor union. We’ve still got a lot to do,
ut working together we’ve done a lot already.
Our nation and our state have their problems, but the state of
our union is good.
ine soba Htauaiyet &
’ Secretary, the Nominating Committee is seek-
<i additional applications for candidates for _
t office in accordance with ‘the €SEA Con-
stitution and By-Laws. Interested members «
-*; have until April 15 to file an official Request to
~ Be A Candidate form with the committee.
_ Forms are available from CSEA Local
. — CSEA's Statewide Nominating
ALBANY
fol ninations w
Details are available from the e of the
Executive Director. aa
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 26, 1982 Page 5
LOCI
\L 814: #
One unit
ratifies. .
Sizeable raise,
dental plan featured
in Dutchess pact
POUGHKEEPSIE — A 14.5
percent raise plus increments, a
dental plan, and a modified Agency
Shop, are features of a two-year
contract ratified by members of
the Dutchess County Unit of Local
814.
The agreement was reached in
the closing days of the old year,
and ratified by the union on Feb. 8,
and by the county on Feb. 11.
The raise will add 7 percent to
the salary schedule this year, and
7.5 percent in 1983. Longevity
payments will hereafter be
awarded on an employee’s
anniversary date as will
increments beginning in 1983.
The fully non-contributory dental
plan is a first for nearly 1,400
employees, and will be
administered by the CSEA
Employee Benefit Fund.
The Agency Shop provision,
which Unit President Scott Daniels
calls ‘‘a major step for us as a
union,”
only.
Agreement has also been
reached on such items as:
initiating, on a trial basis, ‘‘annual
performance appraisals’’;
allowing sick leave to be used for
illness in immediate family;
permitting sick leave to be used in
units of one hour for visits to
doctors and dentists; allowing
county to change health insurance
carrier, but guaranteeing that
level of benefits be maintained;
increasing mileage payments from
18 cents to 24 cents; setting aside
$20,000 each year for tuition
payments; and requiring union
consent before the county may
contract out.
Negotiations were led by Unit
President Daniels, Collective
Bargaining Specialist John
Naughter, and Charles Decker,
William O’Brien, David Lawson,
Maria Pesola, Charles Rexhouse,
Mary Rich, William Lasko,
Kenneth Stanton and Kay Mackey.
will affect new employees
POUGHKEEPSIE CITY WORKERS line up to express their apparent
disfayor with the Common Council’s imposed wage settlement.
Page 6
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 26, 1982
GETTING READY to release details of the puree County pact are,
from left, Unit President Scott Daniels, Collective Bargaining Specialist
John Naughter, and negotiating team member Mary Kich.
In defense of Agency Shop:
Local 814 president responds
to Poughkeepsie editorial
. POUGHKEEPSIE — Dutchess County Local 814 president Ellis
Adams has come to the defense of Agency Shop in response to a Jan. 7
editorial. _
The newspaper spoke in favor of a tentative two-year contract
reached by the county executive and the CSEA, but strongly opposed
initiation of an Agency Shop for employees hired after Dec. 31, 1981.
Adams’ response follows:
“Tn the recent Gannett Newspaper series ‘New York power: Who's
got it?” the power of the press to ‘set the agenda” was noted. Your Jan. 7
editorial “Mandatory union dues?” was a prime example of “setting the
agenda.” Unfortunately, the
Cm Ses a ale let me set the
record straight.
“The Civil Service yees Association is legally required to
represent all members of the bargaining unit, whether or not they join the
“Bach and every unit employee has received wage increases and
_- improved fringe benefits because of CSEA and those workers who paid
union dues, Each and every unit employee is entitled to the services of
CSEA (1 tation in grievance hearings, legal services, etc.) even if
they do not pay union dues.
“Having new county employees pay an Agency Shop fee, equivalent
to union dues, does not deprive them of their right to join — or not to join
—a union. It simply guarantees that every person pays his or her fair
“You do not give out free newspapers. Why do you expect us to give
* out free representation?”
FIELD REPRESENTATIVE JOHN DEYO speaks to the press it the
union’s all-out attempt to reach a fair compromise with the Common Council.
Next to Deyo is Local 426 President Harold Ryan, who also took part in the in-
formational picket.
... another gets
a forced contract
‘WE WANT A CONTRACT!’ — City of Poughkeepsie workers
make themselves heard during an informational picket which
followed a Common Council’s announcement of the imposed
settlement.
DUTCHESS COUNTY LOCAL 814 PRESIDENT ELLIS
ADAMS and Unit President Scott Daniels join the ranks in
protest of the Common Council’s decision.
Council’s action
‘moral bankruptcy,’
Says unit pres.
POUGHKEEPSIE — The Common Council of the
City of Poughkeepsie has deeply angered its some 160
CSEA-represented city workers by imposing a
retroactive 1981 contract settlement calling for only a
$500 lump sum payment.
After taxes, the retroactive imposed wage
settlement averages out to only $341.50 and falls far
below a retroactive 9 per cent raise recommended
by an impartial factfinder. And, since the
$341.50-after-taxes payment is a one-time lump sum
payment, it will not be added to the salary schedule
either. Weekly paychecks will continue to be the same
as they were in 1980.
“There is no justice here,’’ Dutchess County
CSEA Local 814 President Ellis Adams told members
of the Common Council. minutes before they took
action to impose the settlement. That meeting on
February 2 was preceded by a spirited period of
information picketing by city employees) chanting
“We want a contract!’’ They have-been without one
since Dec. 31, 1980.
Workers were equally angry because. the
settlement, proposed by acting City, Manager John St.
Leger and’ supported. by Mayor Tom Aposporos,
seriously erodes both grievance and. disciplinary
rights of workers. In, fact, approximately 40
employees have lost job protection as,a result.
An outraged Unit President Don Murphy. called
the Council action ‘moral bankruptcy.” Murphy
lauded Second Ward Alderman Hooker Heaton and
Fifth Ward Alderman Columbus Stanley-for voting in
opposition to the imposed settlement.
City workers, ironically, are still without a
contract since the legislative action affected 1981 only.
So, they expected to go back to the negotiating table,
although their confidence in the collective bargaining
system has been shaken.
HE P i rida ary 26, 198:
GRHE PUBLIC SECTOR riday., February, 26, 179?
Public worker
unions see
steady growth
WASHINGTON — Unions and
employee associations of state and
local government workers continued
their steady growth, with their
membership rising from 4.9 million in
1979 to 5.1 million in 1980, the Census
Bureau reports.
Almost one-half — 48.8 percent — of
the nation’s 10.3 million full-time
public workers at the state and local
level were members of unions in 1980,
the report said.
There were 34,751 labor-
management agreements in effect
between 14,302 state and local
governments and their employee
organizations in 1980.
The Census Bureau said teachers
represent 40 percent of all full-time
state and local government
employees. In 1980, 65 percent were
union members.
Copies of the report, ‘‘Labor-
Management Relations in State and
Local Governments: 1980,” Special
Studies No. 102, are available for $2.30
each from the Supt. of Documents,
U.S. Government Printing Office,
Washington, D.C. 20402.
Utica site of
winter conference
UTICA — Region 'V officers,
delegates and other interested
members can look forward to a full
agenda of. educational workshops,
seminars, and informative speakers
when they gather for the winter con-
ference March 5-7 at the Utica
Sheraton Inn.
According to James J. Moore,
president of the 20-county region
which represents nearly 40,000 public
employees, the three-day meeting’ is
the first CSEA regiorial conference to
be held in Utica. More than 300
delegates and guests, including a
number of high-ranking state and in-
ternational union officials, are ex-
pected to attend.
The weekend activities will begin
Friday with registration from 3-8 p.m.,
followed by staff-conducted
workshops covering available ser-
vices for state, county and school
employees from 8 until 10 p.m.
A full agenda is slated for Saturday,
leading with a Political Action Com-
mittee meeting at 9 a.m. and a session
for retirees at 10 a.m.
Two educational workshops are
scheduled for 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. The
morning session will deal with ‘Union
Busting,” ‘New Majority” and
“Right to Work” issues. The after-
noon segment, conducted by Mr.
Chester Galle, will discuss ‘“‘Profes-
sional and Personal Skills
Development.”
Karen Burstein, director of the
New York State Consumer Protection
Board, will be the
dinner in the +
The conference wil
ing a regional busir meetin
day morning
t speaker at
A VIEW of the Harlem Valley Secure Center from the inside out.
DISCUSSING JOB OPPORTUNITIES are, from left to right, Secretary Joan Bryer,
CSEA Field Representative Larry Natoli and Youth Division Aide Clay Harbby.
Coming of age
at Harlem Valley
Secure Center
Detention center quietly marks first anniversary
WINGDALE — Feb. 5 marked the
first anniversary of the Harlem_
Valley Secure Center, and no one took
much notice. There were no candles,
no fanfare and no controversy. The
state Division for Youth (DF Y) facili-
ty had quietly come of age.
The detention center, which houses
youths convicted under the state’s
Juvenile Offenders Law, was born in
controversy, with opposition to it
quite vocal. According to one
employee at the center, “it came
mainly from people who had second
homes nearby, and who didn’t work in
the valley.”
But for many who do work in the
valley, the center quickly took its
place as an important and vital
employer. Situated on the grounds of
the sprawling Harlem Valley
Psychiatric Center, and one of
several alternative uses being made
of the Harlem Valley campus, it oc-
cupies a series of buildings which
would otherwise be vacant — ghosts
of deinstitutionalization.
The director of Harlem Valley
Secure Center, John Lum, believes
community acceptance of the facility
was pragmatic, based on the hunger
for jobs in this eastern corner of Dut-
chess County.
Many of the approximately 150
While other sources of college
TEACHING SOCIAL STUDIES class is John Fell. A full academic program is
offered at the detention center.
CSEA-represented DFY employees
there previously worked in nearby
state institutions, including the
Wassaic and Westchester
developmental centers and the
Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center.
They cite the challenges as well as the
promotional opportunities available
at the detention center, where a new
CSEA local is currently being
established. (Previously, the center’s
employees were part of another local
in the region.)
While the CSEA members are
financing are drying up, CSEA has
pleased about their new oppor-
tunities, Director Lum says he is hap-
py to have employees with ex-
perience, people who care about
“working with tough human beings.”
Currently, the center is divided into
four units, averaging 17 clients each.
Lum noted the need for beds is so
great, and the pressure on DFY to get
serious offenders off the street so in-
tense, that new clients arrive on the
same day residents are paroled.
The state Legislature is currently
looking into expanding the facility,
CSEA scholarship applications to be available in March
scholarships to the greatest number of people,”
WALKING THROUGH the center
are, from left to right, YDA Sandy
Colon, Larry Natoli and Facility
Director John Lum.
which would double both the number
of residents and the number of
employees. Says Lum: ‘‘We will be in
dire straits if the Legislature doesn’t
give its OK.”
In the meantime, life at the center
proceeds, with various construction
projects, such as new gymnasium,
underway. A typical day starts at 7
a.m, and ends around 9:30 p.m. YDA
Doug Long describes the role of a
youth division aide as being
everything from a ‘‘junior
psychologist to a big brother.””
YDA Sandy Colon notes that the
felons, some as young as 13 years old,
put in a full day of schooling, voca-
tional training, recreation and ‘‘quiet
time” too, all geared toward prepar-
ing them for the pressures of every-
day life. A major emphasis is put on
job survival.
said Dominic Spacone,
something that may help take the bite out of inflation, if you have a high
school senior who qualifies.
The union provides 18 scholarships, at $500 each, every year to its
members and their dependents. CSEA’s Scholarship Committee, which
makes the decisions about the scholarship finalists, awards three
scholarships for each region.
The selection is made on the basis of several factors, most important of
which are financial need, academic performance, class rank, test scores
and outside activities.
Scholarships are awarded to graduating high school seniors only and
are given for only one year. ‘That way we feel that we can give out the
Poye ® ‘THE PUBiic SECTOR, Fride,, February 26, 1982
chairman of the Scholarship Committee.
Applications for the awards will be available beginning in March at
regional offices, CSEA headquarters and from local presidents. If you have
a child who will be graduating from high school this year, you can call your
local president or regional office for an application.
Applications are also available by writing to: Scholarship Committee.
33 Elk Street, Albany, N.Y. 12224. There is no charge for submitting an
application. The application deadline is April 30.
Successful candidates will be notified in early June.
“Last year, we had over 600 applications for 18 awards,” said Spacone.
“It’s an enthusiastically-received program, and we expect even more
applications this year.”
— FIFTH ANNUAL
Local 1000
AFSCME
AFL-CIO
‘GEC
ALBANY
HILTON HOTEL
Legislative Seminar csr:
MORE THAN 400 CSEA MEMBERS gathered from around the state for a day-long briefing on the union’s legislative and political action program.
Tell it to Washington
STATE PAC CHAIRMAN JOSEPH
CONWAY welcomes members,
government representatives and union
leaders to the Fifth Annual CSEA
Legislative Seminar.
CSEA Statewide President William L. McGowan unveiled a
plan to open the doors of the union's regional and satellite
offices so members may telephone the White House and
register their protest of the new Federalism.
CSEA Chief Lobbyist James Featherstonhaugh urged
members to personally contact and question any elected official
even remotely involved in the fiscal budget process: town
supervisors, county executives, state legislators. Individually or
collectively, he said, your vote counts.
CSEA Legislative and Political Action Committee (PAC)
Chairman Joseph Conway warned of tough times ahead for
public employees. ‘We must speak out in one voice, not only
loud enough to be heard in Albany, but in the Halls of Congress
as well."
Photos and stories
Gwenn M. Bellcourt
Assistant Editor
ALBANY — The message was crystal clear for members
who gathered here from around the state last week for
CSEA’s Fifth Annual Legislative Seminar: Tell it to
Washington.
Members must band together to restore the millions of
dollars lost in federal aid to New York, President McGowan
said, adding that “our elected officials need us to stay in
office.”
McGowan said he hopes to open up regional offices soon for
phone calls to Washington. The union leader said he was
prompted to take such a measure because he was “‘sick and
r
PEC breakfast highlights
ALBANY — The New York State Public
Employee Conference (PEC), comprised of
the state’s 32 major public employee unions,
held its fifth annual legislative breakfast at
the Quality Inn here earlier this month and
presented PEC’s 1982 legislative program to
the governor and the state’s top elected
officials, stressing PEC’s growth in
membership to over 900,000 public employees.
Topping the agenda were the elimination of
Tier III and revision in the state’s Taylor Law-
namely the abolishment of the two-for-one
penalty, the injuctive notice and the
Triborough doctrine.
Speaking on behalf of the PEC members,
Chai an Barry Feinstein of the
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
offered the organization’s support to the
governor's proposal to fund improvements in
the criminal justice, transportation and the
\ State’s infrastructure systems. CSEA Presi-
dent William L. McGowan, a co-chairman of
PEC, was among top union officials present.
Governor Hugh Carey, admittedly pleased
to address the conference again this year,
citedhis record for signing into law legislation
aimed_at bettering the lives of the public
employee.
The examples the governor gave were
agency shop, the occupational safety and
health act (OSHA), the state toxic substances
act and the retirees supplementation bill.
This year, Carey said he plans to submit
legislation intended to improve
unemployment benefits, disability insurance
and workers’ compensation benefits.
In other matters, Carey called for strong
opposition to President Reagan’s proposed
1983 budget. The governor said the
President’s program ignores the realities of
the deepening recession, and consequently
promotes the ‘‘long term structural
weaknesses in our economy.” )
tired of talking about the doom and gloom. Its time we pulled
our forces together and did something about it.””
Chief Lobbyist James Featherstonhaugh reiterated this
point. ‘Talking to your congressmen about the budget is a
perfect example of the squeaky wheel getting the grease,” he
said.
In introducing CSEA’s 1982 legislative package, the
lobbyist directed the more than 400 members in attendance
to study the bills and work hard, especially this year, for
their passage in the state legislature.
Featherstonhaugh termed Comptroller Edward V.
Regan’s sole trusteeship of the state’s $17 billion retirement
fund ‘‘an issue with the people” and stressed, “we deserve a
say in the system.”
While the comptroller has sponsored a bill which awards
control of the fund to a board of trustees, Featherstonhaugh
said the qualifications for a potential trustee board candidate
are inflated and unrealistic.
“This board must be representative of labor,” he said.
After all, this is your money we’re talking about.’’
The lobbyist assured members that the Tier III retirement
system — which requires those employees who started on the
state payroll after 1976 to contribute to their own pension — is
definitely going to be changed this year. The question, he
said, is just how much.
The position of all the public employee unions in New York
State is to restore the non-contributory Tier II system.
Featherstonhaugh said this was ‘‘an emotionally charged
issue,” and added, “‘if you want to roll it back, show your
legislators you want it done.”’
CSEA STATEWIDE PRESIDENT WILLIAM
McGOWAN, right, discusses the agenda with a member
during the lunch break.
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 26, 1982 _
~ Page 9
Local 1000
“AFSCME
AFL-CIO
New Federalism foundly assaulted
by union, government leaders —
U.S. REP. SAMUEL STRATTON, far right, denounces the Reagan's Administration’s 1983 budget
proposals during the morning session of the Fifth Annual CSEA Legislative Seminar. Other BERNARD RYAN, CSEA’s director of legislative and political action, stresses the importance of
featured speakers include, from left, Cornelius Foley, N.Y.S. Assembly Ways and Means ~ the membership’s active in the 1982 legislative program, From
Committee budget director; Eugene Tyksinski; N.Y.S. Senate Finance Committee assistant betes Joseph Conway, CSEA Legal Counsel Stephen Wiley, Ryan and CSEA Chiet Lobbyist
lames Featherstonhaugh.
secretary and Eric Kuntz, state deputy chief budget examiner. 4
CSEA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR JOSEPH DOLAN, left, listens as U.S. Rep.
Samuel Stratton chats with a member. To Stratton’s left is his wife, Joan.
REGION If PRESIDENT GEORGE CALOUMENO, right, takes a few
minutes from the seminar to talk with Local 413 Second Vice President
Charles Perry, left, and Local 413 First Vice President Fred Daniels, center.
Page 10 THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 26, 1982
Stratton: Reagan causing worst inflation,
a recession since Great Depression
ALBANY — “‘Are we in a recovery 12 months later?
Hell no, we’re in the largest recession ever,’ claimed
U.S. Rep. Samuel S. Stratton (28th Dist.) in criticizing
President Reagan’s economic recovery program.
The forum for Stratton’s remarks was the Fifth Annual
CSEA Legislative Seminar held Feb. 20 at the Albany
Hilton Hotel. Some 400 CSEA political activists attended
the day-long session.
Heading up a panel of government fiscal planners,
Stratton revealed that Reagan’s ‘‘new Federalism” is un-
popular with the new session of Congress.
Members of both Houses now realize how damaging
these proposals are to their constituents, Stratton said.
“You don’t win votes by impoverishing your own
district.”
Stratton reverted back to Reagan’s campaign promises
of balancing the federal budget, eliminating inflation and
stimulating the economy with tax cuts.
‘“‘Reagan’s vision back then was one of living in a land
of milk and honey where the streets are paved with gold,”
the representative said with a laugh.
“But where has it gotten us? We have the worst case of
inflation — and the largest recession — since the Great
Depression,” Stratton said, assuring members the new
Federalism is ‘going nowhere”’ in the present Congress.
Dealing specifically with the impact of federal budget
cuts on New York State was Eric Kuntz, state deputy
chief budget examiner. Kuntz predicted the ‘“‘real’’ new
Federalism will begin in 1984 when New York will use up
the $28 million trust fund earmarked to ease the transfer
of federally-funded programs to the state’s jurisdiction.
A total of 40 programs will be rolled back Kuntz said,
and New York does not have the resources to restore jobs
and services inevitably lost in the transition.
The trust fund is really a large bloc grant, Kuntz ex-
plained. ‘Despite the new Federalism code words, we in
state and local government are faced with irresponsible
and irreversible budget cutting.”
On the other hand, Eugene Tyksinski, assistant
secretary to the New York State Senate Finance Commit-
tee, shrugged off the new Federalism issue as “too much
.gloom and doom.”
Tyksinski criticized Gov. Hugh Carey’s $1 billion
revenue proposal now before both Houses of the state
legislature.
In these hard times, Tyksinski said, the Senate is highly
skeptical of increasing sales, gasoline and liquor taxes as
well as car régistration fees. ‘‘We’re here together to try
and see it through,” he said.
The last panelist to address federal cutbacks issue was
Cornelius J. Foley, budget director for the Assembly
Ways and Means Committee.
Foley explained the New York budget must be balanced
before the State can absorb the expense of the federal pro-
grams proposed in the Reagan Administration trade-off.
To accomplish this, Foley said, either taxes must be rais-
ed or existing programs will have to be cut.
Commenting on this year’s proposed state budget,
Foley concluded: “I only wish I had last year’s to work
with — as bad as that one was.””
E’s director of political and
JOSIAH BEEMAN, AF:
ne strategies to counter
legislative affairs, @os
Reagan’s new Federalisn}
‘Reagan took anfito onomy that was
recovering from fife 1980 recession and
managed to cont that into the worst
downturn since t## Great Depression.
In effect, the patfint walked into
Dr. Reagan’s off e to be treated for
a cold and is noympeing wheeled
out in an iro!
—Josi
LOCAL 012 MEMBER CL4MA FOSTER asks a question of
one of the speakers at theffifth Annual CSEA Legislative
Seminar. e e
“If you cut public Services,
you cripple the private sector’
ALBANY — As the Reagan Administration becomes
increasingly more defensive of its “new Federalism’
plan, union leaders at the Fifth Annual CSEA Legislative
Seminar were clearly taking the offensive.
Speaker after speaker posed new strategies for
turning the fiscal ball over and putting it back on the side
of the public worker.
According to Josiah Beeman, director of political
affairs for the American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees (AFSCME), recent opinion polls
indicate public confidence in Reagan is slipping.
The nation is beginning to realize Reagan has a
“hang-up about the rich,” Beeman said. “Those who
aren’t rich are worried about losing their jobs. . -high
interest rates. . how they’re going to send their kids to
college.”’
As a result, AFSCME, in cooperation with the U.S.
Conference of Mayors has proposed a 10-point plan to
rebuild America.
“Industry needs an educated work force to operate its
factories and offices, a system of water and sewage lines
to power and clean its plants and a well-maintained
system of roads, bridges and mass transit to get its goods
to market,” Beeman said, outlining AFSCME’s economic
stimulus plan.
“All of these services are provided by the public
sector,” he added. ‘‘If you cut these public services, you
will cripple the private sector and produce the horrendous
economic problems we now confront.”’
AFSCME International Vice President Dominic
Badolato addressed this issue, adding that the most
effective way to get the message across is by uniting and
speaking as one.
With approximately 400,000 public employees in New
York State and an average of three votes per household,
Badolato said the state’s legislators have to listen. ‘Your
vote is their lifeblood,’’ he said.
AFSCME International Vice President Joseph
Bonavita of Massachusetts agreed. He said the nation’s
budget projections are ‘‘made in a vacuum,” and unless
the people speak out, “we will find even more
indifference in Congress.”
Bonavita stresses that AFSCME and CSEA must
commit themselves to the “faithful execution of our
union’s programs.”
A question-and-answer session followed the speakers’
addresses. Most of the members’ questions dealt with
state-by-state comparisons of CSEA’s legislative
proposals. *
Photos and stories
by
Gwenn M. Bellcourt
Assistant Editor
UNION LEADERS — From left, Dominic Badolato, AFSCME International
Vice President, Connecticut; CSEA Statewide President William
McGowan; and Joseph Bonavita, AFSCME International Vice President,
Massachusetts exchange views before addressing the afternoon session of
the seminar.
REGION V PRESIDENT JOSEPH MCDERMOTT, right, makes a point
curing a conversation with members at the Fifth Annual CSEA Legislative
eminar.
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 26,1982 Page 11
TARRYTOWN — The North
Tarrytown Pump Station is a perfect
example of an old adage at work:
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
So says union representative Susan
Wein, referring to improvements
currently underway at the plant,
which pumps three million gallons of
raw sewage daily to Westchester’s
Water Pollution Control Plant in north
Yonkers.
It was CSEA who apparently gave
Westchester County the will to find
the way to make the much-needed
improvements.
Ms. Wein, who chairs the county
CSEA unit’s health and safety com-
mittee, exposed unsafe working con-
ditions their in the Dec. 4, 1981 issue of
“The Public Sector.”
Pictures in a full-page layout pointed
to access roads laden with potholes
and crevices; a phone with a long
cord set outside so employees could
escape high noise levels when they
had to make a call; barrels that had to
be hoisted from 50 feet to be emptied of
rags and other matter.
At the time, Ms. Wein was quoted as
saying: “If things don’t go smoothly
at the pump station, there’s always
the specter of disaster. Major
Exposé
prompts
changes ,
at North *
Tarrytown
. Pump
Statio
RTE te
fil
ae
A QUIET PLACE — This soundproof room, under construction, will give
employees a quiet spot away from the din of machinery at the North
Tarrytown Pump Station.
problems mean that raw sewage is
dumped, after being chlorinated,
directly into the Hudson River. So it’s
important that the 10 employees
regularly assigned there have the
best working conditions possible, and
that is the message which CSEA has
been trying to send to Westchester
County.”
Chief Plant Operator Pete Hilliard
reports the county finally got the
message. He credits newly-appointed
Superintendent of Maintenance Tony
Landi and Assistant Engineer Toni
Olenik with turning things around and
making the facility ‘a showcase.”
Says Hilliard: ‘‘We can talk to them
and they listen.”
Solutions to making the plant a
better and safer place to work were
basically simple, yet ingenious. For
example:
e Noise levels, which were
measured last fall as being
“hazardous,” have been significantly
reduced. Employees can hear each
other talk now. The solution? Some
plywood, some insulation and the
building of a ‘“‘closet”’ to encase noisy
seal water pumps.
@ A soundproof room is now under
construction so employees can escape
dat yobisl SOTI¢
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 26, 1982
MAPS FHI
remaining noise and have a quiet
place to do paperwork, eat lunch, take
a break or use the telephone.
Previously, employees were going
outside to eat or take a break; during
cold weather, they sat in their cars
with the motor running to keep warm.
e Improved access to the plant has
been secured by regaining the right-
of-way through an adjacent private
road. Previously, access to the plant
was via a dirt road which looked like
the surface of the moon, and which
once prompted Ms. Wein to ask at a
labor/management meeting, ‘How
can you build a plant you can’t get
to?” Nick Spano says ‘“‘the old road
was terrible.’’ Morale was hurt, ac-
cordingly, but no more since
employees no longer have to worry
about car damage.
e@ The men no longer have to remove
a protective railing to hoist barrels
from the bottom of the plant, 50 feet
below. The barrels are filled with rags
and other matter collected when the
influent is screened as it enters the
plant. Instead, Maintenance
Mechanic Ray Wasiczko cut an
opening in the railing so it swings
open. His tools were simple — ‘‘a
spring, some pins, and a wheel I
found.”
barrels easier and safer.
PLANT IMPROVEMENTS — A simple combination of plywood and
insulation (above) has helped muffle deafening noises caused by “seal
water pumps.” Shown is the “‘closet’’ put together by county workers. At
left, Pete Hilliard and Principal Maintenance Mechanic Ray Wasiczko show
off the swinging rail they improvised to make the disposal of matter-filled
PROGRESS REPORT — Susan Wein,
head of the county CSEA unit’s health
and safety committee, and Pete
Hilliard, chief plant operator, talk
about progress made since unsafe
working conditions were exposed in
“The Public Sector.”
2
Fuel-saving
suggestion leads
to cash award
for state
auto inspector
ALBANY — Ek
leven m i
aie fence sigeestion award wine
Hoe in facath of January have
‘Dumping’ — a growing tragedy
CSEA has long been
care for the mentally il Serie advocate of decent layoff
Three years ago, the wnion's the mentally retarded. wane for mental retardation and mental
eclngh Re Eg beat
eee eee einai auth ee meniatly tne administration's [pei oad og mae
@ | the union’ utions and into the str problem grows. Syndi urn to dumping, the
3 efforts eets. From recent}; . Syndicated Columnist Rich: ‘
Memorandum,” an was born the ‘‘M ntly wrote a stirri chard Cohen
i , dministrati ‘Morgado cor tirring account of th ,
dumping and provi 5 ration blueprint t msequences of society’s di e real life
P provide decent ‘0 end handi y’s disregard for th
handicapped. Recent! care for the mentall; capped. We thought you sh - the mentally
slidin s ntly, however, the state ly about the proble should see it. It says a lot
back into Se or tas waned eabaiide employees se Se ad dat ne ata a ues the
it, dumping is a tragedy i r how you look
ly in what we all believe i
isa
Budget for 1982, Gov. Carey is again proposing mass
compassionate humane society.
By RICHARD COHEN:
A street person died,
and we all watched
— Recently, 4 street and
for
liberties. You
nets over peop!
away to institutions.
preferred it, st
was there that she
in water from me’ be
that she died. Policy
We have the er daughter that
themselves.
through some crac
But really wha
1 At the end. was predic
right to be protected from
Tt seems Rebecca Smith fell
« between the concern
her health and the concern for her civil
cannot, after all, just throw
le willy-nilly and take them
People have a right to
their
crazy:
t happened to Mrs. Smith
table. It was bound to happen.
nthe country decided
Mrs. Smith was one!
SI essed in virtually as
money on social
that was hardly the case. 8
layers of clothes and if she was like many thi
street people, she sme!
combination of the odor an'
sense. She said ov
did not want to leave her home on
od and a city
Lots of people
Her neighbors
Red Cross knew
In a sense, a neighborho
watched Rebecca Smith die.
knew what was happening
knew, And the police. The
because it notified the city and the city
dispatched a social worker and, later, a
psychiatrist. He said Rebecca Smith was
schizophrenic, but the poor woman died
before the courts could order her into an
institution. She must have been very. very
cold.
But in a larger sense, the nation watched,
too. It goes without saying (mostly because
noone wants to ong the things
that happea whe! t is that
people die. They
wants them to;
service that once
This is what happen:
services or police servi
s_ whe
ices. We all recognize
services. Peop
You can count on it.
Sure, there are other factors. You can
take the circumst
death and conven
policy, You can del
nauseam the wi
tion. Mrs. Smith, it tur
of institutions most of bi
psychiatrist she saw was ™
had seen nor was that doc!
diagnose her as Jpizophrenic
e a semini
And we can debate the conflict betwe
the right that
ed. badly. The — service prost
id the dirt must things — def
belief, The Smith re
words that ¢ adeno shrug of U
ats! that enough
but too ex!
ances of Rebecca Smith's
ar on public
again and ad was not visi
a
ople have to be a bit crazy
at it would s|
‘ams ai on other
jense, for t
presented w
he shoulders national feeling
‘was not only more than enough,
pensive as We
iD
acciden|
constantly canvi
street people, an
go to the hospital righ
were in no danger Aft
not that no one knew a)
tragedy 1s that every’
Smith died one day, Ma
York Times
ntioned sinct
de the front page of
the next and has
e, As far as we
Hall, pounding’
know how it is
crazy, pathetic
know, no one 1s
on the door, demanding to
that a woman, 4 poor,
women, is allow eze to death in a
nation that sends rockets into space to take
pictures of distant planets. Her death is
accepted. We are told that these things
happen.
And sometimes, T suppose, they do. But
pen because of indifference
ifishness it is nO accident —
f our hands. Rebecca Smith,
after a weekend when she
‘ker. She was
fine on Friday, b
were a different mi
was hypothermia.
The reason was cold
atter, The cause of death
cash.
Copyright 1982, The Washington Post
en Com
Reprinted with permission.
THE PUBLIC R
PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 26, 1982
Thomas Marsha!
1 i ll, au i
eae inspector i eee
poles Tose D in Oneida, has Bes
tas faded for developing a a
eal lo salvage gasoline th
Lad cars and other state ee
y les before they ai ees
ee re sold as
eee suggested the purchase
caddy,” with cay see
e gas is
fom te pie of the old Pcie
haere a a newer vehicles. Accor-
eat ‘i ite police estimate, a
ely 5,000 gallons of fuel a
year are re
procedure. ecovered through this
Other i
au ARSC Bens of the January
$100 — Barbara Stickle
. . 3
uc eane, Department ae mathe
vet les, Albany, for developing a
re effective and timely method
Tees correspondence; e
ane K. Cohn, senior clerk,
Rie nt of Transportation,
bat nes wa recommended a time-
vent roces ue for maintaining in-
— Helen Grabowski
eee io ar ener
€ a_time-savi ;
kecping personnel pea) as
uw — Karen Herman, nurse, Office
oN ental Health, Creedmoor, Queens
Naaee Arlene Armstrong, senior
Senet APHeL, Office of Mental
Heal , Albany; Elvira Somma and
ae Johnson, typists, Workers’
ang aevant Board, New York City;
Ley Moller, typist, Department
Pircieniek'R, Jolmaun Investigate
ae of State Police, as aa
ad eatrice Wilcox, principal cl: la
ice of General Services Albany. :
2 the Employee Suggestion Pro-
8 , which gives cash awards f
uggestions that help streamlin a
routine procedures and improve s
vice A the public, is administ Sot iy
be Denar nen of Civil Service. Ae
card 6 (0 Joseph A. Valenti, presi-
dent of the state Civil Service Com-
antsal more than 42,000 suggestions
pale een submitted since the pro-
Sah ae 1947, with a total of
state crblrces. ase ate
A word of thanks
HAUPPAUGE
4 — Danny De
Present uy CSEA Region f, srry a
man
expressed their DY ose oa tan
oven mother’s passing, aac
ere were so many a
calls from all over the Shate that tts
Hoppesle for my family to thank
SVERTONG personally. It wa
santa ing to know that in a time f
w, we had so many friends.” ‘
Page 13
CSEA/State tentative agreement highlights
General Salary Increase
First Year — Effective April 1, 1982, a 9% across-the-board salary in-
crease added to base pay and the salary schedule.
In order to provide the 9% across-the-board salary increase and to
lessen the impact of layoffs, the State has been given the authority to in-
stitute a “lag payroll” during the first year of the contract. The “lag
payroll” means that the State could delay issuing paychecks by one day
each payroll period during ten consecutive bi-weekly payroll periods. The
one bi-weekly paycheck owed to employees under this procedure would
be repaid at the time each employee separates from State service at the
higher salary they would be earning at the time of separation.
Second Year — Effective April 1, 1983, a 5% across-the-board salary
increase added to base pay and the salary schedule in effect on March 31,
1983.
Effective September 1, 1983, a 5% across-the-board salary increase
added to base pay and the salary schedule in effect on March 31, 1983.
Third Year — Effective April 1, 1984, a 5% across-the-board salary in-
crease added to base pay and the salary schedule in effect on March 31,
1984.
Effective September 1, 1984, a 5% across-the-board salary increase
added to base pay and the salary schedule in effect on March 31, 1984.
Additional Compensation Provisions
1. A one-time, lump-sum payment to employees eligible for such pay-
ment pursuant to Section 7.13 of the current agreement equal to six-tenths
of one percent of base salary to be paid prior to June 30, 1982. This pay-
ment recovers the loss resulting from the COLA provision in the third
year of the 1979-82 contract. It is not added to base pay but is a one-time
payment.
2. A one-time partial lag recovery payment in the amount of one per-
cent payable in December of 1982. Employees separating from State ser-
vice prior to the payment date by reason of retirement, death or an ap-
proved leave of absence will receive such payment on a prorata basis.
Increments
The performance evaluation system that exists in the 1979-82 collec-
tive bargaining agreement has been discontinued. A new four increment
salary schedule will be effective April 1, 1982 and thereafter which will
provide annual increments to employees on their anniversary date of
employment contingent only upon ‘‘satisfactory performance.”
Longevity Payments
During the second year (1983-84) of the agreement, all employees at or
above the job rate of their position for five years or longer will receive a
one-time, lump-sum longevity payment i in the amount of $500. Such lump-
sum payment is not included in base pay and is payable on or about
December 1, 1984. Employees who separate from State service prior to
December 1, 1984 for reasons other than retirement, death, or an
approved leave of absence are not eligible to receive such longevity
payment.
During the third year (1984-85) of the agreement, all employees at or
above the job rate of their position for five years or longer will receive a
one-time, lump-sum longevity payment in the amount of $750. Such lump-
sum payment is not included in base pay and is payable on or about
December 1, 1985. Employees who separage from State service prior to
December 1, 1985 for reasons other than retirement, death, or an
approved leave of absence are not eligible to receive such longevity
payment.
The compensation provisions over the three years of this tentative agree-
ment result in pay increases ranging from 31.89% (for those employees not
eligible to receive increments or longevity payments) to approximately 50%
(for those employees who would receive three full increments but no longevity
increment). This agreement provides a full 10% increase in salary schedule
going into the third year of the contract and another full 10% increase in the
salary schedule by the end of the contract. This means that the amount of the
lag payroll feature during the first year is fully recovered in the salary
schedule by the end of this contract. Additionally, each employee will receive
another repayment of the first year lag upon separation from State service at
the higher salary rate being earned at the time of such separation.
This agreement maintains sick leave accruals and personal leave at
levels presently in effect for all present and future employees.
The State and CS will also create a special sick leave monitoring
system designed to identify potential abuse of leave use without disrupting
normal use for legitimate reasons.
Health Insurance
The agreement continues the same health insurance coverage for
employees and dependents. The impact of any premium increases after
July 1 2 will be negotiated.
anksgiving Day and Christm:
Employe equired to work on d observed as the T si
d Christmas Day holidays by the State as employer, will receive if
their option additional cash compensation for time worked or compen-
satory time off. Such additional cash compensation for each such full day
worked will be at the rate of one and one-half times their normal rate of
compensation. Such additional compensation for less than a full day of
work on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day will be prorated. In deter-
mining the rate of compensation geographic, locational, inconvenience
and shift pay as may be appropriate to the place or hours worked will be
included.
Saturday Holiday Observance for Employees
Working Less than Full Time
In the event a holiday falls on a Saturday, and another day is not
designated to be observed as a holiday, employees compensated on a per
diem, hourly or annual salaried basis who are employed at least half
time, and who are expected to be so employed continuously for nine
months without a break in service exceeding one pay period, and who are
scheduled to work on the Friday immediately preceding the Saturday
holiday, shall be granted prorata holiday leave as if the holiday had fallen
on the scheduled Friday workday immediately preceding such holiday.
Overtime Pay
Payment for scheduled overtime work shall be made by the end of the
second bi-weekly payroll period following the payroll period during which
such overtime work occurred.
In addition to the present overtime meal allowance, employees who
are ineligible for overtime pay shall receive an overtime meal allowance
of $5.50. Additionally, in the Institutional Services Unit, an overtime
meal allowance of $3.50 will be paid to employees who are required to
work two consecutive full shifts.
Stand-By On-Call Rosters
Present provisions shall be modified to provide 1242% of daily salary
for employees who remain available at least four consecutive hours
whether or not they are actually recalled to duty. During the second and
third year of the agreement, the 1242% shall be increased to 15%.
Travel Allowances
Mileage reimbursement for use of personal vehicles on official State
business continues at a rate of 23 cents per mile with the rate subject to
reopened negotiations once during the life of the contract.
When employees make available their personal vehicles to transport
clients or residents of State facilities or to transport building or construc-
tion materials, they will be reimbursed at a rate of 30 cents per mile for
such use of their personal vehicles. The Governor’s Office of Employee
Relations will recommend to the Department of Audit and Control, a
mileage reimbursement for such use of personal vehicles on and about an
employee’s work location be expedited through the use of local petty cash
funds. Claims for property damage to personal vehicles payable pursuant
to the State Financial Law will be processed as expeditiously as possible.
Employees will be permitted to include claims for reimbursement of
insurance deductable expenses incurred as result of a compensible
accident.
Per Diem Allowances
Per Diem allowances for meals and lodging for employees in travel
status continue at current rates with a new provision permitting higher
allowances substantiated by paid receipts. Higher allowances substan-
tiated by paid receipts are as follows:
New York City: $55.00 for lodging and $20.00 meal allowance.
Rockland, Nassau, Westchester and Suffolk Counties: $45.00 for lodg-
ing and $15.00 meal allowance.
Elsewhere in New York State: $30.00 for lodging and $15.00 meal
allowance.
Out of State: $55.00 for lodging and $20.00 meal allowance.
Employee Benefit Fund
The State’s contribution to the CSEA Employee Benefit Fund will be
increased to $300 per employee, per year. Coverage has been expanded to
include any person who is eligible for enrollment in the State Health In-
surance Plan with the exception of employees whose employment is ex-
pected to last less than six months.
Continuity, Productivity and Quality of Working Life
Committee
Performance evaluation has been removed as one of the functions of this
Committee. The Committee continues with appropriations in the amount
of $2 million, $2,250,000 and $2,500,000 in the first, second and third years
respectively of the agreement.
Civil Service Examinations
Funding will be provided in the amount of $1,250,000 over the life of
the contract to increase the number and frequency of Civil Service ex-
aminations aimed at reducing the number of provisional employees in
State service in CSEA Units.
(Continued on page 17)
EVACUATION!
They were ready
WAYNE COUNTY deputies and their patrol car seal off area surrounding
the Ginna nuclear power plant, background, after radioactive steam was
Ld
released when a tube ruptured in a plant generator recently.
Photo courtesy of Associated Press (AP)
Vayne County deputies show readiness
in response to nuclear spill at Ginna
By Ron Wofford
CSEA Communications Associate
ONTARIO — When a faulty steam generator
ruptured at the Ginna nuclear power plant here
recently, it created a serious problem but,
fortunately, stopped short of becoming the
potential nuclear disaster that it might have
been.
But had the worst occurred, the 35 CSEA-
represented deputies of Wayne County Sheriff
Paul Byork were trained and ready to play a
major role in a full-scale disaster evacuation
plan. As it was, the deputies were called out
when the plant malfunctioned, and maintained
security around the area to keep people a safe
distance away. Deputies remained on special
alert duty for an extended period of time, noted
Investigator Eddie Williams, who is CSEA unit
president for the deputies.
Lt. Larr Bromstrup, a road patrol officer, said
that the deputies were prepared to deal with a
disaster if it developed. ‘We would have covered
virtually every avenue to see that everyone was
safely evacuated, especially children, expectant
mothers and the handicapped,” he said.
tad RUN Se
Lt. Bromstrup said it was ‘“‘unreal’’ that a
nuclear disaster drill had been held by the
county’s disaster preparedness unit only four
days before the incident, which plant owner
Rochester Gas and Electric said was caused by
the rupture of generator tubes and the resultant
slight release of radioactive steam.
The plant has been shut down until repairs can
be safely made and the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission declares the plant ready to resume
production.
Williams and Lt. Bromstrup said the Wayne
County sheriff is the ranking law enforcement
officer in disaster situations, and an evacuation
manual spells out the many responsibilities of
the department.
Among those emergency duties are setting up
a “hotline” from the Ginna plant so that a steady
line of communication may be maintained.
Notification of fe director of disaster
preparedness and all state police in the county as
wel! as maintaining communication with
adjoining Monroe County is required by the
department.
An underground bunker behind the county jail
becomes the security and communications
center. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
scientists would be picked up at the Monroe
County airport and escorted to the security
center or the Ginna plant to assess the situation.
“We would have covered virtually
every avenue to see that everyone was
safely evacuated. . .”
A bona fide nuclear emergency would require
total evacuation of a 10-mile area surrounding
the plant, with traffic control a prime concern.
Radiological monitoring, identification of
special problems and maintaining security
against pilferage are also among the dearly:
ment’s responsibilities.
So, should it happen again, the C0EA members
of the Wayne County sheriff’s unit will be ready
to don their protective raincoats, pin on their
radiation dosimiters, and go about the task of
keeping the roads clear for a speedy evacuation
and performing their many other duties during a
disaster situation.
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 26, 1982
Page 15
ew ag
(Continued from page 1)
people needed. When you walk away from the
table you always wish you could have gotten
more, but I am certain that under the state’s cur-
rent conditions, we have gotten every single pen-
ny that was available and then some,” the union
president said.
The agreement provides, in addition to its
wage increases, an end to a Performance
Evaluation System that ties money to subjective
management ratings. While the state has the
right to continue to evaluate workers under the
law, the system of linking increments and
“awards” to different performance levels will be
scrapped. Any worker who is “‘satisfactory”’ will
receive an annual increment or longevity bonus
if eligible. Prior to the creation of Performance
Evaluation, about 98 percent of state workers
were rated as satisfactory each year.
Other provisions continue health insurance
benefits at present levels, described by the state
as the ‘most comprehensive health insurance
program in the nation’’, with premium increases
paid by the state through at least July 1, 1982.
The impact of any later premium increases on
the plan will be negotiated.
Sick leave and personal leave accrual will con-
tinue unchanged, a subject of major concern to
many state employees. Sick leave will be ac-
crued at the rate of 13 days per year and five per-
sonal days will be continued. The state and CSEA
will also create a special leave use monitoring
system designed to identify potential abuse of
leave use without disrupting normal use for
legitimate reasons.
Other major gains in the agreement would:
e appropriate $500,000 for a study of Com-
parable Worth, that would lead to elimination of
any wage bias based upon sex.
e appropriate $750,000 for a comprehensive
study of the need for reclassification and
reallocation in state jobs.
e increase contributions for worker benefits
through the CSEA Employee Benefit Fund.
fee ee
e |
continue funding the joint Committee on the
Work Environment and Productivity (CWEP) to
deal with common problems. Funding would be
about $2.25 million per year.
provide $200,000 of CWEP funds per year as
seed money to create on-site day care centers for
state employees.
e consolidate the Employee Assistance Pro-
grams serving all state employees into a single
plan funded at $900,000 over the life of the
contract.
e provide funding to study the feasibility pro-
gram that would allow regular state employees
access to work currently being contracted-out to
“per diem” workers.
appropriate $300,000 for funding of a joint safe-
ty committee.
e appropriate $150,000 of CWEP’s funds for a
study of employee ‘‘burnout’’.
“Overall this is the richest contract that we
have ever negotiated with the State of New
York,”’ President McGowan said. “If there is
any thing about it that we would have liked to
change, it would have to be the authority for the
state to ‘lag’ the payroll in the first year. Frank-
ly, we resisted that with everything we had, but
several different examinations of the state
budget confirmed the inability of the state to
finance a straight salary ihcrease in the first
year of the contract.
“Lagging the first year guarantees the
employee ultimately receives his or her raise
anyway, but at their higher rate of pay when
they leave state service, and it allows for future
increases to compound at the full nine percent. It
also helps minimize layoffs in the coming fiscal
year,” he said.
The salary agreement provides for a nine per-
cent across the board increase on April 1, 1982,
with an additional one percent payment to be
made in a lump sum on January 1, 1983 as a par-
tial lag recovery. The state does have the
authority, should it be necessary, to lag the
ent rea
hed
payroll by delaying paychecks by one day in
each of ten consecutive pay periods.
Also, the agreement provides a one shot pay-
ment of six-tenths of one percent of salary to cur-
rent employees to “round out”’ the cost of living
adjustment payment due current state
employees prior to June 30, 1982, as part of the
present contract.
The COLA provision of the current agreement
had been expected to yield a seven percent in-
crease for the state’s 1981-82 fiscal year in the
form of the increase to the salary schedule on Oc-
tober 1, 1981 plus the COLA lump sum payment
due in the first quarter of the state’s coming
fiscal year. But a decline in the national inflation
rate would have lowered that COLA lump sum
payment by six-tenths of one percent. This provi-
sion of the new agreement restores that payment
as a one shot payment, but not applied to the
salary schedule.
In the second year of the tentative agreement,
a five percent increase is applied to the salary
schedule on April. 1, 1983 and an additional five
percent is applied on September 1, 1983.
In the third year of the agreement, another
five percent is applied to the salary schedule on
April 1, 1984 and an additional five percent is ap-
plied on September 1, 1984.
Also in the second and third years of the ten-
tative agreement, any employee at the job rate
for five years or more will receive a longevity
payment. In the second year of the agreement
that longevity payment will be $500, and in the
third year of the agreement the longevity pay-
ment will be $750.
Increments based on a four increment salary
schedule will be paid to eligible employees on the
anniversary date of their employment in all
three years of the agreement. Since the Perfor-
mance Evaluation System is ended, increments
will be contingent only upon a better than ‘‘un-
satisfactory” rating as increments used to be
paid prior to 1979.
Workers turn thumbs down on furloughs
(Continued from page 1)
the union would not appreciate favorable action on
the plan.
The union began circulating to legislators the
early results of the survey to counter reports that
some state workers favored the furlough plan,
falsely assuming that they could charge their
furloughs to vacation and personal leave while
helping other state workers save their jobs.
“There is no guarantee in the legislation
proposed on furloughs that any money saved would
be used to offset layoffs,” Mr. McGowan said, ‘‘and
workers absolutely could not charge their furlough
time to accruals. They simply would be laid off for
short periods of time at the whim of management.
They would lose money, they would lose seniority
protection, and they would be opening the door to
legislative end-runs to reduce wages and benefits.
Any way you look at it, this proposal stinks. I said so
when it was first proposed and I am delighted that
98 percent of the membership is standing with me
on this issue.’
Apparently the union’s swift and strong reaction
to the plan, authored by Meyer S. Frucher, Director
of the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations,
convinced the legislature that the furlough plan was
one hot potato that they shouldn’t try to juggle in
an election year. As of Public Sector press time,
more than one month after Frucher made his
proposal, the Administration was still unable to find
a single legislative sponsor for its plan.
CSEA, meanwhile, was exercising its political
muscle to make a point. While the Administration’s
plan to furlough CSEA members couldn’t find a
sponsor, President McGowan had union lobbyists
draft and introduce legislation to furlough the
state’s top brass, but not regular state workers.
“The bill we drafted authorizes the furlough of
the Secretary to the Governor, the Counsel to the
Governor, the entire Division of the Budget, and all
of the Commissioners, their deputies and other
assorted big shots,’’ said CSEA Lobbyist James
Featherstonhaugh.
“Our bill would do to them what they wanted to do
to us,” he said. ‘The only difference is our bill has
won the scholarship of two of the most prominent
members of the legislature, Sen. Richard
Schermerhorn, chairman of the Senate Civil
Service and Pension Committee; and
Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, chairman of the
Assembly’s Ggvernment Employees Committee.
The Administration’s bill has no sponsor.””
In an article headlined, ‘‘Carey ‘Furlough’ Bill
Upstaged by CSEA”’, the Albany Times Union
reported: ‘‘The Civil Service Employees
Association went Gov. Hugh Carey one better
Page 16 THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 26, 1982
Thursday, gaining legislative sponsorship of a bill
authorizing temporary furloughs for ranking state
officials while an administration bill seeking to do
the same for rank and file employees remains
sponsorless.”’
Commented President McGowan, ‘We conducted
our survey of state workers not because furloughs
had any direct impact on state negotiations, but
because a furlough bill would effectively cut our
salaries no matter what we achieve at the
bargaining table. We wanted to show the legislature
clearly that we mean business on this issue and we
won’t stand for furloughs. I think we have
succeeded.
“As for the Administration, if Frucher thinks
furloughs are such a great way to save money, we
want him to get his wish as long as its his furlough
and his money. If the Senate and Assembly
ultimately adopt a furlough plan for top state
officials, those officials will know who to thank and
CSEA will have taught an invaluable lesson to
people who think its smart to beat up on underpaid
state workers.”
CSEA will be pushing throughout the legislative
session to ensure to death of the Administration’s
furlough.plan.
OSE ee
Tentative agreement highlights
(Continued from page 14)
Employee Burnout
An amount of $150,000 during the term of this agreement will be pro-
vided under the Committee on Work Environment and Productivity to
study the problems of employee burnout.
Classification Study
An amount of $750,000 shall be appropriated for use by the State to
undertake a classification study in the three CSEA Units to identify
classification, allocation and geographic pay differential changes which
may be necessary based on specific criteria. The State shall meet and
confer with CSEA concerning the scope and conduct of the study as well
as the results and implementation of any recommendations.
Comparable Worth Study
An appropriation of $500,000 is made available for the State and CSEA
to undertake a study of comparable worth with respect to predominantly
female occupied and predominantly male occupied positions in the three
CSEA bargaining units with the objective of eliminating any sex bias
which may exist. The study is to be completed by March 31, 1983 and the
State and CSEA shall confer as to implementation of any corrective ac-
tion necessary.
Layoff Units
The Joint CSEA/State Layoff Unit Committee will be continued to
meet and discuss areas of concern regarding layoff units.
Employee Assistance Program
Legislative approval will be sought by the State to continue this pro-
gram by funding in the amount of $200,000, $300,000 and $400,000 in the
first, second and third years respectively of this agreement.
Employee Orientation
Comprehensive employee orientation program for new employees
will be funded in the amount of $200,000, $200,000 and $100,000 during the
first, second and third years respectively of this agreement.
Safety and Health Program
An appropriation of $300,000 each year of the agreement will be made
available for a jointly-administered Safety and Health Program.
Uniforms and Tools
Appropriations for uniforms in the Operational Services Bargaining
Unit shall be increased from $115,000 to $425,000 the first year, $550,000 the
second year and $550,000 the third year. In addition, a fund shall be
established for tool subsidies in the amount of $40,000 in each year of the
agreement.
Clerical Secretarial Employee Advancement Program
The CSEA/P will be continued and funded at a level of $600,000 per
year.
Day Care Centers
An appropriation of $600,000 during the term of agreement will be
made available for the continued development of on-site day care
centers.
CALL US toll-free
1-800°342-
CSEA INFOLINE 1-800-342-2027
A referral service when you need CSEA’s help but don’t know how to
put your union to work for you.
CSEA SAFETY HOTLINE .......... Distenena beast eng 1-800-342-4824
The number to call when you encounter a safety or health problem
on the job,
CSEA EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM 1-800-342-3565
A confidential source of help in dealing with personal, family or
substance abuse problems.
BACHE, TER BUSH & POWELL... +1-800-342-6272
For answers on your questions about CSEA-sponsored Accident &
Health, Supplemental Life and Family Protection insurance plans,
COMPETITIVE
PROMOTIONAL EXAMS
(State employees only)
FILING ENDS MARCH 15, 1982
TITLE SALARY
Senior Attorney (Realty)....................65 $25,760
Engineering Geologist, Asst. i .. $20,870
Engineering Geologist, Senior. ++ $25,760
Health Education Media Specialist I. zi t . $15,030
Health Education Media Specialist IT...................... $18,800
Leasing Agent I . $16,810
Leasing Agent II. $21,995
Leasing Agent III... . . $24,440
Lease Management Officer . $24,440
Motor Carrier Investigator . . $14,534
Motor Equipment Manager. $24,451
Recreation Assistant....... «$12,247
Recreation Worker . $15,030
Substance Abuse Accounts Auditor IT . $18,800
Substance Abuse Accounts Auditor III...
Tax Technician Trainee I..........
Maintenance Assistant Mechani
Motor Equipment Mechanic. .
Coordinator of Mental Health Local Information Systems.
Asst. Dir. of Rehabilitation Hospital Physical Therapy. ...
Director of Rehabilitation Hospital Physical Therapy
Director of Vital Records
Emergency Efficiency Analyst III.
Health Education Media Specialist III
Home Dialysis Nurse..............
Supervisor, Motor Carrier Services
Supervisor of Motor Carrier
Research Aide, St. Lawrence-Eastern Ontario Comm.
Teachers’ Retirement System Financial Systems
Analyst, Associate
Wastewater Treatment Course Instructor. .
Senior Wastewater Treatment Course Instructor.
open competitive
STATE JOB CALENDAR
FILING ENDS MARCH8, 1982
WRITTEN TEST TO BE HELD APRIL 17, 1982
EXAM
TITLE DEPT. NO.
Senior Attorney (Realty) G-24............. 37-510
Associate Attorney (Realty) G-28 . 37-511
Senior Engineering Geologist G-24 ...... 37-537
Supervising Motor Carrier vestigate G- 37-509
Assistant Soils Engineer G-20 ... . 37-530
Senior Soils Engineer G-24 . 37-532
Associate Soils Engineer G- 27 us 37-531
Assistant Civil Engineer (Structures) G- 20. 37-534
Senior Civil Engineer (Structures) G-24...... 37-535
Associate Civil Engineer (Structures) G27. 37-536
Principle Fish & Wildlife e Eecloiaat M-1 37-467
Leasing Agent II G-21 . 37-516
Leasing Agent III G-23 . 37-517
Asst. Chief, Bureau of Leases & Food Service M-1 39-583,
Associate Heating & venetng engines G G-27. 39-580
Assistant Soils Engineer G-20 . 37-556
Tax Technician Trainee I . Aen 37-491
Tax Technician Trainee I (Spani pt king) \.. TAX & FINANCE 37-491
Assistant Civil Engineer (Structures) G-20.... ... THRUWAY 37-597
Senior Civil Engineer (Structures) G-24 ..THRUWAY 37-598
FILING ENDS MARCH 15,1982
Motor Equipment Manager G-23 .......... DOT 37-553
FILING ENDS AUGUST 2, 1982
Substance Abuse Accounts
Auditor [II ....... -ALCOHOLISM & SUBSTANCES ABUSE 39-602
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 26, 1982 Page 17
EXAM
NO.
25-569
25-581
25-582
25-546
25-547
25-571
25-572
25-573
25-574
25-568,
25-593
25-585,
25-586
25-594
25-595
25-558
20-019
20-020
28-346
28-334
28-335
28-330
28-336
28-345
28-347
28-337
28-337
28-338
28-348
28-303
28-304
by Press Associates, Inc.
In the previous issue of The Public Sector we reported that AFSCME has
completed a study of President Reagan’s ‘New Federalism” approach
and concluded that the swap of public assistance programs plus other so-
called turnback programs will result in the states LOSING a combined
total of more than $17 billion. We also reported on an alternative $24
billion program proposed by AFSCME, and supported by AFT and the
U.S. Conference of Mayors, to aid the economic uplift of the nation.
Following is how Press Associates, Inc., an independent news service
based in Washington, reported the issue in a syndicated column called
“Washington Window.”
The public sector and America’s future
While President Reagan apparently prefers to stand pat on failed
policies, there is increased activity among groups which would rather get
something going.
An unusual coalition of powers in the cities — the State, County and
Municipal Employees, the American Federation of Teachers and the U.S.
Conference of Mayors — has called for a $24 billion program to help the
cities help themselves.
As they put it in brief, they want to revitalize the cities, retrain
workers and improve basic education for the disadvantaged.
Asking for ‘well-reasoned policies, not ideology,” they said
“unthinking and across-the-board cuts” in the public sector have
contributed to the recession and high unemployment. Further cuts not
only will make recovery unlikely, ‘‘but will also turn usinto a second-rate
economic power burdened by a crumbling infrastructure and retarded by
an undereducated workforce.”
To avoid that future, the three organizations agreed to work for a
federal program with these major features:
e An urban block grant to help cities repair and replace their
infrastructure, including streets, bridges, water and sewer systems.
Where the Urban Institute estimates that local governments need
$700 billion to improve their dilapidated infrastructure, the coalition
seeks only $4 billion a year to get the work started. Cities of greatest need
and with 6.5 percent or more jobless, would get priority.
¢ A $5 billion Skill Training and Employment Program (STEP) to
boost productivity. This would train and retrain workers for a changing
job market. Funds would be targeted on areas with high unemployment
and large numbers of disadvantaged.
The STEP approach is based on findings that society gets back on
estimated $2.28 for every $1 invested in On the Job Training (OJT)
programs and $1.14 in benefits for every $1 put into classroom training.
Assurance of Medicaid for pregnant women and young children
whose family income is at or below two-thirds of the poverty line.
Medicaid now covers less than 75 percent of the poor and excludes some 8
million children in poor families. Since it costs less than $2,000 for prenatal
care and delivery of a child and $20,000 a year to institutionalize a retarded
child, it is not only humane but much cheaper to provide preventive services,
the coalition observes. There would be incentives to expand outreach preven-
tive health care.
¢ A $1.5 billion program to enhance workers’ basic educational and
vocational skills.
Small businesses, which provide most of the new jobs in the economy
and which do not have the resources to upgrade worker education and
skills, rely on a ready supply of literate workers and this will help them
and the workers. New technology and sophisticated equipment require
more skilled workers and can use retrained workers.
The coalition urges an expansion of the basic federal aid to education
program to prepare disadvantaged students so they can gain higher job
skills.
¢ A $1 billion Housing Preservation and Production program to build
and rehabilitate houses and weatherize low-income units.
¢ A $5 billion program to provide loans, loan guarantees and interest
subsidies to small business, new ventures and emerging industries in
areas with high unemployment.
¢ A public transportation block grant of $1 billion over the current
funding of $3.7 billion to help cities purchase and operate bus and subway
systems. It would be financed by a one cent hike in the gasoline tax.
«A $1 billion railroad rehabilitation program to trigger in when
unemployment exceeds 7 percent, with increased funding at higher
jobless rates.
Each $1 billion would employ 100,000 people very quickly in
improving roadbeds, building new tracks and upgrading existing lines.
The $24 billion called for by this 10-point program could be paid for
very easily by correcting some of the excesses in the $750 billion tax cut
enacted in 1981, the coalition points out.
At a time when some members of the Congress are mesmerized by a
presidential smile and others are paralyzed by a sense of inaction, the
AFSCME-AF'T-mayors proposal offers something positive to work with.
Page 18 THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 26, 1982
INSTALLATION HELD — Helen Tavano, second from left, congratulates new-
ly inducted President Pat Altieri of Ossining Correctional Facility Local 161 as,
left, Southern Region Director Tom Luposello, and, right, Southern Region
President Ray O’Connor, look on. Others taking part, below from left, were
Secretary Wendy House, Delegate Bill Roome, Treasurer Nora Lynch, Field
Representative Don Partrick, alternate Delegate Jackie Parham, Vice Presi-
dent Marie Coutant, and Delegate Mike Pousada.
Erie man charges
employer hinders
grievance duties
BUFFALO — Henry Wanat is determined to carry out his duties as _
unit grievance chairman despite what he termed ‘‘continued
restrictions” following his filing of a Taylor Law Improper Practice
. charge against hisemployer. oe
Wanat, a six-year data control clerk in the Erie County Comptroller’s
Office, also doubles as section president for CSEA Erie County Local 815
and his 40 fellow comptroller employees. i
It was hindrance of Wanat in the service of his members’ grievances
and other union affairs that prompted CSEA Field Representative Robert
Young to file the Public Employment Relations Board charge against
Comptroller Alfreda W. Slominski and her associate deputy comptroller.
Although the current three-year contract between CSEA and Erie
County spells out specific amounts of time that union stewards may take
to investigate and process grievances, Young said Wanat “‘is being
harassed every time he tries to function” in his union capacity.
Young further charged that when Wanat files grievances about being
denied contract-dictated time off for union business, the comptroller
automatically answers ‘“‘no,’”’ forcing the matter into the drawn-out
arbitration procedure, which he called another form of harassment.
But bc ba he intends ag Bs grievances ee
_onaering the posible snowball effect his cou have in al the olber
whether
ALBANY — The Commissioner of the U.S. Social
Security Administration says appropriate steps
have been taken to eliminate the possibility of
underestimating Social Security benefits for New
York State employees, a possibility originally
threatened by the inadvertent erasing of employee
earning records for the third quarter of 1979.
CSEA members were advised of the possible
underpayment in a Jan. 15 Public Sector article
reporting actions taken by the Capital Region of
CSEA in response to member inquiries concerning
an apparent discrepancy in earning records that
only showed up as state workers filed for Social
Security benefits. It was estimated that the
discrepancy could have resulted in a potential
benefit underpayment of $3 to $4 per month.
“There is simply no excuse for what happened
and I am glad that you brought it to my attention,”
SE SC SRT 7 OT SPT
THE JOY OF VICTORY — President |
McGowan, left, Local 670 President
Jeanne Lyons, center, and Lisa
Persicke, local shop steward, share a
lighter moment recounting the close call
when 1,500 Labor Department layoffs
were narrowly averted».The Reagan
“= “Administration, bowing to labor and
business pressure, abandoned cuts in
federally-supported employment service
programs in the face of the worst
unemployment in America since World
War Il. ‘Really, it had to be the
stupidest idea anyone had come up with
in 30 years,’ McGowan said. The union
mobilized its political action forces to
aid in the pressure that saved the jobs.
McGowan
tours
Labor Dept.
FOR A JOB WELL DONE — Saving
1,500 New York State Labor Department
jobs is a very good reason for
congratulations and CSEA President
William L. McGowan, second from
right, shares it with Kaye Yuschak, a
Labor Department employee in Albany
and a shop steward for CSEA Local 670.
While political pressure forced the
Reagan Administration to reconsider its
plans to lay off thousands of employment
service workers, McGowan warned
employees that they probably haven’t
heard the last from Reagan’s budget
axe. Joining in the congratulations on a
job well done are Brian Ruff, left, and
Shirley Brown, right, the Labor
Department representatives on CSEA’s
Board of Directors; Jeanne Lyons,
| president of Local 670, second from left,
' and Local Vice President Barbara
‘Charles, third from left.
Union informed corrective
LTTE *
actions by Social Security
wrote Commissioner John A. Svahn in a letter to
State Comptroller Edward V. Regan. “‘At this point
T can report that the earnings for the September
1979 quarter have been posted to the Summary
Earnings Record and will appear on individual
earnings records by April 1 at the latest.”
The Social Security Commissioner pledged that
no state employees would lose any benefits as a
result of the delay in posting earnings because of
the erasing error. He said that until the final
posting is completed, any retirees earnings for the
period will be ‘routinely investigated” and the
necessary corrections would be made.
CSEA Capital Region President Joseph E.
McDermott outlined the problem, and an exchange
of correspondence with state officials (including
Comptroller Regan) concerning the problem, in the
Public Sector article.
a.
332f_e& Govidad webind FOL
» have rectified discrepancy
Ina letter to McDermott, John S. Mauhs, Deputy
Comptroller in charge of the state’s Employee
Retirement System, said that the Social Security
Administration had advised all offices to check
actual earnings for retirees using Internal Revenue
Service W-2 forms to verify earnings and that a
back-up system annually recomputes an
individual’s Social Security benefits when
additional wage information is received. “These
procedures will ensure that State employees, or
their beneficiaries, will receive the full amount of
Social Security benefits to which they are entitled,”
Mauhs wrote.
One subject of the Sector article, the possibility
that a similar error in posting earnings for 1980 had
also occurred, was refuted by the Social Security
Administration.
y v}
Stigue y=)
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 26, 1982
Page 19
in each Region on Saturday, March 6, 1982.
continue until such time as all those present w!
make nominations have been given the Cte to do so. of that slate and not elsewhere.
Persons nominated for delegates from a particular i Jeo wll may be made by slates; thatis, a number of
Region must be members of that Region and he nominated: individuals: ‘appear on the ballot as running together
by members from that Region. : or. ae a emner tea designation. Persons nominated by
___ slate will appear on the ballot in the order in which they are
Persons nominated need not be present at the nomination. nee nominated.
meeting. ‘The ballot will: provide that indiyidaais who are running
_ A qualified member may nominate as many ae on a slate can be elected individually, separate and apart
for delegate as he/she desires, not to exceed the total number - from the slate.
of delegates to be elected from his/her particular Region. — Individuals who make multiple nominations must state
To make a nomination, the nominator must provide the _ — whether nominations are made as a slate or individually.
NOTICE: Nomination procedure to ele|
delegates to 1982 AFSCME convention
Delegates to the AFSCME Convention to be held in Atlantic City, New Jersey
from June 21 to June 25, 1982, will be elected from members in good standing of C09EA
as of February 1, 1982.
Delegates will be elected on a Regional basis. Each CSEA Region will elect the
number of delegates to which it is entitled in accordance with the AFSCME and CSEA
Constitutions. Based on the formula set forth in the AFSCME Constitution, the
following number of delegates will be elected from the six CSEA Regions:
Region I-52 Region IV-38
Region I-23 Region V-37
Region III-37 Region VI-36
Expenses for the delegates for transportation and room and board at the
AFSCME Convention will be paid by CSEA.
: _NoMarions ROCEDURE
vieines, home telephone
Any ‘member in good aimaber and CSEA local number of
4a he ‘ He she who is nominated more pe once may fave
ag val be made ae ae n r on the ballot only once. If nominated as
, the nominee’s name will appear on the ballot
Ne
NOMINATION MEETING LOCATIONS
March 6, 1982 regional nominating meetings for election
as CSEA’s representatives for attendance at the 1982 biennial
convention of AFSCME, AFL-CIO, to be held June 21-25 in
Atlantic City, N.J.
REGION TIME LOCATION REGION TIME LOCATION
I 9:30 a.m. CSEA Long Island Region I Office IV 10 a.m. Holiday Inn
300 Vanderbilt Motor Parkway 1614 Central Avenue
Hauppauge, N.Y. 11788 Town of Colonie, N.Y. 12205
v 4 p.m. Sheraton Motor Inn
0 ll a.m. Holiday Inn 200 Genesee Street
440 West 57th Street Utica, N.Y. 13501
VI lla.m.- Treadway Inn
Tl 10 a.m. Holiday Inn 2 p.m. 8204 Park Road
Route 9 & Interstate 84 (Exit 48 of the NYS Thruway)
Fishkill, N.Y. 12524 Batavia, N.Y. 14020
ANISM
133
in the public service
New York, N.Y. 10019
Page 20
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Friday, February 26, 1982
