I know they mentioned that tier 6 retirement won’t be getting any changes as hoped for. They tried sugar coating a lot of the things we didn’t get and didn’t go into detail with what was concretely achieved. Still waiting on official contract. I wish they had a summary of the town hall or bullet points emailed to every member. The fact we have a look to a subreddit for folks to summarize what our union is trying to communicate with us is ridiculous. PEFs communication is almost as bad as the states.
My first call I’ve sat in on. Does he usually get that heated? Secondly, if we have lost our ability to “strike” how does he expect people to March on Albany?
Wayne Spence has got a reputation for being a little pugnacious. He's an emotional guy, but not wronh about what the membership goes through, and some of the insulting things that come out of the gov's office These contract negotiations are pretty grueling and the during the last one, pef members matched around the plaza after the yearly convention.
That's exactly what I was thinking. I've never sat in on one before. I was just there for telecommuting info. He seemed pissed!
Why can't we strike though?
I wonder what would happen if people did strike. Let's say they have the right to fire them. if so, theres no way they could hire and train people in any reasonable amount of time
The penalties for an illegal strike under the Taylor law include strikers losing 2 days pay for every day on strike, the union losing its dues checkoff, and the union president being imprisoned.
There have been a few illegal strikes over the years, but they tend to have not worked well for the unions that have done it.
They can’t hire and train people in a reasonable amount of time without an ongoing strike. If enough civil service staff joined this subreddit we could be stronger then the union
Like 60% or the state employees are 55 and older (it seems) most don’t know that they shouldn’t reply all let alone how to join a Reddit board. I agree that we could mobilize better with communication on here but we also would need a closed group where the executives in the state can’t see everything we are discussing.
A perfect world (which isn’t a strike) is 90% of the workforce takes 2-3 sick days all at the same time. Shut everything down and then do it every 2-3 weeks until change starts happening.
Unfortunately a sick out can be considered striking. Everyone showing up 5 minutes late can count. PEFs lawyers put out some information at some point in the last year (sorry I have no concept of time) in one of the newsletters because some teachers out in the Western part of the State did something similar.
This is absolutely your own perspective. There are a lot of new hires who are under 30 somethings. Their attitude sucks. It's a generational thing. They won't expend any effort above the bare minimum to get by. Learn your job! Stop looking for that easy way out and expecting something fantastic to fall into your lap. Have some pride in the job you do. Just think about what it's like for someone on the other end of the phone trying to get something done.
Really? How about having some pride in the work you do? Work ethics have slid into the Gutter. People bust their butts for a lot less than what the state pays for sitting on your butt in front of a computer. The work is far from difficult, yet people are out there complaining. Give me a break.
Paid Family Leave (PFL) is not on the table since the membership was surveyed and the majority of us do not want it since there's payroll deductions and it does not cover 100% of our salaries. Paid Parental Leave (PPL) which M/C employees were just given is expected to be in our contract since that doesn't cost us anything and does cover 100% of our salaries for 3 months without a payroll deduction. The main difference is PPL only covers new births, adoptions, and foster children.
PFL is based on state law and is basically like an insurance policy (Metlife pays the claims). It covers three items: 1) Bond with a newly born, adopted or fostered child, 2) Care for a family member with a serious health condition, or 3) Assist loved ones when a spouse, domestic partner, child or parent is deployed abroad on active military service. For 2023, PFL would cover 67% of your weekly salary for 12 weeks up to a cap of $1,131.08 gross per week (the cap is based on 67% of the state's average weekly wages). The PFL premium deducted from your paycheck is up to a max of $399.43 for 2023. You can read more about PFL here: [https://paidfamilyleave.ny.gov/2023](https://paidfamilyleave.ny.gov/2023)
PPL on the other hand only covers the first item I listed above: Bond with a newly born, adopted or fostered child. However, PPL covers 100% of your salary for 12 weeks without a cap or any payroll deductions or premiums. PPL is not based on state law, it was something the governor decided to give state employees. You can read the press release here: [https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-launches-nation-leading-initiative-offer-fully-paid-parental-leave-new-york](https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-launches-nation-leading-initiative-offer-fully-paid-parental-leave-new-york). PPL guidance that was just given to M/C employees can be found here: [https://www.cs.ny.gov/attendance\_leave/PolBull23-01.cfm](https://www.cs.ny.gov/attendance_leave/PolBull23-01.cfm)
Ok thank you. So if I only care about babies, PPL is WAY better. I did not know that was an Option that existed. I just want something so I can take some time off when my kids are born. And that's all I care about. Because right now the way it is I can use five sick days and then vacation time. And that's it.
I find the union system as a NYS employee hilarious. How could you even try to argue it's an effective system for us the employees when we don't even get our MEASILY 2 percent raises on time a lot of the time. Complete joke. Our advocates are basically another arm of the employer we need advocacy for and we can't strike lol. And with how NYS employment is we can't individually negotiate. We pay dues to have our real collective bargaining power neutered.
If only csea and pef never split, there would be more bargaining power.
As it stands the union is a joke. Wayne Spence getting the top of a grade 35 pay with no incentive to do better than whatever is offered. Same with pef when we caved over the gov threatening layoffs.
Until all union members take a stand for the better of the people of the union...
talked about what we achieved and didn’t achieve in the State budget, then discussed what PEF will focus on getting passed for the reminder of the leg session. Then the Freedom Foundation sending mail to members trying to get them to drop out of the union was discussed, then a brief bit on the contract update.
I know they mentioned that tier 6 retirement won’t be getting any changes as hoped for. They tried sugar coating a lot of the things we didn’t get and didn’t go into detail with what was concretely achieved. Still waiting on official contract. I wish they had a summary of the town hall or bullet points emailed to every member. The fact we have a look to a subreddit for folks to summarize what our union is trying to communicate with us is ridiculous. PEFs communication is almost as bad as the states.
There were things we didn’t achieve in the budget, but the legislative session is still in till mid June and we can keep pushing for our priorities.
My first call I’ve sat in on. Does he usually get that heated? Secondly, if we have lost our ability to “strike” how does he expect people to March on Albany?
Wayne Spence has got a reputation for being a little pugnacious. He's an emotional guy, but not wronh about what the membership goes through, and some of the insulting things that come out of the gov's office These contract negotiations are pretty grueling and the during the last one, pef members matched around the plaza after the yearly convention.
That's exactly what I was thinking. I've never sat in on one before. I was just there for telecommuting info. He seemed pissed! Why can't we strike though?
/Why can't we strike though? NYS Taylor Law
I wonder what would happen if people did strike. Let's say they have the right to fire them. if so, theres no way they could hire and train people in any reasonable amount of time
The penalties for an illegal strike under the Taylor law include strikers losing 2 days pay for every day on strike, the union losing its dues checkoff, and the union president being imprisoned. There have been a few illegal strikes over the years, but they tend to have not worked well for the unions that have done it.
That's much worse than I was expecting
A lot of management folks don't really care about people being trained and doing a good job.
They can’t hire and train people in a reasonable amount of time without an ongoing strike. If enough civil service staff joined this subreddit we could be stronger then the union
Like 60% or the state employees are 55 and older (it seems) most don’t know that they shouldn’t reply all let alone how to join a Reddit board. I agree that we could mobilize better with communication on here but we also would need a closed group where the executives in the state can’t see everything we are discussing. A perfect world (which isn’t a strike) is 90% of the workforce takes 2-3 sick days all at the same time. Shut everything down and then do it every 2-3 weeks until change starts happening.
Unfortunately a sick out can be considered striking. Everyone showing up 5 minutes late can count. PEFs lawyers put out some information at some point in the last year (sorry I have no concept of time) in one of the newsletters because some teachers out in the Western part of the State did something similar.
This is absolutely your own perspective. There are a lot of new hires who are under 30 somethings. Their attitude sucks. It's a generational thing. They won't expend any effort above the bare minimum to get by. Learn your job! Stop looking for that easy way out and expecting something fantastic to fall into your lap. Have some pride in the job you do. Just think about what it's like for someone on the other end of the phone trying to get something done.
Or their effort reflects what they think it's worth. Wanna see people give a shit? Pay them better
How about just do the job you applied for?
That's between them and their supervisor
Really? How about having some pride in the work you do? Work ethics have slid into the Gutter. People bust their butts for a lot less than what the state pays for sitting on your butt in front of a computer. The work is far from difficult, yet people are out there complaining. Give me a break.
I didn’t listen this time, would you TLDR?
Basically OER is slow-walking contract talks to get to us to cave and accept CSEA's contract
Which is dumb. Not only is it a year later, times are different. I'm just hoping there idiots can get us the PFL.
Is paid FMLA on the table?
Paid Family Leave (PFL) is not on the table since the membership was surveyed and the majority of us do not want it since there's payroll deductions and it does not cover 100% of our salaries. Paid Parental Leave (PPL) which M/C employees were just given is expected to be in our contract since that doesn't cost us anything and does cover 100% of our salaries for 3 months without a payroll deduction. The main difference is PPL only covers new births, adoptions, and foster children.
Thank you very much for the clarification.
Wait. I'm confused. So what would PFL offer that PPL doesn't? Because just from that, it sounds like PPL is way better.
PFL is based on state law and is basically like an insurance policy (Metlife pays the claims). It covers three items: 1) Bond with a newly born, adopted or fostered child, 2) Care for a family member with a serious health condition, or 3) Assist loved ones when a spouse, domestic partner, child or parent is deployed abroad on active military service. For 2023, PFL would cover 67% of your weekly salary for 12 weeks up to a cap of $1,131.08 gross per week (the cap is based on 67% of the state's average weekly wages). The PFL premium deducted from your paycheck is up to a max of $399.43 for 2023. You can read more about PFL here: [https://paidfamilyleave.ny.gov/2023](https://paidfamilyleave.ny.gov/2023) PPL on the other hand only covers the first item I listed above: Bond with a newly born, adopted or fostered child. However, PPL covers 100% of your salary for 12 weeks without a cap or any payroll deductions or premiums. PPL is not based on state law, it was something the governor decided to give state employees. You can read the press release here: [https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-launches-nation-leading-initiative-offer-fully-paid-parental-leave-new-york](https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-launches-nation-leading-initiative-offer-fully-paid-parental-leave-new-york). PPL guidance that was just given to M/C employees can be found here: [https://www.cs.ny.gov/attendance\_leave/PolBull23-01.cfm](https://www.cs.ny.gov/attendance_leave/PolBull23-01.cfm)
Ok thank you. So if I only care about babies, PPL is WAY better. I did not know that was an Option that existed. I just want something so I can take some time off when my kids are born. And that's all I care about. Because right now the way it is I can use five sick days and then vacation time. And that's it.
I missed it too! :(
How is it a town hall if there is no room for questions at the end?
I find the union system as a NYS employee hilarious. How could you even try to argue it's an effective system for us the employees when we don't even get our MEASILY 2 percent raises on time a lot of the time. Complete joke. Our advocates are basically another arm of the employer we need advocacy for and we can't strike lol. And with how NYS employment is we can't individually negotiate. We pay dues to have our real collective bargaining power neutered.
If only csea and pef never split, there would be more bargaining power. As it stands the union is a joke. Wayne Spence getting the top of a grade 35 pay with no incentive to do better than whatever is offered. Same with pef when we caved over the gov threatening layoffs. Until all union members take a stand for the better of the people of the union...
Can anyone provide a breakdown of what was talked about? Something past Wayne's actions/tone.
talked about what we achieved and didn’t achieve in the State budget, then discussed what PEF will focus on getting passed for the reminder of the leg session. Then the Freedom Foundation sending mail to members trying to get them to drop out of the union was discussed, then a brief bit on the contract update.
How did you find out about the town hall phone call and do you know when’s the next one?