PEF scrutinizes state budget’s effects


By SHERRY HALBROOK If you think what’s not said


communicates as much as what is said, the governor’s new state budget proposal speaks volumes about the unimportance of state services and employees. It took close scrutiny of the 2014-15


Executive Budget documents to come up with some facts about how it would affect New Yorkers and the state employees who serve them. (See related story page 6.) The budget proposal anticipates the


loss of 3,318 state employees through attrition, which would be offset by 3,127 hires, for a net loss of 191 employees by the end of March 2015. However, those figures do not reflect any


anticipated staffing changes at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, the NYS Insurance Fund or other agencies that are not funded through the state operations budget. That’s because the budget documents do not provide any workforce projections for them. “PEF was informed at a budget briefing


for state-employee unions the Executive Budget includes the reappropriation of a $5 million pilot program to provide job- placement training to employees at certain state agencies affected by restructuring or closing programs or facilities,” said PEF Director of Civil Service Enforcement Hector Millan. He also reported the unions were specifically told employees displaced by restructurings or closings would be placed through intra-agency reassignments and the Agency Reduction Transfer List (ARTL) process.


Largest staffing changes Based on information in the Executive


Budget documents its greatest disruption of the workforce and services would occur at


the following five state agencies: • The Office for People with


Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) is expected to lose 720 positions, primarily through attrition: • The Department of Health (DOH) would


see a net gain of 323 positions. This would result from an increase of 310 positions in the Medical Assistance Administration program to support the third year of the state’s phased takeover from local governments of administration of the Medicaid program and the continued operations of the New York health benefit exchange (New York State of Health) and an increase of 30


positions in the Center for Community Health


program. These increases, which add up to 340,


would be partially offset by a reduction of 15 positions in the administration program plus two from the Office of Health Systems Management program, producing the net gain of 323 positions; • The Office for Children and Family


Services (OCFS) is projected to lose 234 positions, all resulting from the continued reduction of youth facilities associated with the Close to Home Initiative and the shift of staff for continued implementation of the Human Services Contact Center. OCFS was selected as one of the four anchor agencies to create the Human Services Consolidated Call Center. • The Department of Corrections and


Community Supervision (DOCCS) would experience a net gain of 66 employees. The budget says the increase is “a result of updated policies and procedures for Special


Housing Units.” The new positions are primarily in the Program Services and Supervision of Inmates programs. • The Office of Information Technology


Services (OITS) would see a net gain of 41 positions stemming largely from the continued transfer to OITS of information technology professionals from other agencies. Legislation accompanying the Executive


Budget provides for the reassignment of technology staff and services from the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations, and the Labor-Management Committees.


What’s next hinges on you PEF is continuing to comb through the


budget documents for more information about how agencies and their employees would be affected, and it will provide that information to the union’s elected leaders at those agencies. “Our strategy for advancing PEF’s state


budget priorities involves engaging our members as well as other unions and community groups to work on them with us,” said PEF President Susan M. Kent. “Additionally, our coalitions need to fight


proposals that result in bad public policies that negatively affect our members and communities. “Simultaneously, we will remain vigilant


in advocating for our members’ continuity of employment and in protecting the services they provide to New York state’s citizens.” Neither this strategy, nor any other, will


work, she said, unless the union can depend on its members’ unified voices, insights, and energy. “Our members’ participation is critical


as we implement our strategy to ensure our budget priorities are achieved.”


SPIRITOF GIVING – The PEF Black Caucus joined forces with the Renegade Pig Motorcycle Club of retiredNYS parole officers and police officers in December to bring joy to children in nursing care at St. Margaret’s Center in Albany.They brought toys to the children and Black Caucusmember Oji Reed,at left,presents a donation fromPEF to St.Margaret’s Executive


Director Beth Barends. —Photos by John Dillon


Page 8—The Communicator March 2014 PEF Information Line: 1-800-553-2445


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