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fiscal year was $1,305,995, which will be added to the Contingency Fund as required by board policy.


The Contingency Fund balance was $3.9 million, and the Contract Fightback Fund balance was $5.1 million. The union ended the fiscal year with 53,540 members and agency feepayers.


Garcia said PEF is completing installation of new computer hardware and software at headquarters and will soon begin installing the upgrades in the regional offices. The union also will install new copiers statewide. The upgrades, he said, should preclude the need for substantial technical improvements for the next three to five years.


The board approved moving $304,378 within the 2014-15 budget to cover expenses that exceeded the budgeted amounts. These included: printing, $50,681; postage, $84,255; maintenance and repairs, $26,031; equipment rental, $5,402; stenography and transcripts, $16,756; arbitration, $21,345; and professional fees, $99,908. The money to cover these items was taken from: salaries, $45,000; per capita dues, $227,000 and affiliation fees, $32,378.


Garcia cautioned the board to be prepared for changing demographics both within the union and the country. “Every day 10,000 people turn 65 (years of age), and that will go on happening for the next 15 years,” Garcia said. “Significant numbers of our members are retiring. We are looking at a retirement tsunami coming. In five years, many of the people in this room will have retired or be retiring.”


Garcia pointed to the low voter participation in the recent PEF triennial elections as a troubling sign. “A 20 percent voter turnout is very disturbing and very chilling. All of the factors should have pointed to a high voter turnout. You are their voice and you are responsible for making sure the policies of this union meet your members’ needs. We must change if this union is to survive.”


Garcia said many PEF divisions are not submitting the required financial reports, audits and budgets and some divisions lack treasurers or other officers. “Out of 222 divisions, 130 have turned in their 2015-16 budgets. That’s better than last year, but it’s still unacceptable. Division audits will be due shortly. You can’t do an audit, if you don’t have a budget. It should be an embarrassment to this union, particularly when we are negotiating a contract with the governor. It’s a collective responsibility. You are responsible to ensure these things are happening.”


Page 12 — The Communicator July/August 2015


Garcia ended by thanking all of the hardworking board members and division officers who are meeting these responsibilities.


CHISHOLM


The board voted to reimburse new board member Joe Chisholm for expenses he incurred successfully fighting an ethics charge against him. Chisholm was elected earlier this year to fill a mid-term vacancy on the board, but was not at the previous board meeting.


He was given the oath of office at this June 30 meeting.


PEF constitution


In the future, it may take substantially fewer signatures on nominating petitions to get on the ballot in PEF elections. The board approved a proposed amendment to the union’s constitution that would reduce the required percentage of members’ signatures from 10 percent of the constituency to 5 percent. The proposed amendment, which still must go before the 2015 PEF Convention in October for final approval, also would lower the signatures required for trustee candidates from 10 percent to just 1 percent.


The board also approved sending a second proposed amendment to the PEF constitution to the convention. That proposed amendment would clarify who may be considered a PEF retiree to include any member of a PEF-represented bargaining unit who retires from that employment. This proposed amendment to the PEF constitution is consistent with an amendment passed in 2010 to the constitution of the PEF Retirees organization.


Political endorsements The board endorsed PEF member Alicia Hyndman in her bid to fill the mid-term vacancy in the state’s 29th Assembly District in Queens. The election will be added to the general election November 3 which is mainly to fill county, town and other local offices. Hyndman is an assistant occupational school supervisor at the state Education Department. The endorsement was recommended by both the PEF Political Action Committee and the PEF Region 11 PAC, which interviewed Hyndman.


Both Garcia and Region 11 Coordinator Jemma Marie-Hanson spoke in favor of the endorsement and praised Hyndman. “I’ve known her for nearly 20 year,


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even prior to her employment with SED, when she worked with higher education programs I supervised. She’s an outstanding young woman and she will make us proud,” Garcia said.


Hanson said Region 11 members were very impressed with Hyndman and “are willing to work hard on Alicia’s behalf.” In addition, the board made post- election endorsements of Rodneyse Bichotte, who was elected last year to represent the 42nd AD in Brooklyn, and Diana Richardson who won a special election to fill a mid-term vacancy in the state Assembly representing the 43rd District, which also is in Brooklyn. The Bichotte and Richardson


endorsements were recommended by both the PEF PAC and the PEF Region 11 PAC.


2015 PEF Convention Vice President Wayne Bayer, who chairs the PEF PAC, presented the union’s proposed federal and state legislative agendas for 2016. The board debated and voted on various recommended changes from the 2015 agendas and approved the 2016 proposals to be sent to the 2015 PEF Convention delegates for final action. Among the changes approved by the board were an updated stance against hydraulic fracturing for natural gas and against acceptance in New York of fluids and other waste from this process generated outside the state. The board also called for legislation to protect state employees and prospective employees from intrusions by the state into their personal social media accounts. The board changed its support for a “rule of 80” for retirement eligibility to a rule of 70 (age plus years of state service totaling 70 would qualify a state employee for retirement without pension penalty).


After lengthy debate on proposed amendments to a substitute agenda for the 2015 convention, the board approved the original agenda proposed by Convention Committee Chair Vice President Barbara Ulmer.


The board also approved minor updates and corrections to the convention expense voucher, which provides for essentially the same levels of reimbursement and travel options as the voucher for the 2014 convention.


Board policy


The board approved several new policies. These included:


• Requiring PEF statewide officers and trustees, to notify the appropriate PEF coordinator before attending meetings in that coordinator’s region;


twitter.com/susankentpef PEF Information Line: 1-800-553-2445


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