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Take Action !!!
updated 10/02/05 Letter from Roger Benson to "Go Public" Rally Participantdated 09/27/05click here: Go Public Letter As part of the "Go Public" Campaign Roger Benson is asking us to write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper urging their support of this bill. Also, encourage your family, friends and co-workers to do the same. Below is a sample letter you can use as a basis for your letter to the editor of your local newspaper. click here: Letter to Editor STOPprivatization.com is a project of the New York State Public Employees Federation dedicated to shining a light on the misguided and wasteful practice of privatizing public sector work. Visit: http://www.stopprivatization.com This website is a tool to educate the general public and the taxpayer as to the chronic waste of tax dollars and loss of accountability that results from misguided efforts to privatize state services and to provide a counter-balance to the ideologues that demonize public sector employment while seeking to profit from the provision of these services. Go public - Take Action Below is the legislative package being supported by the Public Employees Federation. This package includes a bill (S3923\Spano/A1259/John) requiring that a cost/benefit analysis be prepared by a State agency before contracting for personal services. This bill is important to ensure that the public knows the true cost of contracting out governmental services. A second bill, (S1920\Robach and A6542\Lupardo), requires the State to keep track of the numbers of employees employed through contracts for personal services and the value of the contract. This bill is vitally important for ensuring that the public knows the true size of State government. The package also includes a bill (A5626\Brodsky) that would substantially increase accountability and disclosure related to public authorities. This bill would help reduce waste and inefficiency at the more than 730 State and local authorities by creating a process under which they can be abolished or merged with State agencies. As the stories about multiple scandals related to waste, fraud, and abuse in the press will attest, these authorities must be reined in and subject to greater oversight and civil service laws. Finally, the Go Public package includes a bill (A9\Silver) that would increase the information that lobbyists must disclose related to their efforts to influence State contract awards. Since billons of tax dollars are expended annually on contracts for goods and services, it is vitally important that efforts to influence these awards are made public. Similar proposals have been made by the Senate and the Governor. These leaders should agree on a common bill and make it the law. I urge you to support the “Go Public - Get Accountable” package of bills because disclosure and accountability are essential if New York is to truly reform its government. E-Mail Governor Pataki and your Legislature Click Below:
DIVISION 399 CALL TO ACTION
We have prepared a letter to the legislator requesting additional analyst hires. DDD administrators understands the need for additional hires and has requested this from SSA, but have not received approval. If SSA approves this and provides the funds, DDD will hire the additional staff that we will need. We have worked with Matt Watson at the PEF legislative office with this letter and developed a plan of action. The plan of action for us is as follows: 1]. You must first know your Congressional Representative. If
you do not know your representative, you can visit: 2] We are asking each member if they would like participate to sign a letter to their representative. Let your Mobilizer know who your representative is and they will have the letters for you. 3] Please sign your name and title. If you would also like to add your address you may do so. If not the representative will respond to the address on the letter. 4] Return the letter to your Mobilizer and they will return them. 5] We will fax your letter. Once the letter is faxed, we will prepare an envelope for your letter and return it to you to place a stamp on it and mail.
PEF has sent out an AIM e-mail on 12/18/04 out to all PEF members to get 52,000 members involved in our letter campaign. Please visit:
and send your letter via e-mail to President Bush, Senator Hilary Clinton, Senator Charles Schumer and your Congressperson We also have initiated the PAL program, which means the legislative office will have PEF’s liaison contact each representative in the state personally and visit their office with a representative from DDD. Albany, NYC and Buffalo will also receive a copy of this letter and will be mobilizing their members. I have attached a copy of each letter for the particular representative, if you choose to do this on your own. Thank you for taking action !!!!! Click on the picture below for the letter to: Honorable Hinchey
Click on the picture below for the letter to: Honorable Boehlert
PEF backs bill to curb outsourcing of state jobs PEF is supporting a bill that is designed to curb
outsourcing. The bill would stop companies from receiving development assistance
from the state when jobs are moved from the state to another location. Fight continues to end Bush’s overtime pay cut On the national
level, the U.S. Senate and House failed to block the Bush overtime pay cut that
is scheduled to go into effect on Monday, August 23. However, the fight to
preserve overtime pay isn’t over. UPDATE 12/09/04 ON OT BILL It was a long and hard fight but on Nov. 18, facing a presidential veto threat, Republican members of Congress removed important overtime pay protections from final 2005 spending bills. You made a big difference with your letters pressuring Congress to pass overtime pay protections. We won votes, but the Bush administration threatened to veto any bill reversing its overtime pay take-away. Facing a government shutdown, members of Congress removed the overtime pay protections from the legislation. Losing this important vote on overtime pay is a disappointing setback. We all worked hard, we won votes in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, but in the end President George W. Bush and congressional Republican leaders got their way. Things look like they may get worse before they get better. The Bush administration and Republicans in Congress weren't content to take overtime pay rights from some 6 million workers. Now, they're reviving the second part of their two-pronged assault on workers' paychecks. This new pay cut would mean that employers would no longer have to pay extra for overtime work. Instead, they would be able to offer time off in lieu of pay—kind of ridiculous, since it lets the boss decide if and when you ever can take any time off. We'll keep you up to date on what is going on and where the fight will continue—including in state legislatures, the courts and in Congress. A number of states have laws better than the Bush administration's overtime rules. Activists in other states will be pushing for reforms to strengthen and restore overtime pay protections. We'll let you know when your action is needed to help enact these protections. For now, the most important thing we can do is to give you, your family, friends and colleagues some tools to protect your rights, including Working America's overtime pay survey. Remember: The best ways to protect your right to overtime pay is in a union contract. How to Know if You’re
Entitled to Overtime Pay
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