LESTER CROCKETT Metropolitan Region President Greetings Sisters and Brothers, It is always a pleasure to gather and build with our statewide CSEA family during the Annual Delegates Meeting. In the Metropolitan Region we continue to face the serious problems created by the Governor’s new direction to reduce the OPWDD client population. The Governor continues to push his agenda to eliminate, downsize, or transfer the clients of these campus settings, back to other forms of housing. This is clearly a tactic used to transfer these important services to the private sector. For example, the Governor would like to establish several Centers of Excellence throughout New York state and eliminate the campus setting currently in place. With the newly established Centers of Excellence, the unions are being told that no one will lose their job. I truly cannot believe that. In Region 2, two locals will be impacted, Brooklyn Developmental Center (Local 447) and Creedmoor Psychiatric Center (Local 406). Some 996 members would be affected. As a result of this proposal, at the recently held retiree convention in Albany, I requested that CSEA demand from the Governor’s office a written response clearly indicating that there would be no layoffs. I was advised by Fran Turner, the Director of Political Action department, that the Governor would never provide such a letter. At this time I am making a request that every Local establish an emergency response team of members and submit the list to the Region. The purpose of this group is to shadow and protest the Governor, his commissioners and anyone involved in the promotion or creation of these destructive policies. It is especially important for members from OPWDD and OMH to get involved in these teams and this conversation. Indeed, in July, I joined the Manhattan Psychiatric Center Local President, Sam Koroma, at a general membership meeting to discuss the proposed changes at this agency. Koroma detailed the proposed changes coming to MPC that would adversely affect the workers and the individuals they serve. These are three prime examples of the Governor’s plan to continue to reduce and eliminate the state’s responsibility for caring for individuals with disabilities. In Region news, all of the officers have been installed with the exception of one Local. Arrangements will be made to complete that task. In the Region, I continue to attend local information days and am working with the vendors to improve the delivery of products and services we provide to our members. In July, our CSEA President Danny Donohue made a visit to the Metropolitan Region. The reason for the visit was to discuss a proposal to reduce local rebates a half percentage point each year for the next 10 years. This proposal will assist CSEA in dealing with the challenging financial responsibility the union is facing. At the meeting, information was distributed to each local representative. What was given to the representative of each local was a breakdown of exactly what dollar amount would be deducted from their respective locals each year. Also in July, CSEA’s PAC Committee along with DC 37 and DC 1707 endorsed New York City Comptroller John Liu for Mayor on the steps of City Hall. We had a good number of CSEA members come out to support the event. Though BILLY RICCALDO Southern Region President Brothers and Sisters: The fight continues. I’m proud to be a part of a strong union leading the charge to keep New York’s middle class strong and working to provide better opportunities for individuals seeking to better themselves. Five years into a historic economic decline, the business sector is on an upswing, but government officials and the cronies influencing them continue to gouge every kind of valuable public service we have worked too hard to build. In New York, the actions of Gov. Andrew Cuomo are not only impacting state agencies, but trickling down to strangle local governments and school districts. Cuomo appears bent on destroying public service – and the public workers who deliver those services. Cuomo’s legacy will be one of turning back the clock on progress. As New Yorkers, we take great pride in living in a state where we honor our moral responsibility to care for those who cannot care for themselves. Cuomo’s proposed changes in the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, his proposed Centers of Excellence in the Office of Mental Health, closures in the Office of Children and Family Services – this is an abandonment of our moral responsibility that Cuomo is billing as the wave of the future. This is not progress. It’s a huge step back to the days when people with mental illness wandered the streets without proper treatment and medication. We must fight back and demand that the “new New York” is one of which we can all be proud, not one that turns its back on New Yorkers in need. Closures and consolidations have had an impact throughout the state. In our Region, we dealt with the closure of the Middletown Residential Facility through OCFS. What a shameful move this was on our Governor’s part. This facility got youths out of New York City and other areas where they first got in trouble and gave them a chance to start fresh and in many cases deal with drug and alcohol problems. The Governor’s plan to move these kids back to NYC has been an absolute failure. We also had Beacon Correctional Facility close. We recently got word of Cuomo’s long-range plan to close the Mid- Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Center in Goshen. I have serious concerns about another provider of decent, stable jobs in our area closing down; it wasn’t long ago that, just down the road, Mid Orange Correctional Facility was closed. The bottom line is these services need to be provided. It makes sense to remain the communities that depend upon these jobs. In our State courts, our members have faced many layoffs and a difficult contract fight, yet the State’s judges were awarded a raise. It’s just disrespectful to these men and women who are the backbone of the court system, seeing an already stretched workforce doing even more with less and feeling like second-class citizens. In local government, it’s been a challenging and disappointing year. Like our brothers and sisters in the other regions, our nursing home battles continued. Golden Hill in Ulster County is now in private hands after decades as a public nursing facility. I am sad to see the public mission end. Ulster County Executive Mike Hein did the wrong thing when he bought into a scheme unloading county nursing homes through NICK LaMORTE Long Island Region President Greetings and Peace from CSEA Long Island Region One! First, let me offer my congratulations and best wishes to all newly elected and reelected unit and local officers! So much has happened since we gathered last year in our nation’s capitol for the 2012 Annual Delegate’s Meeting. Time will not allow me to detail every action so here is an abridged account. Members from the Long Island Region joined their colleagues from the Metropolitan and Southern Regions in Manhattan to march in the Labor Day Parade. In March, nearly 100 Long Island Region activists went to Albany on AFSCME Lobby Day, personally relaying their concerns to elected officials. Nassau County Local 830 members in the Fire Marshals Unit responded quickly when three LIRR work trains collided on the main line near their location. They scaled a fence, got to the scene and provided medical care to the injured workers, using their skills as Emergency Medical Technicians. Other Local 830 members helped secure the scene, helping additional responders access the site. The Region and several locals awarded numerous scholarships to members and their children. Recipients’ names were published in the Long Island Reporter, and on our region web page at https://cseany.org/r1/. Nassau Municipal Employees Local 882 and Sanitation District #2 Unit activists joined forces to canvass specific portions of that district and urge residents to vote against its dissolution. Voters ultimately rejected dissolution. VOICE/CSEA members rallied to urge Suffolk County officials to work with them to address a developing child care crisis. More than 1,200 families lost child care subsidies due to changes in eligibility and diminished access to quality child care, but the subsidies of more than 700 families were ultimately restored thanks to our action. Nearly 40 CSEA members from the Wantagh School District Custodial Unit, Local 865, staged a rally in front of the district administrative office to protest the fact that they have been working with an expired contract for almost two years. Region members canvassed specific portions of Congressional District 1 to help re-elect U.S. Rep. Tim Bishop. Activists from State DOT Local 508 conducted their annual silent auction to benefit the State Employees Federated Appeal (SEFA). The SEFA campaign makes a difference to people of all ages and backgrounds seeking the various health and human services available through the SEFA. I am the Long Island SEFA Committee Chair and Suffolk Retirees Local 920 President Millie Lucas is the Long Island SEFA Coordinator. Hempstead Town Local 880 activists walked in the March for Babies at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow. The program assists more than 500,000 prematurely born babies each year. I joined members of the Port Washington School District Custodial, Transportation and Maintenance Unit, Local 865, to march in the “Pride in Port” parade for the eighth straight year. Security Aides Unit member Richard Hart sang the National Anthem prior to the parade stepping off. Suffolk Educational Local 870 members working in 40 Long Island President, continued on page 16 Metropolitan President, continued on page 14 Southern Prssident, continued on page 14 12 The Work Force November 2013
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