Page 2 - Work Force June 2020

Photo of the Month
Warren Berg, a plant utilities engineer at the Empire State Plaza in Albany and a CSEA activist, is shown here on the job. Berg and his co-workers at the state Office of General Services have been busy keeping mechanical equipment running throughout the state Capitol throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. “We have been showing up every day throughout this pandemic, without question, proud of our jobs and the work that we do,” Berg said. “[Our members] have the vigilance and ability to steer the course, through sometimes unfortunate situations.” (Photo provided by Warren Berg.)
Union to elected officials: helping communities reopen is not a political issue
2 The Work Force
June 2020
ALBANY — Without assistance, New York’s economy won’t be able to successfully restart if public services are gutted due to budget deficits, and unions are reminding politicians that a supermajority of Americans don’t want their communities’ public services cut.
Union leaders were recently briefed on polling conducted by
our international union, AFSCME,
in conjunction with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT),
which showed overwhelming public support across party lines for maintaining essential public services like education, public safety and health care.
“Allowing our communities to reopen isn’t a red state or blue state issue,” said CSEA President Mary E. Sullivan. “In fact, it’s not a political issue at all, and we shouldn’t allow elected officials to make it one.
All our communities are hurting, throughout every state in our nation, and need help to get back on track as we strive to reopen.”
Sullivan recently participated
in a Town Hall teleconference with State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who has echoed the union’s call for federal assistance.
“New York is facing an unprecedented public health and fiscal crisis that could dramatically change our landscape for years to come,” DiNapoli said. “As reports by my office have repeatedly shown, New York ranks first among the small group of states that send more dollars to the federal government than they receive in return. Now
we need help from Washington that comes without strings to protect New Yorkers from seeing essential services decimated.”
CSEA has been mounting increasing political pressure to make sure public services are protected, and with them, the jobs of union members providing them. Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Heroes Act, providing that unrestricted aid to our communities. The bill now moves to the U.S. Senate where a compromise bill will need to be negotiated before it passes and moves on to the White House.
We need to keep the pressure up on Senate leadership to make sure the final bill includes the funding
to keep vital public services in our communities. Take action at https:// cseany.org/help-save-new-york.
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