As the ink dries on the newly approved contract between the Civil Service Employees Association and the state, attention is turning to the state’s other large public sector union, the Public Employees Federation.
As E.J. McMahon of the fiscally conservative Empire Center sees it, it may be hard for PEF’s leadership to approve its agreement.
“It’s worth noting that PEF is a smaller union, but actually their agreement to this contract will produce more savings because PEF members who generally in professional, scientific and technical titles are more highly paid and better educated than CSEA members. So they have more on the line, more of them will be paying larger amounts in addition for their health insurance. And so there have been reports there’s more resistance to the contract proposal in the ranks of PEF,” McMahon said.
Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, CSEA President Danny Donohue said the contract with his union should push PEF into voting their agreement up or down. PEF is due to vote on its contract by Sept. 27.
Governor Andrew Cuomo is still trying to achieve $450 million in workforce concessions. The contracts between PEF and CSEA combined get him about halfway there.
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