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Executive
Board Meeting
November 21 – 22, 2002
Desmond
Hotel
,
Albany
,
New York
President Benson called the meeting to order at
9:00 a.m.
, Thursday,
November 21, 2002
. Members joined in the Pledge of
Allegiance to the Flag.
Newly elected member Gene Greco was sworn in representing Tax
and Finance.
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
President
Benson announced modifications to the agenda, first to hear a
brief presentation on the Division 285 Grievance Appeal and then to vote
whether to hear the appeal.
Also,
under the President’s report, item, 5 (c) would be address under 5 (a) and
with the Board’s approval to show a video presentation regarding Wal-Mart
organizing.
There was no opposition to the changes and the agenda was adopted as
follows:
1.
Call Meeting to Order
2.
Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
3.
Swear in Newly Elected Board Member
4.
Approval of the Agenda
5.
Approval of the Minutes
6.
President’s Report
a)
Priorities Update/PEF Challenges and Contract Campaign
b)
Article 12.17 and Transit Chek Update
c)
Job Security Campaign
d)
State Budget Review
e)
EOL status
f)
Executive Session – Division Department
g)
Wal-Mart Video
7.
Secretary-Treasurer’s Report
a)
Budget Review
b)
IT Update Report
c)
PEF Website Privacy Policy
- Committee
Reports
a)
Regular/Triennial Election (Thursday after lunch)
b)
Division 265 Grievance Appeal (Thursday afternoon)
c)
Convention Future Sites Update (Thursday afternoon)
d)
Ethics Amendment
- Member
Items
a)
Convention Resolutions 10, 12 and 13 – Sachs
b)
Separate SED from SUNY – Sachs – Morgenstern
1.
Division Structure SUNY – Morgenstern
c)
Increase Division Supplement for single room – Sachs
d)
Apportionment Process Appeal – Morgenstern
e)
Postpone Steward Election Division 177 – Kelefant
f)
Press Clips – Steen
g)
Use of title “Chair, Committee on Ethics and Responsibility”
in External Communication Unrelated to the Legitimate
business of The Ethics Committee - Steen
Michael
DelPiano thanked everyone for their financial
support for PEF
member, Ted Fox, who was injured in an accident where a bridge under
construction had collapsed.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
A motion to approve the minutes
was made, seconded and carried. Minutes
from the
August 1-2, 2002
minutes were adopted as printed.
Brief Report on Division 285
Division Appeal
David Stallone, Chair of the
Division Committee briefly described the issue.
The grievant was appealing that the case should not have been referred to
the Ethics Committee, but should have been determined by the Division Committee.
A vote to hear the appeal was
defeated.
Cell Phone discussion
President Benson asked whether
the Board wanted to consider imposing a fine on cell phones that go off during
the meeting. He stated this was
routine procedure in many other organizations including both International
Executive Boards that he was a member thereof.
President Benson moved for a
$10.00 fine to go into PEF’s charity fund.
Ron Goldstein moved to amend the motion that the fine be
$5.00, and the charity be determined at the beginning of each meeting.
There was a second to the amendment.
After discussing the issue, Bob Thomas called the question.
Debate was closed.
The amendment to reduce the fine to
$5.00 and have the Board determine at the beginning of each meeting the charity
to receive the money was defeated.
The main motion that a $10.00 fine be
contributed to the PEF charitable fund was also defeated.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
President Benson thanked every
Regional Coordinator, Regional PAC Chair, and Executive Board member that was
actively involved in PEF’s grassroots political campaign; thanked Ross
Aaronson, statewide Health and Safety on the outstanding evacuation training
program that is being presented all over the state, Vice President Pat Baker for
her leadership in putting together the Ground Zero Recognition event in New York
City, Vice President Joe Fox on his involvement in dealing with Civil Service
issues; Vice President Brynien for taking on the
responsibility as Contract Chair; Jennifer Faucher
for making recommendations to the President on training. David
Stallone for his work on Division standards, Usher Piller
for leading his division in NYC regarding a worksite relocation and Jemma
Marie Hanson, council Leader at
Downstate
SUNY
Hospital
for her participation regarding a management proposal to
take away subsidized nursing residence.
President Benson introduced Matt
Watson, working in the Legislative Office and Josephine Rice, the Labor
Management recorder.
President Benson reported on the past elections and their meaning on
behalf of PEF; he also spoke on retirement incentives; the state budget; PEF’s
Contract three top priorities; no zeros, no major health insurance concessions
and thirteen days. President Benson
also announced the deputy lead negotiator, long term AFT and NYSUT staff person,
Tony Wildman, who was going to be with us as a contribution from AFT.
There was also discussion on the Transitchek
issue.
President Benson answered questions on
all the topics he had discussed in his report.
Job Security Campaign Committee
Report
Vice President Baker gave an
update on the campaign, and stated that this campaign would be done in two
phases; the committee was developing the media portion of the campaign which she
reported would begin the second week of December
Phase two would begin when the budget was released and job security
targets were identified to include measures that could be used to enhance tax
revenue. Ms. Baker answered
questions on the committee report. Charlie
Kelefant moved to move the agenda, received a
second, and the Job Security Campaign
report was concluded.
State Budget Review
Tom Cetrino,
Director of Research gave a slide presentation on the State Budget and gave his
opinion and also answered questions on his presentation.
Meeting recessed at
12:02 p.m.
Proceedings resumed at
1:10 p.m.
President Benson called the meeting back to order.
A video was shown regarding Wal-Mart and their anti union propaganda.
Mike Keean gave an overview on this and asked
for everyones support in the rally scheduled later
in the afternoon.
Triennial Election Rules
Vivienne Street
, Chair of the Triennial Election Committee moved for acceptance of the Proposed
2003 Triennial Election Rules and received a response of second.
Dennis Beagle moved to amend, under the Nominating and Campaign
procedures, to read, “It is the candidate’s responsibility to make sure that
nominating petitions are submitted on time to any PEF office and to delete the
rest of the paragraph. There was a
second to this amendment.
Neila
Cardus moved
for a substitute amendment, to read, “It is the candidates
responsibility to make sure that nominating petitions are submitted in a timely
fashion to the regional office or the central office.
Such petitions in all 12 locations shall be electronically date and time
stamped. In all regional offices,
these stamped, time-dated petitions shall be secured in a locked-box device.
At Headquarters, an Election Committee member will be present with the
staff assigned as petitions are filed. At
a set time each day in the regional offices, contents of these locked boxes will
be overnighted with a receipt to the Elections
Committee at the central office. There
was a second to this amendment to the amendment.
After several comments, Mike DelPiano
called the question, and received a second.
(The intent of this motion is: the outside courier arrives, has the only
key, opens the box, removes the contents, and then leaves the building.
NO PEF staff, no PEF elected officials are
involved in that process and therefore, no committee person would be necessary.)
For the record, Joe Lewis questioned,
should this pass, who is in charge now of setting up all these rules, Regional
Coordinators, Election Committee???
President Benson responded, this motion with
the clarification, intent of the motion, would be implemented by the Election
Committee. President Benson also
stated there would be written guidelines developed by the Committee that would
be distributed to all Board members and all candidates.
After much discussion, the substitute
motion by Ms. Cardus was adopted.
Dan Steen moved to amend the election
rules, to add a new section to the rules, “Campaign Finance” XII “PEF will
reimburse each certified independent candidate or slate of candidates for
statewide office, certified candidate for Regional Coordinator, or certified
candidate for the Executive Board, an amount not to exceed the cost of one first
class postage stamp for each member eligible to vote in the constituency for
that office.
Reimbursement will be made for
actual cost incurred. No
reimbursement will be made for any expense other than postage.
Requests for reimbursement must be filed on appropriate forms provided by
the Elections Committee and must include documentation of expenses incurred
including a copy of the mailing.”
“Any request for reimbursement must either be paid or the submitter
notified in writing of the specific reasons for nonpayment within 60 days of
submittal. Candidates or slates
that are eligible for reimbursement must be given a reasonable opportunity to
correct incomplete submissions. All requests for reimbursement must be received
in hand by the Elections Committee within 30 calendar days of the last date of
the balloting period for the race. Only
mailings done in contested races are eligible for reimbursement.
Any mailing for which postage reimbursement will be sought must have
included the statement, Postage to be paid in full or in part by PEF campaign
finance funds.”
There was a response of second
the motion.
After consulting with General Counsel, it was announced that the motion
was illegal, as Federal
Election Law prohibits reimbursing any candidate for a union election with union
funds, and therefore the amendment was ruled out of order.
Charlie Kelefant,
on a point or order stated, “ on the previous
question, we voted to substitute Mr. Beagle’s amendment with Ms. Cardus’s
. Are we suppose to vote now to add
that new amendment to the main motion of the election rules.?”
President Benson responded, “the Chair ruled
that when we passed Ms. Cardus’s substitute, we
amended the election rules in that section.
He sated at some point we will be voting on the entire set of election
rules.
Mr. Kelefant
asked if a motion to delete Ms. Cardus’s amendment
would be in order, and President Benson responded that such a motion would be in
order, but not at this moment.
Mike Keenan moved to amend the rules, under the Candidate Directory and
Information Sheet – to add: “The
candidate’s statement shall be camera ready, full page, for all candidates
running for President and Secretary-Treasurer”
A half page for all other candidates.
The second change would be on the top of page 4, “All certified
candidates will receive information – add, “That the mailing label request
form for certified candidates include the following costs:
0 – 1,000, $25.00; 1001 – 3000, $50.00; 3001 – 10,000, $75.00;
10,001 to 20,000, $100.00; 20,001 to 55,000, $180.00.
Mike deferred to the committee to come up with the proper cost
. There was a second to Mr.
Keenan’s motion.
With the approval of the Board, the
chair added, “a candidate statement that is either camera ready or in
electronic format.
After considerable debate, Al Visconti
called the question, received a seconded, and debate was closed.
The maker of the motion said it would
be his intent that the statements would only be mailed to specific
constituencies.
The first part of Mr. Keenan’s amendment was defeated.
The second part of Mr. Keenan’s motion to set the prices carried.
The main motion as amended carried and
the Election rules were adopted.
The meeting recessed at
3:34 p.m.
Proceedings resumed at
9:00 a.m.
Thursday, November 22nd.
President Benson called the meeting to order and members joined in the
Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. President
Benson reviewed the agenda and moved for adoption of the order of business,
received a seconded and the agenda carried.
Al Visconti moved for reconsideration of the
Election rules. There was a second
to his motion and it was defeated.
Convention Future Sites
Vice President and Convention
Committee Chair Joe Fox announced that the sites for 2005 and 2006 would be
considered at the March Executive Board meeting and announced locations that we
had already received bids on.
He asked the Board to e-mail him and call him for suggestions.
Bill Sachs moved that the Convention Committee explore future sites in
Toronto
,
Ontario
and received a second, and the motion carried.
Mr. Fox answered questions regarding other sites.
EOL Status
Bob Carrothers,
Director of Contract Administration gave an update on the EOL process and
emphasized the necessity of minimum
three week notice for meetings. He
referred to the handout indicating status of the restoration of time.
After discussion on this issue, Dollie Williams
made a motion to move the
agenda, seconded and carried. Bob Carrothers gave a
brief report on title challenges.
Executive Board went into Executive
Session to discuss the Divisions Department.
Neila
Cardus moved the following resolution, “Resolution
in Support of Justice for Janitors Campaign at Department of Labor”
Whereas, cleaners at the New York State
Office Campus Building 12 (Department of Labor) employed by Pegasus Cleaning
Corporation have indicated overwhelming support for joining Service Employees
International Union (SEIU) Local 200 United; and
Whereas, these workers are paid
substandard wages; and Whereas, these workers have been intimidated by Pegasus
management and polled as to their level of support for the
Union
; and Whereas, the Office of General Services (OGS) and the Department of Labor
(DOL) has prohibited SEIU 200 United representatives from talking to cleaners on
their breaks, and Whereas,
New York
State
should be encouraged to intervene and direct nonunion employers to respect the
wishes of an overwhelming number of employees through recognition or contract
with reliable union firms where
the workers have the opportunity to negotiate over their hours,
wages and other conditions of employment: Be
It Hereby Resolved, that New York State Public Employees Federation supports
cleaners at the Department of Labor joining Service Employees International
Union (SEIU) Local 200 United.
There was a second to this resolution, and it carried unanimous.
SECRETARY-TREASURER’S REPORT
Secretary Treasurer Hallum
referred to the financial documents included in the kit and stated there were a
couple categories that were over the 10 percent.
She stated that Payroll taxes were over as there was a substantial
increase in Worker’s Comp. She
stated there was 52,000 more in income, and forty-seven
five could be moved to the payroll
tax line.
She reported Outside Legal fees were
over the 10 per cent line, and 4500 for outside legal fees could be taken from
the 52,000 additional income.
Ms. Hallum
moved these two budget amendments, received a second and the budget amendments
were adopted.
Income Statement Report
Jane referred to the PAC
contributions report and stated there was a correction and the total should be
$263,173.
World
Trade
Center
Fund
- Secretary-Treasurer Hallum
reported PEF had received a total of $113,331.73
and since there was a balance of $43,737 after disbursement, PEF was
going to refund the New York City Labor Council $20,000.
This was due to the fact that we had to distribute some of the money to
other than PEF families,
The New York City Labor Council sent PEF $224,400 for distribution
to our members. The remaining
$23,737.65 would be distributed to the families according to the original
formula. This was so moved,
seconded and carried, closing the fund out.
Negus Trust Account
Ms. Hallum
stated this account was now going to be closed as both children had reached the
age of 24. William Negus was paid
$10,950 for education and David Negus was paid $7,736.93 for his education.
This was so moved, seconded and carried closing out the Negus Account..
401K
Jane explained and in order to
be in compliance with the IRS, two resolutions had to be
adopted. They were the same text, one for USWA and one for MC
employees of PEF.
“ Therefore be it resolved that the
Plan as amended and stated in substantially the form presented to the meeting,
as the Fidelity CORPORATE plan for Retirement 100, effective as of the effective
date contained in such amended and restated Plan document, is hereby adopted;
and
Further Resolved, that the
appropriate officers of PEF are hereby authorized and directed to take any such
action necessary or appropriate to effectuate these resolutions, including but
not limited to, executing the amended and restated Plan on behalf of PEF, and
obtaining a favorable determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service
regarding the Plan, as amended and restated.”
Secretary-Treasurer Hallum
moved the resolutions, received a second, and they were adopted.
IT Update
Director of MIS, Angelo
Santabarbara gave an brief overview of where MIS is
currently and what the plans for the future were.
Mr. Santabarbara answered questions presented by the members.,
Bill Sachs moved for a strong
recommendation that in next years budget to add a full-time MIS person to the
MIS Department, and received a second.
Mr. Sachs motion was ruled out of order
as he spoke at the end of the motion
Ron Goldstein moved to add an
item to the MIS Department as soon as humanly possible to data processing in
this year’s budget. There was a
second to the motion. After
debating the issue, the motion failed.
PEF Website Privacy Policy
Angelo stated he had worked
with the Legal Department and together the came up with a privacy policy
Secretary-Treasurer Hallum moved the
Privacy Policy, received a second and the policy was adopted.
(See attached)
Ethics Amendment
Priscilla Sweet, Chair of the
Ethics Committee brought forth two amendments; one to the Grievance Form and one
to the Code of Ethics.
These amendments were technical and would bring the forms in compliance
with each other.
The first amendment was to the Ethics Grievance Form,
to delete “within 60 days of occurrence” and replace with
“no later than 60 days after the charging party discovers the alleged
violation”
The second amendment was to the Code of
Ethics to add a sentence. “In the event the document is undelivered or
refused, the 20 day time frame to respond shall begin on the date the document
is returned to PEF by the post office. The amendments received a second.
Mike Keenan moved to amend the Code of Ethics to comply.
He received a second and the amendment was defeated.
Both amendments as presented by Ms. Sweet were adopted.
(See attached)
Member Items
Convention Resolutions 10
12 and 13
Bill Sachs moved that
PEF Convention Resolutions 10, 12 and 13 be referred to the
Constitution and ByLaws Committee, received a second
and the resolutions were referred.
Separate SED from SUNY
Donald Morgenstern moved to
recommend to the President that he appoint a committee
to look at E-Board representation.
There was a second to the motion.
Jeff Janiszewski moved for a substitute motion
that the committee only look into
SUNY and SED representation.
There was a second to the substitute motion.
After
debate, all matters before the house were called, seconded and debate was
closed.
The substitute motion to
include only SUNY and SED failed.
The original motion that the Board
recommend to the President to appoint a committee to look at E-Board
representation carried.
Division Structure SUNY
Donald Morgenstern moved that
the Board recommend to the President to appoint a committee to look at the
Division representation. This
motion received a second.
After discussion, Mike Keenan moved for a substitute motion that the
President appoint a committee to study, analyze, PEF structure and make
recommendations. The motion was
seconded.
Dee Dodson moved to amend the
substitute motion that the President charge the
existing Divisions Committee to take a look at the Division structure and make a
recommendation.
After considerable discussion all
matters before the house were called, second and carried. Debate was closed.
The amendment that the Board recommend
to the President that the Divisions Committee look at the Division structure was
defeated.
The substitute motion that the
Executive Board recommend to the President that a committee be appointed to look
at PEF structure and make recommendations to the Executive Board also failed.
The main motion that recommends to the
President to appoint a committee to look at Division structure also failed.
Increase Division Supplement for
Single Rooms
Bill Sachs moved that the
fiscal policy regarding Division expenses be modified as follows concerning
expenditures for the PEF Convention (a) that the delegate supplement be
increased to a maximum of $150 and (b) that Division funds
be used to pay for single room supplements.
There was a second to the motion.
After debating the issue, Jeff Janiszewski
moved to amend the motion that the Divisions be empowered to offer up to $150 if
they choose to reimburse the cost of a single room for their delegates.
There was a second to the amendment.
All matters were called, second and
debate was closed.
The amendment to the main motion to
empower the Divisions to offer up to $150 for reimbursement of a single room was
defeated.
The main motion to supplement be increased
$150.00 was also defeated.
The motion that would permit Divisions
to supplement a single room supplement paid for by the delegates Division was
also defeated.
Apportionment
Process Appeal
Don Morgenstern moved that the
Board request that the President ask the ByLaws
Committee to recommend an apportionment appeals process.
The motion received a second and after debating the issue, the motion was
defeated.
Postpone Steward Election
Division 177
Charlie Kelefant
stated he had spoken with Secretary-Treasurer Hallum
who informed him that the Federal Labor Law prohibits a Steward’s term from
exceeding three years under any circumstances so the request was withdrawn.
Press Clips
Dan Steen moved the following:
Distribution of news clips in the general mailings to the Executive Board
is a time-honored means of providing information to PEF’s leadership about
issues of importance to PEF’s agenda. While
the President and his/her designee has wide latitude in selecting materials for
inclusion in the news clips, all articles in which PEF officers, Executive Board
members, Stewards, Division officers or staff are quoted and must be included.
Such articles must be included in the news clip package sent in the next
general mailing conducted by the PEF distribution system after PEF comes into
possession of an article. For the
purposes of this policy, letters to the editor will be considered articles.
Articles pertaining to internal elections or caucuses will not be
included in the news clips. There
was a second to the motion.
After discussion, Lou Matrazzo moved to amend
the motion that the person should notify PEF central to include the article in
the mailing. This amendment was
seconded and defeated. The main motion by Mr. Steen was also defeated.
Use of title “Chair” in
External Communications
Dan Steen moved the following:
The title as Chairperson or Member of the Committee on Ethics and
Responsibility must not be used to sign any correspondence not directly related
to the business of the committee. There
was a response of second.
Mike Keenan moved to amend the motion that it be the titled Chair or
member of any PEF committee. This
amendment was seconded.
All matters before the house were called, seconded and carried.
Debate was closed.
The amendment to the motion to include all Chairs or members of any PEF
committee carried. The main motion as amended was adopted.
(See attached policy)
The meeting adjourned at
2:30 p.m.
as the agenda was complete.
Respectfully
submitted.
ane Hallum
Secretary-Treasurer
Approved as printed -
March 6, 2003
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