Official Publication of
The Civil Service Employees Association
Next week's issue of 'The Public Sector"
will be devoted to extended coverage of
CSEA's just concluded 68th Annual Meeting.
We will report in depth on delegate action on
important Constitution and By Law changes,
as well as continuing our coverage of the
various reports from standing and special
committees.
We'll also analyze delegate actions to explain how it impacts upon the rank-and-file
membership, and expand photographic
coverage of the week-long annual meeting.
Convention coverage begins on pages 6
and 7 of this issue.
2H
Vol. 1, No. 5
Wednesday, November 1, 1978
Postpone dues vote
KIAMESHA LAKE - The 1,300 union delegates
to the Civil Service Emplpyees Assn.'s 68th Annual
Meeting here last week failed to reach a g r e e m e n t
concerning a controversial proposed change in the
union's dues structure. After m o r e than a day of
heated, often stormy, debate the delegates voted
overwhelmingly to postpone f u r t h e r consideration
until the Spring Meeting of delegates next March.
The c o n t r o v e r s i a l d u e s p r o p o s a l called f o r
eliminating the c u r r e n t $58.50 flat dues s t r u c t u r e
effective next April 1 in favor of a percentage dues
system. Under the proposal, CSE A dues would be
set at 1 percent of salary of the individual m e m b e r ,
up to a m a x i m u m of $125 annually. CSEA P r e s i d e n t
Art. 20 hearing
set for Oct. 31
WASHINGTON — The all-important decision by
the Executive Council o i the AFL-CIO as to
whether the Civil Service Employees Assn. was illegally raided by the Public Employees Federation
earlier this y e a r was scheduled to be m a d e as " T h e
Public S e c t o r " went to press.
The AFL-CIO Executive Council originally was to
decide the issue on October 24, but that was postponed until October 3L An independent u m p i r e
earlier had ruled that P E F illegally raided CSEA
for representation rights for 45,500 state workers in
the PS&T bargaining unit. P E F appealed that
ruling, which is now in the hands of the 35-member
Executive Council for final determination, which is
unappealable.
CSEA also is in the Appellate Division of State
Supreme Court seeking to overturn the April
election results.
William L. McGowan, T r e a s u r e r J a c k Gallagher,
Comptroller Thomas P . Collins and others supported the proposal as a solution to offset an anticipated deficit spending budget under the existing
dues system.
P r i o r to postponing f u r t h e r consideration until
next March, delegates defeated alternative
proposals which would have raised dues by $1 and
by 50 cents, respectively, each bi-weekly pay
period.
In other action, delegates approved extending the
t e r m of office of f u t u r e elected statewide, regional
and local officers, and also approved the first of two
required readings of a motion increasing the rights
of the union's r e t i r e e m e m b e r s .
Extending the t e r m s of offices of f u t u r e office
holders would allow for various elections to be
staggered. At present the elections a r e held
simultaneously.
R e t i r e e m e m b e r s , if that proposed constitutional
a m e n d m e n t is passed on second reading next
March, would be given the right to vote in union
elections.
RIVERHEAD — A proposed Proposition 13-type
initiative and referendum law in Suffolk County has
been ordered removed from November 7 election
ballots by a State Supreme Court justice on a law
suit brought by Civil Service Employees Assn. Suffolk County Local 852.
Supreme Court Justice Leon D. Lazer, in ordering the proposed law off the ballots, agreed with the
union's contention that the Suffolk County
Legislature violated the County Charter when it
voted to place the controversial proposed law on the
ballots.
It would have been the first Proposition 13-type
law of its kind in New York State if approved by the
voters.
MAY THE BEST MAN WIN — The Civil Service Employees Assn. is remaining
officially neutral in next week's election of a governor for New York State, and to
underscore that neutrality has contributed $41,000 to both Democrat Governor
Hugh L. Carey and his Republican rival, Perry B. Duryea. The money from the
CSEA Political Action Fund is expected to be spent by both candidates primarily
''Fight
for
future''
KIAMESHA LAKE - Civil Service Employees
Assn. P r e s i d e n t William L. McGowan opened the
first general business session at the 68th Annual
Meeting with a call for CSEA m e m b e r s to fight for
the future.
" L e a v e here solid, ready to take on anyone who
wants to take us on," he said.
E a r l i e r in his a d d r e s s to m o r e than 1,300
delegates, McGowan said to let the news media
know what public employees do for the people.
"Stand and be proud of the work we do . . . No back
seat. I want the front of the bus, too."
He said CSEA was going into negotiations strong
and united, determined to " b a t t l e down to the
w i r e " for salary and working conditions.
He urged the delegates to show the public that the
waste in government is not among its employees
but among political jobs.
McGowan said the top legislative priority for 1979
would be the removal of the two-for-one penalty in
the Taylor Law.
He also said the affiliation with AFSCME has six
t i m e s prevented challenges by other unions.
on last minute media advertising. In photo at left, Gov. Carey receives a check for
$41,000 from Stanley Polansky, a member of the union's Capital Region Political
Action Committee; Thomas McDonough, CSEA Executive Vice President and
member of the Political Action Fund; Jean Myers, chairman of the Capital
Region Committee; and Barbara Pickell of Broome County, a member of CSEA's
Statewide Political Action Committee. In photo at right, a similar $41,000 contribution check is given Mr. Duryea by Polansky, Ms. Myers and Mr. McDonough.
Saturday
holiday
explained
ALBANY - V e t e r a n ' s D a y ,
November 11, is one of 11 paid
holidays for State employees
negotiated over the y e a r s by the
Civil S e r v i c e E m p l o y e e s Assn.
This year, however, November 11
falls on a Saturday, so the State
Department of Civil Service has
announced the procedure concerning Veteran's Day, 1978.
Employees entitled to observe
holidays and for whom November
11, Saturday, is a regular day off,
will be credited with compensatory
time off in lieu of the Saturday holiday — either as holiday comp time
or as an additional day of vacation,
as appropriate.
The d e p a r t m e n t has determined
t h a t a n o t h e r d a y will NOT be
designated to be observed as a holiday in lieu of November 11 this
year.
LETTERS
G® (Ste BdlSö®!?
We encourage letters from readers pertaining to i t e m s which
have appeared in T H E PUBLIC SECTOR or which are of interest to public e m p l o y e e s . Letters must contain the name,
address and telephone numl)er of the writer for verification purposes. Telephone numbers will not be printed, and names may be
withheld upon request. Send all letters to THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Clarity Publishing Inc., 75 Champlain Street, Albany, N.Y.
12204.
Editor, The Public Sector:
I a m writing this letter as a State employee of
twelve (12) y e a r s and equally important, as a taxpayer.
Saturday, September 30, was another typical
State Civil Service e x a m day.
I took mine at Albany High School. The atmosphere resembled a zoo. People were running all
over the place because they were short fifteen
monitors. My monitor arrived 15 minutes a f t e r the
exam was to have started and then spent 45 minutes
trying to track down her pocketbook while we were
supposed to be concentrating on our exam.
1 have spent seven years in training to do my job.
E m p l o y e e s who do work on
November 11 will be paid holiday
pay or granted compensatory time
off as appropriate, except that
managerial/confidential
employees at grade 23 and above a r e not
eligible for holiday pay and must
be granted comp time. Employees
for whom Saturday is a regular day
off m a y also be entitled to overtime pay for time worked on this
November 11.
F u r t h e r m o r e , Sect. 63 of the
Public Officer s Law provides that
an eligible veteran who works on
Veteran's Day is entitled to comp
time off if required to work on that
day, irrespective of the payment of
holiday pay.
Questions concerning the observance of Veteran's Day should be
r e f e r r e d to t h e Civil S e r v i c e
D e p a r t m e n t , Employee Relations
Section (518) 457-2295.
which according to all my supervisors and peers I
do especially well. This has been proven by the fact
that twice I was given a provisional title in a higher
grade until I had a chance to pass the exam.
The promotional exam Saturday did not have one
question pertaining to the job I do. If I need to know
when five men can paint a room in 3V2 hours, how
many hours it will take eight men to do it, I'll hire a
professional painter who can answer the question.
With due respect to painters, I ' m sure they could
not walk into my job, compute mileage and interpret contracts. If there a r e any other State
employees who feel as I do let's do something about
it and force Civil Service to give e x a m s that give
credit to our knowledge. It takes thousands of
dollars to train an employee and a few hours exam
on unrelated m a t e r i a l should not decide whether or
not a person is qualified to p e r f o r m his or her
duties.
Beatrice Wahrlich
Department of Transportation
Albany
Editor, The Public Sector:
I was appalled to receive in the mail last week a
letter which was blatantly political and personally
Halt court hearings
NEW YORK — Public hearings scheduled last
week in three upstate locations by the State Office
of Court Administration concerning the OCA's un^
ified court system proposal were postponed by a
State Supreme Court justice who granted a temporary injunction asked by a group of New York
City a r e a court employees.
The injunction was granted the New York City
court workers who claimed that the OCA lacks
proper authority to classify state employees under
the proposed classification plan, and that OCA
hearings provided insufficient time to p r e p a r e for
them. Postponed were public hearings scheduled
for October 25 in Syracuse, October 26 in Albany,
and October 27 in White Plains. At presstime,
public hearings set for October 30 in Riverhead, and
October 31. November 1 and November 2 in New
York City were not affected by the temporary injunction and were to be held as scheduled.
I
THE PUBLIC S E C T O R , W e d n e s d a y , N o v e m b e r
Editor, The Public Sector:
I was pleased to read your article titled " P a y
raise gets priority support." However, the most important issue to new employees, namely the full adjustment of the 1975 pay scale to include the full
147r^ increase negotiated in the last contract, was
not alluded to. The current individual salary
schedule is inherently unfair in that the principle of
equal pay for equal work is disregarded. I a m sure
that I speak for many employees hired subsequent
to March 31, 1977, who feel left out of the CSEA
structure due to limited tenure.
Kenneth Vosilla, Long Island City
Editor, The Public Sector:
I like the f o r m a t of your new publication but
notice you have no column for retirees.
Since I a m recently retired, naturally that news
concerns me most. P l e a s e don't forget us retirees.
Catherine Bottjer, Central Islip
Editor's Note: A column written by Thomas Gilmartin, CSEA's
coordinator of retiree affairs, will appear on a '.egular basis in
future editions. Additionally, we hope to present various items
and articles of special interest to retirees. We have not forgotten
our valued friends.
OK Alden contract
N e w 2-year pact
Workers of the Town of Barre, represented by
Orleans County Local 837, CSEA, will receive
raises of 25 cents plus fifty dollars per longevity
step in each year of a new two-year contract
negotiated by Collective Bargaining Specialist
Danny Jinks.
They will also receive fully paid dental insurance
coverage, a fifth week of vacation a f t e r the
nineteenth year of service and sick leave credits of
V'2 days per month.
offensive. It was f r o m CSEA Capital Region
President Joseph McDermott, written on CSEA
stationery and in a CSEA envelope for which CSEA
presumably paid the postage.
It was a letter urging voter support for a CSEAendorsed candidate in the 42nd Senate District.
While I a m not opposed to the union endorsing candidates for political office, I a m staunchly opposed
to the use of m e m b e r s ' funds for stationery,
postage and staff time to promote the interests of
such candidates.
CSEA is spending $400,000 in political endorsements this year. I personally believe that is
far, far too much money for the returns it is likely
to produce. And I have plenty of doubts about some
of the politicians who a r e getting our money and
about how some were selected. Given the financial
situation of the union, that money could have been
more wisely spent.
Jeanne S. Nadell, Albany
CHEMUNG COUNTY CSEA LOCAL 808
delegate Mary Nelan catches up on all the activities around the state by reading an issue
of "The Public Sector" during a rare quiet
moment at CSEA's 68th annual meeting last
week at Kiamesha Lake.
1, 1 9 7 8Page11
Highway d e p a r t m e n t workers of the Town of
Alden, represented by E r i e County Civil Service
Employees Assn. No. 815, will receive raises of 7
percent in 1979 and 8 percent in each of the remaining years of a new three-year contract. The pact
was negotiated by Field Representative Robert E.
Young; Unit President Edward Goralczyk, and
Kenneth Justinger for CSEA; and Councilman Arnold Aldinger for the Town.
The new contract also includes improvements in
out-of-title pay, sick leave accumulation and contract language.
Pre-convention
Reg, II meeting
NEW HYDE PARK - Delegates
attending the annual meetings of
the Civil Service Employees Assn.
have a m a j o r responsibility to the
g e n e r a l m e m b e r s h i p in e s t a b l i s h i n g o f f i c i a l p o l i c y and
positions of the union. In order to
cast votes reflecting the attitudes
of t h e i r m e m b e r s , d e l e g a t e s
generally obtain points of views
through prior meetings of their units and Local, and at regional
sessions usually held just prior to a
convention.
Such was the case in CSEA's
Metropolitan Region 2, where officers and delegates met recently
with m e m b e r s to discuss the annual m e e t i n g and d e t e r m i n e
positions of the regional delegates
on items anticipated to be on the
agenda during the convention.
The a c c o m p a n y i n g photos illustrate some of the involvement at
the Metropolitan Region meeting
held just prior to last week's annual meeting.
METROPOLITAN
REGION
PRESIDENT Solomon Bendet discusses the various proposals anticipated to be considered by delegates
to CSEA's 68th annual meeting.
Grievance
class set
LOCKPORT - The first of three
November classes in "Stewardship
and Effective Grievance Handling" in
the Civil Service Employees Assn.
Western Region will be held at 6:30
p.m. November 2 at Lockport
M e m o r i a l Hospital, a c c o r d i n g to
regional training consultant Celeste
Rosenkranz.
Also on the November schedule a r e
classes for employees at the E r i e
County Water Authority on November
9, and one sponsored jointly for Local
600, Alfred University, and Local 007,
Hornell, at a time and place to be announced later.
Ms. Rosenkranz reports that fall
c l a s s e s h a v e been c o m p l e t e d f o r
w o r k e r s at Craig D e v e l o p m e n t a l
Center, Roswell P a r k Memorial Institute, Health Research Institute,
Allegany State P a r k , and Niagara and
Cattaraugus counties.
D I S C U S S I N G R E G I O N A L ACTIVITIES a r e Dorothy King,
Metropolitan Region Second Vice
President, and George Bispham, staff
Regional Director.
File charges
on districts
A WARNING that all too often
delegates tend to vote on a regional
basis rather than as a statewide union
was issued by Metropolitan Region
First Vice President William DeMartino. He told the members that CSEA is
much stronger voting as a single union
than as six regions.
ALBANY — The capital Region of
the Civil Service Employees Assn.
has filed improper practice charges
with the Public
Employment
R e l a t i o n s Board a g a i n s t approximately 30 school districts in the
Region for issuing letters of continued
employment to employees at the end
of the school year, in an apparent
a t t e m p t to c i r c u m v e n t
unemployment insurance claims.
John D. Corcoran, J r . , regional
director, who is directing the suits in
conjunction with field representatives
in each area, explained that these
letters a r e informational, and not binding. " T h e letters told the employees
that they could expect to return to
their jobs in September, but they do
not obligate the school district to
anything. Only the employees' cont r a c t can m a k e that guarantee and in
most cases it does not. We feel that
this is just a way to prevent the
e m p l o y e e s f r o m c o l l e c t i n g unemployment insurance, which the
employer is now required to pay due
to a new federal law.
The CSEA is accusing the school
districts of trying to modify the t e r m s
and conditions of employee contracts
and says that such a move is in
violation of the Taylor Law.
WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM, Regional Third Vice President, addresses
the members on topics to be considered by delegates. Mr. Cunningham is
a well-recognized and active delegate at the annual meetings, speaking
out strongly on most issues during the business meetings.
Expect intense talks in Dutchess
P O U G H K E E P S I E - Negotiations
a r e set to begin this month between
r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s of the D u t c h e s s
C o u n t y U n i t of C i v i l S e r v i c e
E m p l o y e e s ' Assn. Local 814 and
Dutchess County, and indications a r e
that talks will be intense.
Unit President Ann Boehm says the
union negotiating t e a m is determined
not to have a gap between the end of
the current contract, which expires
December 31, 1978, and the one about
to be negotiated. She said the t e a m s
will be working toward a deadline of
J a n u a r y 1, 1979 because "employees
gain nothing at a l l " if a gap is allowed
to develop between the expiration
•date of one a g r e e m e n t and the s t a r t of
another. The unit president said that
at least four definite dates during
November a r e already scheduled and
more will be added.
Ms. Boehm said the union will be
concentrating on fiscal items, stating,
" T h e i t e m s we p r e s e n t will be
primarily limited to those that hit the
pocketbook of the m e m b e r s . " Many
non-fiscal items have already been
r e s o l v e d d u r i n g a s e r i e s of
negotiations which extended over
more than a year when the current
one-year contract was finally imposed by the County Legislature last
August, retroactive to last J a n u a r y 1.
The last round of negotiations in
Dutchess County was extremely dif-
ficult and included
impasse,
mediation, factfinding and two rejections of contracts by the membership,
ultimately leading to an imposed
settlement.
" T h e r e w e r e m a n y s o u r c e s of
tension working against us and contributing to the turbulent period," Ms.
Boehm noted. She was named unit
president in September, moving up
f r o m e x e c u t i v e vice p r e s i d e n t to
replace f o r m e r president P a t Robins
who resigned due to an increased
workload. The unit's executive vice
president, Scott Daniels, is chairman
of the CSEA negotiating team. CSEA
Collective Bargaining Specialist Phil
Miller is staff negotiator for the talks
which begin this month.
Syracuse rally
SYRACUSE - Onondaga County
L o c a l 834 of t h e Civil S e r v i c e
Employees Assn. anticipates upwards
of 900 county employees to turn out
for a giant rally/party on Saturday,
N o v e m b e r 4 at the Drumlins
Clubhouse, Nottingham Road.
Local 834 President Bob Obrist and
P a t C a l l a h a n , c h a i r m a n of t h e
r a l l y / p a r t y c o m m i t t e e , said a
membership information booth at the
a f f a i r is e x p e c t e d to b o o s t
membership considerably.
N E W Y O R K STATE ELIGIBLE LIST
Sr. Bacteriologist
(Exam No. 3 6 2 7 7 )
Test Held M a y 20, 1978
1. Goetz, Robert J., Garden City
2. Scribani, Santo, Brooklyn
3. Williams, Joyce, Brooklyn
I THE PUBLIC SECTOR, W e d n e s d a y , N o v e m b e r
1, 1978
75.7
74.0
72.3
P a g e 11
An Analysis
A look at the president's wage guidelines
By Roger A. Cole
It was, of course, coincidental that
P r e s i d e n t C a r t e r announced his
voluntary wage/price guidelines
package just as negotiations w e r e
about to begin between the Civil Service Employees Assn. and the State
of New York for new contracts covering m o r e than 100,000 state workers.
It is never an agreeable situation to
negotiate under mandated ceilings or
l i m i t a t i o n s , but while the e x a c t
m e a n i n g of t h e j u s t - a n n o u n c e d
guidelines a r e not yet clarified, it
a p p e a r s that it will not be all that diff i c u l t to c o n d u c t m e a n i n g f u l
negotiations under the P r e s i d e n t ' s
" v o l u n t a r y " imposed limitations.
The most important p a r t of the
anti-inflation wage guideline
package, f r o m the point of view of
CSEA and the state employees, is
that portion that states annual inc r e a s e s in wages and fringe benefits
should not e x c e e d 7 p e r c e n t .
Depending upon interpretation, that
allows a considerable range in which
to conduct meaningful talks starting
later this month.
William Blom, CSEA's director of
research, notes that interpretation is
i m p o r t a n t in t h i s c a s e s i n c e
depending upon how one looks at it,
the 7 percent limit could fall at distinctly different places.
If the President is suggesting the 7
percent limit be a percentage of the
c u r r e n t payroll costs, t h a t ' s one
thing. "But if it allows for a 7 percent
increase in wage and benefits based
on the current payroll plus costs of
c u r r e n t fringe benefits, t h a t ' s much
different and provides plenty of room
in which to conduct fair and equitable
contract talks, ' Mr. Blom said.
Also, traditionally increments to
those eligible a r e factored into the
pay scale before negotiated percentage increases a r e applied, which actually results in increases to nearly
half the a f f e c t e d w o r k f o r c e considerably above the i n c r e a s e s
negotiated.
And, too, the President's voluntary
w a g e guidelines do not apply to
workers earning less than $4 per
hour. State workers on a 37.5 hour
workweek earning less than $7,800
and those on a 40 workweek earning
less than $8,320 would, in theory, be
unaffected by any restraints. In some
units that represents a high percentage of the employees.
And the guideline standards do not
apply to individual workers in any
event, but to the bargaining unit as a
whole. That would allow CSEA to
continue to seek substantial raises for
the lower-paid employees in the units
while gaining equitable raises for
higher-paid workers at the s a m e
time.
Two y e a r s ago state employees
overwhelmingly approved
the
current contracts which resulted in
raises in the neighborhood now allowed under the President's guidelines.
Three increases of 5%, 4% and 5%
over the two years add up to 14% on
the s u r f a c e but a r e actually a bit less
due to compounding factors. Even the
most rigid interpretation, therefore.
POUT/CAL
ACTION''
SP£f\\<S
LOUDER THAN
WORDS...
^^^
Published every Wednesday by Clarity Publishing, Inc.
Publication Office, 75 Champlain Street, Albany, N.Y. 12204 ( 518 ) 465-4591
Official publication of
The Civil Service
Employees Association
33 Elk Street,
Albany, New York 12224
I
Thomas A. demente—Publisher
Roger A. Cole—Executive Editor
Dr. Gerald Alperstein — Associate Editor
Oscar D. Barker—Associate Editor
Deborah Cassidy-Staff Writer
Susan A. Kemp-Staff Writer
Arden D. Lawand—Graphic Design
Dennis C. Mullahy—Production Coordinator
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, W e d n e s d a y , N o v e m b e r 1, 1978Page11
would still provide for the possibility
of raises at or above the c u r r e n t
scales.
The guidelines just announced a r e
designed to slow inflation to between
6 and 6.5 percent next year. Any
negotiated increases above that level,
assuming inflation can be slowed,
would be " r e a l " money increases. By
comparison, the c u r r e n t inflation
r a t e of 7.5 to 8 percent m e a n s most
workers are, at best, only staying
even when it comes to purchasing
power.
And just for the record, it is estimated that it costs about $17 million
per year for each 1 percent of inc r e a s e s negotiated for the CSEArepresented bargaining units of state
workers. That m e a n s that under the
strictest interpretation possible, a 1%
limit would still mean a package of
about $120 million a y e a r in increases.
It is clear that the union can sit down
at the bargaining table later this
month and s t a r t talking about big
money packages for state employees
and still consider staying within the
suggested limits. T h a t ' s good news.
CSEA's initial demands have not
yet been announced, and traditionally
a r e not due to the confusion»a starting
demand causes since the final figure
is a r r i v e d at only through long
negotiations. But it a p p e a r s clear
that whatever the union seeks in the
coming state contract talks, the just
announced guidelines should not impact too heavily a f t e r all.
Major points of President C a r t e r ' s
anti-inflation p r o g r a m :
• VOLUNTARY PAY STANDARD
— Annual increases in wages and
private fringe benefits should not exceed 7 percent in private enterprise
and f e d e r a l , s t a t e and local
governments. Workers earning less
than $4 an hour would be exempt a s
would be those under already signed
contracts. Standard applies not to individual workers but to the a v e r a g e
within these groups: Management,
employees covered by labor contracts, other employees.
• V O L U N T A R Y P R I C E STANDARD — Individual f i r m s should
limit their price increases over the
next year to 0.5 percent below their
average annual r a t e of price increase
during 1976-1977. If they cut wages
more than a half percent in 1976-77,
greater price deceleration will be
a s k e d . S t a n d a r d a p p l i e s not to
specific products but to a f i r m ' s
average price.
The Public Sector is published every
Wednesday except D e c e m b e r 27, Jan. 3
July 4 and August 8 for $5.00 by the Civil
Service Employees Association, 33 Elk
Street, Albany, New York, 12224.
Application to mail at Second Class
Postage Rates pending at Albany, New
York.
Send address changes to The Public Sector, 33 Elk Street, Albany, N e w York
12224.
Publication office, 75 Champlain Street,
Albany, New York, 12204. Single copy
Price 25^
Area judges
are
instructors
Special courses for Law Department employees
By Deborah Cassidy
ALBANY
Clerks
and
stenographers in the Albany office of
the New York State Department of
Law are "going to school" to learn
more about their jobs.
They are participants in a program
of non-credit courses, taught by area
judges and court officers, on the
t o p i c s of legal r e s e a r c h , legal
documents, appellate and claims
c o u r t p r o c e d u r e s and o t h e r
department matters. The instruction
has also included tours of the various
courts and the law library. Sponsored
by the education committee of the
Law Department Local of the Civil
Service Employees Association and
the Law Department personnel office,
the training series was started in
September, after numerous requests
from employees wanting to learn
more about work to which they are
often exposed, but in which they have
had no formal training.
"The work of Law Department
employees is highly specialized and
detailed. It's a field in which you
always need more knowledge." said
Allene Lowe, a m e m b e r of the
education committee. "This program
not only offers them more instruction
about their own jobs, but gives an
overall picture of the department as
well."
The committee and senior personnel administrator Michael O'Brien
drew up the initial outline for courses.
AN OUTLINE OF SPECIAL COURSES for clerks and stenographers in the Albany ollice of the State
Department of Law is reviewed by, from left, Michael O'Brien, Virginia Welnhoter and Allene Lowe.
Protest forced out-of-title work
ALBANY — The Civil Service
Employees Assn. has protested an apparent attempt by the state Civil Service Commission to force food service
workers to do out-of-title work.
C S E A P r e s i d e n t W i l l i a m L.
McGowan has sent a letter to Civil
Service Commission President Victor
Bahou, informing him that Food Service Worker I employees at several
developmental centers around the
state a r e being required to do grill
work.
"This duty is not listed as a function
of these employees on their current
job specifications," Mr. McGowan
said. "Until a final version of the
classification standard for Food Service Worker I is released, the Office
of Mental Retardation should be advised to discontinue this out-of-title
work for this group of employees."
There are about 2,400 employees in
the Grade 4 Food Service Worker I title now working in i n s t i t u t i o n s
throughout the state. Their traditional
job duties have included washing pots
and pans, setting and waiting on
tables, putting food deliveries in
storage areas, and similar tasks.
Robert Guild, CSEA's collective
bargaining specialist for the Institutional bargaining unit, says,
" R e c e n t l y , the Joint CSEA/State
Committee on Reclassification and
Reallocation agreed to upgrade the
Grade 3 Kitchen Helpers to a Grade 4.
Now, the Civil Service Department
seems to be trying to combine the
duties of Kitchen Helper, as well as
those of Assistant Cook, into the
duties of Food Service Worker I. But
they are trying to do it by expanding
t h e d u t i e s of the Food S e r v i c e
Workers without any financial compensation. and this is what we object
to."
The d e p a r t m e n t ' s Division of
Classification and Compensation has
tentatively changed the job specs for
the food service workers, and subm i t t e d t h e m to a g e n c y a n d
department heads for their review
and recommendations. The Division
has the right to do this, Mr. Guild
noted.
"But now. the Office of Mental
Retardation has taken these tentative
changes as gospel, and has already
begun requiring new tasks of the food
service people," he said.
The union president wrote to Mr.
Bahou t h a t CSEA
is f o r m a l l y
protesting the increased duties.
CSEA shuts out
Teamsters 4 9 - 0
I n f o r m a t i o n for the C a l e n d o r of C o m i n g Events m a y b e submitted directly to THE PUBLIC S E C T O R . Include the d a t e ,
time, p l a c e , a d d r e s s a n d city for the event. S e n d to THE PUBLIC S E C T O R , C l a r i t y Publishing Inc., 7 5 C h a m p l a i n Street,
Albany, N.Y. 12204-
NOVEMBER
3 —
SUNY at A l b a n y Local 6 9 1 g e n e r a l membership meeting, 5 : 3 0 p.m., Silo
Restaurant, 1228 Western Ave., A l b a n y .
3-4 — Central Region, state w o r k s h o p . Holiday Inn D o w n t o w n , Syracuse.
4 — O n o n d a g a Local 8 3 4 — N e w M e m b e r s h i p Rally Party, 9 p.m. t o 1 a.m.,
Drumlins, N o t t i n g h a m Road, Syracuse.
14 — Syracuse a r e a retirees (CSEA) Chapter 9 1 3 Fall meeting. Fireside Inn,
Baldwinsville, N. Y. Luncheon at 1 p.m.; The business meeting at 2 p.m.
14 — C r e e d m o o r Psychiatric Center Local 4 0 6 general membership meeting: 5 : 3 0
p.m., C r e e d m o o r basement chapel.
15 — Nassau Local 8 3 0 b o a r d of directors meeting: 5 : 3 0 p.m., Salisbury Club,
Eisenhower Park, East M e a d o w , L.I.
17-18 — Region 5 County W o r k s h o p ; H o l i d a y H a r b o r Hotel, O s w e g o .
21 — Livingston County unit of Rochester Area Retirees Local 9 1 2 g e n e r a l
membership meeting: 2 p.m.. Youth Center, M a i n St., M t . Morris.
21 — N e w York M e t r o p o l i t a n retirees Local 9 1 0 meeting: 1 p.m., 2 W o r l d Trade
Center, room 5 8 9 0 , M a n h a t t a n .
2 9 — Long Island Region 1 special elections seminar: 5-11 p.m., site to be announced.
Food service committee
ALBANY — A special Food Service
Committee is working closely with
CSEA to develop a new job series for
food service workers.
CSEA C o l l e c t i v e
Bargaining
Specialist Robert Guild is the staff ad-
but left the final details up to the
professionals they had asked to teach.
The result, .says committee member
Virginia Welnhofer. has been
professional instruction in actual
work and research, rather than just
book learning. "You could probably
call it on the job training. We're trying to provide the experience to help
employees do a better job."
Having professionals as teachers
has added benefits, said Ms. Lowe,
noting that Supreme Court Judge
Conway teaches in his chambers,
allowing the students to use his extensive library. "The State allows the
classes to meet in various rooms
within our building and also gives
employees time off for some of the
classes which are held in the late
afternoon," she added.
The success of the program can
probably be best measured by the fact
that all sessions held so far have been
filled to the maximum of 30 students.
Nonie J o h n s o n , one of t h e participants. c o m m e n t e d , " J u s t two
months of learning has helped me
tremendously on the job. The instruction is very thorough.and it's not
j u s t t y p i n g or s h o r t h a n d . T h e
employees of this department have
consistently exercised an unusual interest in the law and other workings
of the department and this program is
finally giving them the chance to
learn m o r e . "
Prior to the start of each session a
notice is circulated, telling employees
to apply for admission through the
personnel department. Mr. O'Brien,
with Ms. Lowe and Ms. Welnhofer
review the applications, basing their
d e c i s i o n on s e n i o r i t y and j o b
relatedness.
A Spring semester, scheduled to
begin in February, will be a repeat of
the fall o f f e r i n g s . Next y e a r ,
however, the committee hopes to add
more courses and more teachers to
take on a larger load of students, including those in city and county
courts who have recently become
State employees.
visor to the committee, which is comprised of John Jackson, P i l g r i m
Psychiatric Center; Alice Preacher,
Creedmoor Psychiatric Center;
Lillian Davey. Hudson River
Psychiatric Center; Katha London.
Oswald D. Heck D e v e l o p m e n t a l
C e n t e r ; Tom P i a n e l l a , Marcy
P s y c h i a t r i c C e n t e r ; Leah Cook,
Gowanda Psychiatric Center; and
E d w a r d Newton, St. L a w r e n c e
Psychiatric Center.
.
CAIRO - The Capital Region of the
Civil S e r v i c e E m p l o y e e s Assn.
r e c e n t l y won a r e p r e s e n t a t i o n
challenge against the Teamsters union in the Cairo-Durham School
District for operational and clerical
workers.
According to field representative
Aaron Wagner, the school district
employees had been represented by
the Teamsters, but felt that the service to m e m b e r s was inadequate and
expressed a general feeling that they
had been deserted by the union. They
voted for the CSEA by a margin of 49
to zero.
Commenting on the election, John
D. Corcoran, Jr., CSEA regional
director, said, "It is particularly
significant that the T e a m s t e r s
received no votes in this election. It
shows that the employees a r e unhappy with the Teamsters' inability
to negotiate contracts in that sector."
Officers are: Fred C. Zimmerman,
president; Charles Selzner, vicepresident; Johanna Mulhany,
s e c r e t a r y ^ and M i l d r e d Seeley,
treasurer.
c-T
I THE PUBLIC SECTOR, W e d n e s d a y , N o v e m b e r
1, 1 9 7 8Page11 P a g e
;;
5
In a labor union as large and diversified as the Civil Service Employees
Assn., Local 1000, A F S C M E , activities m u s t be conducted on several
lev^els. Those activities, in turn, must
all be coordinated to blend into the
overall operation of the union.
R e d u c e d to s i m p l e t e r m s , the
o v e r a l l policy d e t e r m i n a t i o n s of
CSEA a r e m a d e by member-elected
delegates who m e e t annually to reexamine old policies and consider additional ones. Often delegates meet
m o r e than once each year as the
necessity arises. Last week m o r e
than 1,300 delegates conducted the uni o n ' s 68th a n n u a l m e e t i n g a t
Kiamesha Lake.
The union's Board of Directors,
also member-elected, m e e t at least
monthly throughout the y e a r to implement policy m a t t e r s determined
by the delegates. On a day-to-day
basis, union a f f a i r s a r e conducted by
a professional staff of m o r e than 200
labor e x p e r t s under the guidance of
elected statewide and regional officers.
Some of the most important of union activities a r e conducted at the
c o m m i t t e e level. The union h a s
numerous standing and special comm i t t e e s to o p e r a t e in specific a r e a s to
insure that adequate attention and
service is being given.
These committees function
throughout the year, and report on
their activities at each annual
meeting of the delegate body.
On these pages a r e some of the'
reports of various c o m m i t t e e s as
presented last week to the union's
delegates. In subsequent issues of
" T h e Public S e c t o r " we will be
presenting additional c o m m i t t e e
r e p o r t s f o r t h e b e n e f i t of t h e
membership.
Convention
'78—
A report to the
membership
Report of the
REFLECTING A SERIOUS, ATTENTIVE MOOD during a discussion at the
convention are these delegates, from the
left, Shirley Richardson, Jack Richardson
and Richard Grieco, all representing
Jefferson County CSEA Local 823, and
Eleanor Percy of CSEA Judiciary Local
334, Region 5.
THREE AFSCME INTERNATIONAL
VICE PRESIDENTS — Among those in a
big audience listening to a discussion on
the CSEA/AFSCME affiliation on the
opening night of the convention are, from
left, Irving Flaumenbaum, President of
CSEA's Long Island Region; AFSCME
International President Lee Tafel of
Miami, Florida; and CSEA President
William L. McGowan. Mr, Flaumenbaum
and Mr. McGowan are the two international vice presidents on the AFSCME
Executive Council from CSEA, Local 1000,
AFSCME.
The Standing Legal Committee of
your union reports to the Delegate
body the following breakdown of the
costs of the Legal P r o g r a m as compared to the budgeted figures for the
fiscal year ended September 30, 1978,
and f u r t h e r as compared to the exp e n s e s of t h e P r o g r a m f o r t h e
preceding 1977 fiscal year.
CSEA BINGHAMTON CITY LOCAL 002
DELEGATES to the delegates meeting included, from left, Joni Adams, Carol
Potter, Jim Goodison, Suzanne Snyder and
Cheryl Solometo.
Report of the
Since our last Delegates meeting,
several i t e m s of legislation have been
passed which will have an impact on
CSEA m e m b e r s who belong to the
Employees Retirement System.
Other legislation has been proposed to
c r e a t e a " T r u s t e e s h i p " to oversee the
investments of the Common Pension
Fund and in the future we must be
a w a r e of possible action in 1979 concerning the COESC-Tier 3 Plan. We
have seen our Pension funds ^gain
become the target of those who would
use your money to bail out the financial problems of New York City and
a f t e r nearly a q u a r t e r century of able
stewardship we note with sadness, the
r e t i r e m e n t of Arthur Levitt as State
Comptroller. These, then, a r e and
have been, the principle concern of
your Pension Committee.
E a r l y in 1978, the Pension Comm i t t e e recommended eight items of
Pension Legislation to the Legislative
& Political Action Committee. By the
end of the current session, three of
our r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s had been
passed.
J a n u a r y 1, 1979 which will
allow m e m b e r s of the Tier I
and Tier II plans to once again
contribute to an annuity account on a voluntary basis f r o m
1% to 10% of salary.
(C) L e g i s l a t i o n w a s p a s s e d
eliminating the requirement
that a pensioner attain age 62
prior to May 31,1972 in order to
qualify for pension supplementation. Other legislation passed
t h i s y e a r now a l l o w s t h e
prospective retiree to notify
t h e E R S of h i s o r h e r
r e t i r e m e n t date in 30 to 90 days
before retiring; and, a change
in the method of computing the
date used to determine if an individual m e m b e r s h i p in the
E R S should be terminated due
to lack of government service
f r o m five cumulative y e a r s of
lack of service in a ten year
period to five years f r o m the
last date the individual is on a
payroll.
(A) Legislation to implement a
c o n s t i t u t i o n a l c h a n g e which
now allows the extension of
one-half the supplementation a
pensioner would be entitled to
if l i v i n g , to t h e s u r v i v i n g
spouse of the pensioner who
retired and elected an option
that provided a lifetime benefit
to his or her spouse.
(B) Legislation will take effect
The r e m a i n d e r of our suggested
legislation was not acted on by lawm a k e r s and we expect to consider
that m a t e r i a l for re-submission in
1979. Administrative changes within
the E R S were also a concern of this
C o m m i t t e e and following our
suggestions, the E R S implemented a
system early in 1979 whereby in
certain c i r c u m s t a n c e s an estimated
benefit check is available to a pen-
The Legal
Committee
Estimated
Actual
Budget
1977
1978
Retainer—General
Counsel $372,000
Retainers—Regional
Attorneys
167,500
Special Legal
Services
810,783
Committee
sioner when the pensioner's papers
become delayed in process.
F u r t h e r , we closely monitored the
d e v e l o p m e n t of n e w r e t i r e m e n t
allowance options worked on this
year. Initially we expected seven new
options to be offered but due to the administrative impact of such a number
of changes, four new options will be
offered beginning in J a n u a r y 1979.
The Pension Committee has arranged
f o r a d e t a i l e d s e m i n a r on t h e s e
changes to be held as part of the
Educational P r o g r a m of this convention and information tables will be
m a n n e d by E R S I n f o r m a t i o n
S p e c i a l i s t s f o r t w o d a y s of t h e
Convention.
Through J a m e s Currier, our CSEA
representative to the Comptroller's
Pension Advisory Council, we learned
of a proposal to be submitted to the
legislature which would establish a
Trusteeship to administer the inv e s t m e n t s of the Common Pension
Fund. CSEA has taken exception to
the Trusteeship as originally proposed and through Mr. Currier and the
Political Action Committee, several
a m e n d m e n t s to the Trusteeship bill
have been submitted which would
provide more representation for
p u b l i c e m p l o y e e u n i o n s on t h e
trusteeship and give those representatives a significant authority in the
operation of the trusteeship. At the
time this report was written, it is not
known whether or not the legislature
will take up the bill in 1978 or if action
on the trusteeship concept would be
delayed to the next session of the
legislature. Your Pension Committee
will be among the m a n y in CSEA that
will closely m o n i t o r this development.
The Coordinated
Escalator
R e t i r e m e n t Plan of 1966 will be a major subject before the legislature in
1979. CSEA will take the position that
t h i s plan should be a m e n d e d
eliminating the contributory aspect
and the integrating with social
security. A coordinated e f f o r t with
the C o m p t r o l l e r ' s office and
representatives f r o m the Employees
R e t i r e m e n t System will be necessary
in order to present a uniform position
on a m e n d m e n t s to the plan.
The Pension Committee m e t three
times in 1978. On F e b r u a r y 15, J u n e 5,
a n d A u g u s t 28 r e s p e c t i v e l y . In
closing, we remind and admonish our
m e m b e r s h i p that questions regarding
your pensions require a technical
answer that the E R S is best equipped
to answer. Direct your questions to:
NYSERS, Alfred E . Smith State Office Bldg., Albany, New York, 12244
and allow a r e a s o n a b l e t i m e f o r
response. Your r e t i r e m e n t is too important to rely on misinformation.
Respectfully submitted,
Dorothy Goetz, Chairperson
Robert Comeau
Robert Rhubin
J a m e s Currier
Benjamin Lipkin
Victor Marr
J a n e O'Connor
(Disciplinaries,
Disbursements)
Estimated
Actual
1978
$525,000
$525,000
167,500
167,500
783,000
790,000
Grievances,
Court
Attached h e r e t o p l e a s e find a
general fund s t a t e m e n t of income and
expenses for the month of August,
1978, and for the eleven months of our
fiscal year then ended. We anticipate
closing our y e a r with a $250,000
charge to surplus, a f t e r transfers to
the contingency and plant funds as
authorized by the Board of Directors.
At t h e M a y 2, 1978 S p e c i a l
Delegates Meeting, a motion was
passed mandating m e to report on the
hscal impact of the affiliation with
AFSCME. In line with this motion,
the charges to income for the three
year pact a r e as follows:
Fiscal year ending 9/30/78
$400,000
Fiscal year ending 9/30/79
$1,185,000
Fiscal year ending 9/30/80
$5,365,200
Fiscal year ending 9/30/81
' $4,576,000
It would be highly speculative and
certainly subjective to m e a s u r e the
net a f f e c t a f f i l i a t i o n has on net
operating revenues. For instance, we
do not know how much money it
would have cost to fend off challenges
f r o m o t h e r AFL-CIO unions. Affiliation with AFSCME eliminates
this threat. In addition, the future
cost of AFSCME's help in a r e a s of
governmental budgets and contract
analyses, r e s e a r c h and economics,
f e d e r a l a n d l o c a l l o b b y i n g and
legislation, political education and
communications is, at best, difficult
to estimate.
Treasurer
GENERAL FUND STATEMENT OF INCOME AND
EXPENSES
FOR THE MONTH ENDED AUGUST 31, 1978
Month of August
Actual
Budget
1
INCOME:
Membership Dues & Agency Fee
Miscellaneous
Less:
Dues Rebate
TOTAL INCOME
$1,333,806
30,833
7,787
1 ,194
$1 ,373,620
333,452
$1 , 0 4 0 , 1 6 8
SI ,304,378
30,833
12,500
833
SI ,348,544
326,095
$1,022,445
S
324,525
101,252
57,782
12,191
154,739
42,879
4,577
29,140
9,654
21 ,495
238
9,510
11 ,131
163,610
1 ,464
703
1 ,000
6,216
459
4,066
-0807
2,506
853
317
64,674
57,117
$1,002,505
6,417
18,750
$
SI .108,072
$
Year-to-Date
Actual
Budget
1978
Balance
1
;
1
!
;
i
;
513,976,776
339,164
96,398
5,776
$14,418,114
3 ,494 ,194
510,923,920
515,652,539
370,000
150,000
10,000
$16,102,539
3,913,135
$12 ,269,404
51 ,675,763
30,836
53,602
4,224
$l,?64,4:s
418,941
!l ,345.484'
I
S 2,660.781
1 ,057 ,155
512,421
112,723
1,449,475
570,960
116,813
322,475
62,605
270,922
11 ,153
130,526
419,459
1 ,418,535
137,625
24,135
4,500
31,724
8,821
171,592
63,825
202,141
71,981
7,445
10,382
325,363
620,936
$10,796,473
70,536
206,250
$11,073,309
5 2,963,608
1 ,085,406
569,1 15
124,952
: ,475,500
540,000
100,000
348,000
40,000
255,000
25,000
141,000
430,000
1 ,460.420
150,000
15,000
5,500
50,600
30,000
172,000
50,000
100,000
100,000
10,240
15,000
-0692,000
$10,945,341
77,000
225,000
$11,250,341
S
EXPENSES:
Personal Services - Regular*
Personal Services - Other
Regional Offices*
Satellite Offices*
Legal
Travel Expense
General Operating
Printing Supplies
Cotimunications
Officers, Directors & Committees.
Annual & Special Del. Mtgs
State & County Meetings
State & County Workshops
Regional Refunds
Education/Regions
Representation Elections
Debt Service-Interest Only
AFSCME - Head Tax - Net
Pol it. A c t i o n Fund Contrib
TOTAL EXPENSES
Transfer to Plant Fund
Transfer to Emergency Fund
TOTAL EXPENSES & TRANSFERS
Contribution
(Charge) to Surplus.
TOTAL EXPENSES, TRANSFERS &
CONTRIBUTIONS (CHARGES) 10
SURPLUS.'
$
(67,904)
SI ,040,163
246,967
90,451
47.426
10,413
122,958
45,000
8,333
29,000
3,333
21,250
2,083
11 ,750
35,833
121 ,702
12,500
1,250
458
4,217
2,500
14,333
4,167
8,333
8,333
853
1 ,«0
-057,667
912,560
6,417
18,750
937,527
,
:
;
1
1
'
'
'
'
,
:
^
1
'
!
;
84,922
SI ,022,449 .
302,827
28,25'
56,694
12,229
26,026
(30,960)
(16,813)
25,525
(22,605)
(15,922)
13,847
10,474
n,541
41 ,885
12,375
;9,135)
1 ,000
18,876
21,179
^08
(13,825)
(102,141)
28,019
2,795
4,618
(325,363)
71,064
S
151,868
6,414
18,750
$
177,032
(149,389)
1,019,063
1,168,452
310,923,920
$12,269,404
51,34E,484
•Three pay periods during month.
Cases,
At this time, the Committee is very
much pleased to report that the union
now has at its disposal a functional
"Legal Services R e p o r t " in the form
of a computer printout. Such report is
the result of an almost complete
revamping and modification of the union's Legal P r o g r a m over the last
year. To illustrate to the Delegates
just what information is now at hand,
the following is a compilation of the
approximate year-end costs of the
various services available under the
Program.
Service Type
Approximate Totals*
1—Disciplinarie s
$448,000
2—Grievance s
142,000
3—Lawsuit s
120,000
4—Appeals of Court Cases
30,000
5—PERB M a t t e r s
5,000
6—Other
45,000
$790,000
* Some of these figures do not
reflect some of the work performed
by CSEA a t t o r n e y s u n d e r t h e i r
retainer a g r e e m e n t s .
As the foregoing figures point out,
tlie predominant Legal P r o g r a m exp e n s e c o n c e r n s o u r d e f e n s e of
m e m b e r s who have had disciplinary
charges p r e f e r r r e d against them.
Naturally, such figure is as large as it
is due to the f a c t that the public
employers throughout the State have.
A LEGAL SERVICES WORKSHOP was among
the many educational programs offered to
delegates at the 68th annual meeting of CSEA
delegates. Legal Committee chairman Joseph
Conway is shown at the microphone during the
over the last few years, generally
taken a much harder line towards
their employees, for the records show
that the number of disciplinary cases
has risen ^ dramatically during this
period. The Committee hopes that
negotiated disciplinary procedures
may become m o r e streamlined and
less costly with the continuation of
negotiations with the State of New
York, and its political subdivisions.
In closing, the Delegates a r e once
again assured that the m e m b e r s of
the Legal Committee, at their regular
monthly meetings, shall continue to
do their best to monitor the entire
program with a view towards reduc-
workshop. Other members of the committee
are, from the left, Sara Sievert of Local 607;
Michael Morella, Local 860; Sid Grossman,
Local 852; Ernst Stroebel, Local 665; and Robert
Greene, Local 425.
ing its costs by making as certain as
is humanly possible that the cases und e r t a k e n by the association a r e
basically sound and meritorious.
Your chairman wishes to sincerely
thank Judy Burgess, a m e m b e r of the
Committee who has just recently
resigned her responsibility in light of
her additional union work assumed
since becoming Ontario County Local
President.
Finally, I would be remiss if I failed
to mention and publicly applaud the
work of our chief counsels, Roemer &
Featherstonhaugh, and the attorneys
retained by that firm on behalf of
CSEA a n d , in p a r t i c u l a r M a r g e
Karowe, who serves as liaison to the
Legal Committee, all of our regional
attorneys and field staff who expend
much time and effort in conjunction
with the P r o g r a m throughout the
year.
Respectfully submitted,
LEGAL COMMITTEE
Joseph Conway, Chairman
Ethel Ross, Esq.
Ernst Stroebel
Michael Morella
Robert Green
Sid Grossman
Sara Sievert
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Wednesday, November 1, 1978
Page 6
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Wednesday, November 1, 1978
Page 7
Big turnout
for Region 5
CENTRAL KE(iION 0FFICP:RS listen intently to speaker atter speaker discuss a variety of
issues to be considered by the union's delegates. From lett are Beverly McDonald, second vice
president; Ralph Young, third vice president; Dorothy Moses, first vice president; Patricia
Crandall, executive vice president; James Moore, regional president; Anna Mae Darby,
regional treasurer; Helen Hanlon, recording secretary; and Jackie Chambrone, corresponding
secretarv.
"Legal Briefs" is a periodic column about
Civil Service Law and legal matters of interest to public employees. Material is compiled and edited by the Albany law firm of
Roemer and Featherstonhaugh, counsel to
the Civil Service Employees Association.
DISCIPI.INE ARBITRATION I'At KSSIVK ABSKNTKEISM
Two recent arbitration decisions
portend some concern for CSEA
members. In these disciplinary
proceedings, the State sought to
prefer charges of incompetency
against the grievants for their excessive use of sick leave. The imp o r t a n t f a c t o r is t h a t t h i s
absenteeism was either excused or
c a u s e d by l e g i t i m a t e illness.
Although the punishment imposed
was set aside in both cases, the arbitrators held that the State could
terminate employees on the ground
of e x c e s s i v e
absenteeism
regardless of the reasons for those
absences. These cases run contrary
to an earlier arbitration decision
which reasoned that under the
State agreement legitimate
absences due to illness do not constitute "incompetency"; (Matter
of CSEA and State of New York
(Department of Mental Hygiene),
case number 1367-0127-75). It is
submitted that this latter decision
is the better authority due to its
well-reasoned discussion of the
State a g r e e m e n t , Civil Service
Law and case precedents.
Matter of CSEA and State of New York —
O f f i c e of Mental Health (Kings Park
Psychiatric) (case number 1367-0130-78);
Matter of CSEA and State of New York (Office of Mental Health) (case number 13670089-78).
FEDERAL CIVH. RIGHTS AC T
The United States Supreme Court
recently decided a landmark civil
rights case imposing liability on
cities and other local governments.
The court overturned one of its
prior decisions and held that local
governments can now be sued for
money damages, declaratory or injunctive relief where the action
complained of executes a policy,
ordinance, regulation or decision
officially adopted by government
o f f i c e r s , w h i c h r e u l t s in a
deprivation of civil rights under the
Civil Rights Act of 1871. The ruling
came in the context of a class
action suit filed by New York City
employees who challenged the
city's maternity leave policy which
Page
8
SYRACUSE — Proof that interest is running
high over several major issues confronting the
Civil S e r v i c e E m p l o y e e s Assn. was
demonstrated recently here when more than
150 officers of Locals and units in the Central
Region met to discuss topics to be considered at
CSEA's annual meeting in late October.
The turnout for the four-hour session, held at
mid-week, was the largest in some time.
Central Region President J a m e s Moore called
the attendance "very encouraging" and advised those in attendance to reserve judgment on
the issues discussed until they had the facts and
information to cast informed votes as delegates
to the union's annual meeting.
became effective.
Matter of D'Amico v. Leonard (406 N.Y.S.
2d 876).
required them to discontinue work
in the seventh month of pregnancy.
Matter of Monell v. Department of Social
Services of the City of New York (
U.S.—
- ( d e c i d e d June 6. 1978)).
TAYI.OR LAW I'ENALTIES
The Court of Appeals has finally
put to rest the issue of the amount
of deduction from pay authorized
by Section 210 of the Taylor Law
against a striking public employee
(see Legal Briefs, Volume 2,
Number 11). The court held that
the statutory term "daily rate of
pay" should be construed to encompass groiiS pay, rather than net
pay. In other words, the penalty to
be assessed is two days' gross pay,
before taxes, for each day of strike
participation. It was also noted
t h a t the e m p l o y e r m u s t still
withhold taxes due from that gross
amount.
.Matter of Phillips v. New York City
Health and Hospitals Corp. (44 N.Y.2d 807).
I'ERB l»()VVER
When the New York City Board
of Education announced*^that 180
supervisory employees would be
laid off due to fiscal restraints, the
union r e p r e s e n t i n g
these
employees requested the board to
bargain over the impending discharges. This request was refused
and an improper practice charge
was filed with the P E R B . While
this was still pending, the union
c o m m e n c e d a n A r t i c l e 78
proceeding, the petition charging
that the board was making appointments to supervisors positions
without competitive examination,
t h e r e b y violating and circumventing Article 6, section 5 of
the New York State Constitution
and certain statutory provisions of
the Education Law. The lower
courts dismissed the petition,
holding that since a improper practice charge had been filed, P E R B
had e x c l u s i v e n o n - d e l e g a b l e
jurisdiction of the m a t t e r (Civil
Service Law, section 205, subd. (5),
par. |d]). The Court of Appeals disagreed and reversed, stating that
P E R B ' s jurisdiction only encompassed those matters specifically
covered by the Taylor Law and that
P E R B was not vested with any
THE PUBLIC S E C T O R ; W a ( k « J s d o y , " N o v e m b e r
1, 1 9 7 8 '
'
g e n e r a l p o w e r to p r o h i b i t
government officials from
violating express statutory
provisions such as was charged
here. The case was remitted to
Special Term and converted to a
declaratory judgment action since
petitioners were seeking reviewnot of a single action, but of a continuing policy.
M a t t e r of Z u c k e r m a n v. B o a r d of
Education of City School District of City of
New York (44 N.Y.2d 336).
EMI»L()\ E E TERMINATK)N
Petitioner was appointed from
an eligible list to the position of
Educational Analyst in December
of 1976. He did not hold a Civil Service position at that time, having
resigned in August of 1976. App a r e n t l y f o r t h i s r e a s o n , he
thereafter received a notice stating
that he had been "removed from
the eligibility list" and therefore
was to be terminated from his job
as of January 26, 1977. Petitioner
argued that, pursuant to subd. 4 of
section 50 of the Civil Service Law,
he was e n t i t l e d to a w r i t t e n
statement of reasons for his disqualification and an opportunity to
explain and submit facts in opposition. The Third Department
agreed, stating that there was no
reason for an applicant or an eligible to have greater procedural
protections than one who has been
appointed to a position.
Matter of Cassidy, v. N e w York State
Department of Correctional Services (406
N.Y.S. 2d 377).
ELIGIBUJTY LIST
The petitioner complained that
the local Civil Service Commission
had allowed an eligible list with his
name thereon to expire, and had
begun to appoint persons from a
newly established list. The Second
D e p a r t m e n t held that the
respondent had the authority to
decide whether to extend the life of
a list or allow it to expire, the only
limitation of this discretion being
that it could not be done arbitrarily
or in bad faith. The petitioner had
made no allegations of bad faith or
improper motice. The court
further noted that respondent was
permitted to leave certain vacancies unfilled until a new list
SECTION 75 HEARING BIASED HEARING OFFICER
Petitioner was employed by the
r e s p o n d e n t school d i s t r i c t a s
Superintendent of Buildings and
Grounds. Following a section 75
hearing, he was dismissed from
this position. The Second
Department held that petitioner
was entitled to a new hearing
before another hearing officer due
to the hearing officer's failure to
disclose his long personal and
business relationship with the
Director of Administration for the
d i s t r i c t , a p e r s o n who had a
primary role in preparing the case
against petitioner. The court noted
that "fundamental fairness" requires a hearing officer to make
known any relationship he might
h a v e w i t h a n y p a r t y to t h e
proceedings and to disclose all
facts which might indicate or even
create the appearance of partiality
or bias.
Matter of R o m e o v. Union Free School
District, Number 3, Town of Islip, East
Islip, New York (
A.D.2d
, NYLJ,
July 26, 1978).
The petitioners held provisional
Civil Service appointments as
Senior Court Officers. The Office
of Court Administration last gave
an examination for this position in
1973. Due to various delays by OCA
and the Department of Civil Service, no examination had been
g i v e n s i n c e then. The Third
Department noted that subd. 2 of
section 65 of the Civil Service Law
permits a provisional appointment
to continue only for nine months,
and where this period is exceeded
the appointments are "wrongful"
or "illegal", and that this same
section requires an exam to be
given as soon as practicable for
any position held provisionally for
one month. The court held that an
agency has no discretion to determine whether an exam will be held,
although the timing thereof is in
the discretion of the Civil Service
Commission if it is "impracticable" to give th# exam immediately. Here there was no
justification for the excessive
delay, and it was ordered that an
exam be held as soon as possible.
Matter of Hannon v. Bartlett (405 N.Y.S.
2d 313).
The great
exams
blunder
Complaints pouring in about promotional tests
By Deborah Cassidy
ALBANY — What has been t e r m e d
the " g r e a t e x a m s snafu of September
30" unfolds m o r e as details concerning problems with the administration
of promotional civil service e x a m s
pour into the R e s e a r c h D e p a r t m e n t of
the Civil Service Employees Assn.
" T h e r e ' s no d o u b t t h a t m a n y
e m p l o y e e s h a v e been h a r m e d by
these circumstances. We intend to
find out what problems a r e most
prevalent, what d a m a g e has been
done and what can be done to correct
i t , " said Timothy Mullens, research
:»nalyst.
The CSE A first b e c a m e a w a r e of
the problems when it began receiving
complaints in the various Region offices. Most common were charges
that the monitors were inefficient,
many avoidable distractions existed
and there was a lack of test booklets.
A meeting between the Research
Department and the CSE A law f i r m ,
R o e m e r and
Featherstonhaugh,
resulted in a decision to acquire m o r e
information through the publication
of a questionnaire in the Public Sector."
As the responses continue to pour in,
the Research D e p a r t m e n t has not yet
m a d e a f o r m a l compilation of the
results, but has allowed the "Public
Sector" to review them.
So f a r responses have been received
from all p a r t s of the State for e x a m s
in the clerical series, laundry supervisor, a r t designer, technical engineering and others. One of the
m a j o r complaints centers around the
inefficiency of proctors, with exam
takers charging them with being unable to answer questions about the
tests, not giving adequate directions
CONVENTION DELEGATES representing CSEA Local 676, Department of Transportation, Region 1, Albany are, left to right, Joseph Dee, William Linendoll,
Milo Barlow, and William Lucas, who is also president of Local 676. They are
shown during a well-attended discussion on affiliation by William Hamilton, executive assistant to AFSCME President Jerry Wurf, on opening night of the 68th
annual CSEA meeting.
PAYING STRICT ATTENTION to a speaker while crocheting at the same time is
alternate delegate Betty N. Allen of CSEA Local 620, Faculty Student Association,
Alfred State University. Ms. Allen was one of some 1,300 delegates to CSEA's
week-long 68th annual meeting.
Union was right on hospital
Predictions by the Civil Service
Employees Assn. that ' E r i e County
could operate its new hospital efficiently and economically received
confirmation in the initial report submitted by the hospital's financial
director showing revenues running
$1.25 to $1.5 million ahead of budget
projections and expenditures in line
with them.
F u r t h e r efficiencies and economies
were predicted as patient loads increase, according to the hospital's
acting director.
CSEA had claimed in its long fight
to retain county control of the E r i e
County Medical Center that the ultra
modern facility would a t t r a c t new
patients and doctors and thus increase revenues.
Howard Barth, the hospital's financial d i r e c t o r , who i n s t i t u t e d
n u m e r o u s a c c o u n t i n g and billing
r e f o r m s also proposed by CSEA,
reported to the hospital's advisory
c o m m i t t e e that the average daily load
was 490 in-patients, or 40 m o r e than
projected in the budget.
Depending on the Blue Cross and
Medicaid r e i m b u r s e m e n t r a t e s set by
the state, Mr. Barth said this would
mean "We could be m o r e than $1.25 to
$1.5 m i l l i o n a h e a d of w h a t we
budgeted," if the current patient load
continues.
Dr. Guy Alfano, the hospital's interim director, said the efficiency of
the operation will increase with any
increase in the number of patients in
its daily census.
He added that the facility plans to
increase its in-patient service from
the present ^pudgeted 525 beds to the
610 beds approved by the State Health
Department.
He said that with the additional expenditure of $4 million needed to
Ms. King heads M-H reps.
ALBANY - Ms. Dorothy King,
President of Creedmoor Psychiatric
Center Local 406 of the Civil Service
Employees Assn., has been elected
chairperson of the Mental Hygiene
representatives on the CSEA Board of
Directors.
T h e 16 m e n t a l h y g i e n e b o a r d
m e m b e r s represent m o r e than 60,000
union m e m b e r s throughout the state.
Ms. King, a dental assistant at Creedmoor, is serving her third t e r m on the
board.
She is also currently second vicepresident of CSEA's Metropolitan
Region II, and past s e c r e t a r y of the
region.
Her colleagues elected her to the
top position at t h e i r m e e t i n g in
Albany last month. She will serve a
one-year t e r m .
P a s t c h a i r m a n of t h e m e n t a l
hygiene group was J a m e s Moore,
president of CSEA's Central Region.
reach this capacity, extra revenues of
$7.1 million could be generated.
CSEA last D e c e m b e r launched a
c o n c e r t e d e f f o r t which included
studies of the hospital's books and
proposals to reduce deficits at the
predecessor E. J. Meyer Memorial
Hospital, an outmoded facility, since
closed.
Enlisting co^nmunity support " t o
keep public control of the publicly
f i n a n c e d " f a c i l i t y , CSEA was
successful in preventing the turnover
of the center to Buffalo General
Hospital, as proposed by the county
executive with the concurrence of a
m a j o r i t y of the county legislature.
and not knowing which materials to
pass out to whom. Several of the
respondents said they were not even
sure if they had been given the right
exams. Some complaints have been
lodged about monitors talking with
one another and entering and leaving
rooms during the tests.
Due to a lack of monitors, test
takers were permitted to go to the
rest rooms unescorted, which could
lead to cheating, or were just not
allowed to go at all. " T h a t can get
pretty uncomfortable and distracting
a f t e r eight h o u r s , " said one
employee.
The starting of e x a m s anywhere
f r o m one-half hour to two hours late
was another of the complaints listed.
The late s t a r t in most cases could be
blamed on rooms not being ready,
m a t e r i a l s missing and the need to fill
out required forms. Complainants felt
that these delays were unnecessary
and inconvenient, but were even m o r e
irritated to find that it meant they
were not able to take all the e x a m s
they had been scheduled for.
Poor surroundings was a frequent
complaint, with e x a m takers stating
that the rooms were overcrowded,
seating was uncomfortable and outside distractions, such as t e a m s practicing at schools, noise and talking in
the halls, w e r e present.
Those taking m a t h e m a t i c a l tests
found there was not enough scrap
paper. " I had to e r a s e my figures and
use the s a m e piece again and a g a i n , "
said one. There was a shortage of
answer booklets, preventing many
f r o m taking some of their exams. In
the a r t series some of the required
special supplies were not available
and the facilities were not properly
equipped for such exams.
Somie people complained that directions to their e x a m rooms were not
posted in the buildings and that they
wasted valuable t i m e searching.
As one employee summed it up,
" T h e entire situation was one in
which confusion reigned. I was so disgusted that I could not think."
CSEA blamed the Civil Service
Department for poor planning and
met with officials who admitted that
most of the problems stemmed f r o m
" n u m b e r and quality of monitors."
They allege that there is only enough
money to pay $3 per hour, causing
many to resign. Civil Service also
blamed the situation on the fact that
the legislature mandated them to give
750 e x a m s this year, when in past
years they have only been required to
give 450.
" I t is up to the Civil S e r v i c e
D e p a r t m e n t to take whatever steps
a r e necessary to get the money for
more m o n i t o r s , " said Mr. Mullens.
"They might do better hiring retired
public employees who, for one thing,
a r e familiar with exam procedures
and for another thing, could use the
m o n e y , " he added.
Joseph McDermott, president of the
Capital Region, who has received the
complaints in his a r e a , also blames
the Civil Service Department for poor
planning. "They a r e giving too many
exams, too fast. Employees a r e suffering because the department is
behind in its schedule and is trying to
m a k e up for i t , " he said. " I t ' s a
m a t t e r for the union to handle in the
courts."
I THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Wednesday, November 1, 1978
Page 11
Westchester
set to fight
layoff threat
Restraining
order halts
examinations
ALBANY - The Civil Service
E m p l o y e e s Assn. has obtained a
r e s t r a i n i n g order to prevent the
Department of Civil Service from
holding an open competitive oral examination later this month for two
positions within the Division of Substance Abuse Services.
According to Edward T. Stork, an
attorney with Roemer & Featherstonhaugh, CSEA's law firm, oral exa m s scheduled for two titles,
Outreach and Referral Specialist, III
and Outreach and Referral Specialist
IV, are in violation of a stipulation of
agreement entered into between the
union and the Department of Civil
Service in July. At that time, the
Department had agreed to provide
tests for two titles, Supervisor of
Multi-Purpose Outreach Unit and
Assistant Director of Multi-Purpose
Outreach Program, which had been
held provisionally by two employees
beyond sev time limits.
Late in July, the Department revised the two job titles to Outreach and
Referral Specialists III and IV. CSEA
is alleging that the D e p a r t m e n t
violated the stipulation by changing
the job titles for the purpose of
limiting the scope of candidates that
would qualify to take the exams,
thereby insuring the provisional
titleholders, the Supervisor of the
Multi-Purpose Outreach Unit and the
Assistant Director of the Multipurpose Outreach Program, of having less competition and.more chance
to retain their titles. In addition,
CSEA is charging that the exams
should be promotional, instead of
open competitive, to allow s t a t e
employees the opportunity for career
advancement.
The restraining order obtained by
CSEA will prevent the Department of
Civil Service from holding the exams
for Outreach and Referral Specialist,
III and IV pending further order of the
court or a final resolution of the
proceeding. The matter will be heard
on Nov. 10 before a Supreme Court
justice.
A FAMILIAR VOICE heard at every delegate meeting of CSEA is that
of Abe Libow, a very active delegate from CSEA New York City Local
010, shown here in a quieter moment with his wife during the union's
68th annual meeting last week.
Putnam ratifies a n e w a g r e e m e n t
P U T N A M — Town of P u t n a m
laborers, drivers,
motorized
equipment operators and mechanics,
all represented by the Civil Service
Employees Assn., have ratified a new
2-year agreement, which becomes
effective January 1, 1979.
The new contract calls for pay
raises ranging from 32-cents to 64-
c e n t s an h o u r ; a n e w 1 5 - y e a r
longevity step of hve percent of base
salary; and provisions for double time
on Sundays and holidays. In addition,
town workers covered by the CSEA
agreement will receive steel safety
shoes as of next January 1, and five
s e t s of w o r k i n g u n i f o r m s a s of
January 1, 1980.
Region vice presidents
move
up
In a c c o r d a n c e w i t h t h e
Regional Constitution, Region
president Joseph M c D e r m o t t
appointed second vice president
Timothy Mclnemey to the office
ALBANY-Due
to
the
r e s i g n a t i o n of E . J a c k
Dougherty as first vice
president of the Capital Region
of the Civil Service Employees
Assn. in September, the next
two ranking vice presidents
have been moved up and a new
third vice president will be
elected.
of first vice president, and third
vice president Eileen Salisbury
to the office of second vice
president.
By Dr. Gerald Alperstein
WHITE
PLAINS
The
Westchester County CSEA local held
a membership meeting Monday evening to map strategy and appoint a
c o m m i t t e e to c o m b a t p r o p o s e d
layoffs.
Local President Raymond J. O'Connor said Westchester County Executive Alfred DelBello plans largescale layoffs in violation of an unwritten understanding between the
county and the local.
In a meeting Oct. 23 with DelBello,
O'Connor reported being told that
substantial layoffs a r e being planned,
though no exact number or percentage would be revealed. R u m o r s
about the layoff have been as high as
10 percent, or about 625 employees.
Also at the meeting were Chief Shop
Steward Carmine DiBattista, CSEA
Collective Bargaining Specialist
Emanuel Vitale, Region III Collective
Bargaining Specialist Ronald Mazzola
and Westchester County Director of
Labor Relations Michael Wittenberg.
Vitale and Wittenberg were the chief
negotiators for the contract between
the local and the county, which was
ratified in August 1978.
O'Connor said that during the
negotiations, the county claimed they
would be forced to make substantial
layoffs in order to afford a large pay
increase. He said the local decided to
protect the jobs, accept an approximate 10.5 percent increase over
three years and not fight for a large
pay increase.
O'Connor said he was told at the
meeting that the no-large layoff
promise was only for 1978.
He said he had written to DelBello
on Oct. 19 to request the meeting
because of the rumors about the
layoff. During the week of Oct. 16
some employees received notification
of Jan. 1, 1979, layoffs.
O'Connor said o t h e r l o c a l s in
Westchester County were invited to
the Monday meeting. Some of the activities being planned could include
demonstrations, telephoning and
a p p e a r a n c e s a t County Board of
Legislators' meetings, he said.
Challenges Tompkins County on pension plan
ITHACA - The Civil S e r v i c e
Employees Assn. last week sharply
challenged proposed pension benefit
figures of the insurance carrier that
Tompkins County says would provide
t h a t c o v e r a g e if t h e county is
successful in relinquishing control of
the county hospital to a private
operator
CSEA special counsultant Joseph
Watkins addressed a hearing of the
Tompkins County Comprehensive
Health Planning Council Review
Committee and called the carrier's
proposal " a s h a m " filled with "many
critical omissions." The County had
attempted to turn over control of the
new hospital to a private contractor
e a r l i e r this y e a r , but CSEA
employees were successful in a
p e t i t i o n drive which forced the issue
on the November 7 ballots as a
referendum.
Watkins challenged the hospital's
Governance Board to " p u t it in
writing." He noted that the Governance Board said on October 17 they
would provide " a plan which could
provide current hospital employees
pension benefits which a r e at least
equal to the State Retirement Plan all
at a lower cost."
Said Watkins, "This is a gross mis-
representation. We challenge the
Governance Board to have the carrier
provide a simple s t a t e m e n t as
follows: We hereby guarantee to
provide a retirement plan for all
future employees of the hospital under the same conditions as the State
Retirement Plan and continue the
present benefits of current employees
as contained in the State Retirement
Plan at a cost of $
"
Sr. Ba«»eriologist
(Exam No. 3 6 2 7 9 )
M o t o r E q u i p m e n t Storekeeper
^Exam No. 3 6 3 2 9 )
N E W Y O R K STATE ELIGIBLE LISTS
A«oc
Bacter.olog.st V i r o l o g y
T
m" o n
Test H e l d M a y 2 0 , 1 9 7 8
1. Ducharme, C. P., Voorheesville
2. Armstrong, G. V., Siingeriands
3. Schmidt, Gale, B., Siingeriands
4. Sikora, Edward T., Albany
5. Senter, Carl L., Albany
6. Wethers, Judith, Loudenville
7.Kinch, William H., Glenmont
Assoc. Bacteriologist
(Exam No. 3 6 2 8 0 )
Tesl Held M a y 20, 1978
1. Lapa, Edward M., Valatie
Page
10
^
87.6
83.1
79.4
78,5
76.5
75.7
73.4
2. Toombs, Ross M., Albany
Schoonmaker, D. J., Duonesburg
78.7
78.1
4. Schmidt, Gale B., Slingerlands
s Susi Rob«ri H VoorheesvilU
Suss Robert H., V o ^ e s v . l l e
76.4
75 2
75.2
,
I,
1. Parsons, Linda D., Voorhoesville
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^^^^^^^ ^ ^ ^ ^
83 3
83.3
g^^
^ fee J n a ^ 'Albany
^
S Nassau
^
^r. Bacter.o^og.st V u o l o g y
Tes, S
Mav 20
978
G^orae
1
orTVatham
]
'
J; ^ ^ ^ ^ s k t G . %
72 3
716
3. Fox, John A., Albany
4. Witkowski, Carol, New Lebanon O r
5. Beblowski, Dianne, Schenectady .,
Vonnegut, Michi, Nassau
7, Young Carolyn C , Clifton Park
E q u i p m e n t Storekeeper
( E * « " " No. 3 6 3 2 8 )
Test Held A u g u s t 12, 1 9 7 8
Wakewood, John D., Albany
79.9
78.8
76.7
76.2
71.8
/V.3
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, WecJnesday, N o v e m b e r
1,.1978
84 0
74 3
7^4
^
81.2
Test Held A u g u i t 12, 1 9 7 8
, . , . . . „ „
,
^ Schroeder F., A v n M Park
2. Watson, Raymond, Wmdsor
3. G.lleran, Thomas, Hornell
4. McFee, Manlyn U Rochester
5. Desieno Anthony, Mechanjcv.lle
6. W o o d , Frederick Central Square
7. Hughes, Robert J Lafargev.lle
8. Mason, Rosomond, Weedsport
9. Lamb, William C , Troy
10. Cummings, C. D., Cananda.gua
oak
94.5
89.6
87.2
85.9
82.2
80.8
78.9
76.7
76.1
72.9
OPEN CONTINUOUS
STATE JOB CALENDAR
$300 SCHOLARSHIP AWARD - The 1978 CSEA Hazel Nelson Scholarship
Award of $300 is presented to Sara Rubino, a freshman at the State University
College at Brockport, by George Webster, right, president of Civil Service
Employees Assn. Local 601. Sara's father, Richard Rubino, left, a plant
management employee at Brockport, watches proudly. The annual scholarship
award honors the founder of the CSEA Local at the State University College at
Brockport.
STATE
/ oOPEN COMPETITIVE
JOB CALENDAR
The f o l l o w i n g jobs ore open. Requirements vary. A p p l y with the state Civil Service Department, 2
W o r l d Trade Center, M a n h a t t a n ; State Office Building Campus, Albany, or 1 West Genesee St., Buffalo.
FILING ENDS NOV. 6
Assistant Criminal Justice Program Analyst
Canal Structure Operator
Canal Maintenance Shop Supervisor 11
Canal Maintenance Shop Supervisor 1...
Criminal Justice Program Analyst
Senior Criminal Justice Program Analyst
Senior Criminal Justice Program Analyst
(Juvenile Delinquency)
Research Analyst (Criminal Justice)
Senior Research Analyst (Criminal Justice)
Senior Compensation Claims Clerk
Senior Training Technician (Wastewater Treatment)
Program Research Specialist III
(Correctional Services)
Senior Research Analyst (Correctional Services)
Program Research Specialist II
(Correctional Services)
Thruway Maintenance Specialist
Assistant Architect
Senior Architect
Assistant Heating and Ventilating Engineer
Assistant Mechanical Construction Engineer
Buoy Light Tender
Health Care Fiscal Analyst
Health Care Fiscal Analyst Trainee
Body Repair Inspector
Senior Body Repair Inspector
Program Research Specialist IV (Aging)
Program Research Specialist III (Youth Services)
Research Analyst (Transportation)
Parkway Maintenance Supervisor I
Parkway Maintenance Supervisor II
Section Maintenance Supervisor I
Division Maintenance Supervisor I
Social Work Supervisor I
Social Work Supervisor III
FILING ENDS NOV. 16
Program Research — Specialist II
(Housing & Community Development)
Program Research — Specialist III
(Housing & Community Development)
FILING ENDS NOV. 20
Associate Criminal Justice Program Analyst
Associate Criminal Justice Program Analyst
(Juvenile Delinquency) '
Business Service Ombudsman
Principal Criminal Justice Program Analyst
Principal Criminal Justice Program Analyst
(Juvenile Delinquency)
Associate Research Analyst (Criminal Justice)
Principal Criminal Justice Program Analyst (Police)
Senior Hydraulic Engineer
Assistant Hydraulic Engineer
Assistant Pharmacy Consultant
Pharmacy Consultant
$11,250
$ 7,997
$12,583
$11,250
$14,075
$18,301
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
24-726
24-833
24-831
24-830
24-727
24-728
$18,301
$14,075
$18,301
$7,997
$14,075
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
24-729
24-743
24-744
24-745
24-752
$18,301 No. 24-811
$18,301 No. 24-811
$14,075
$15,894
$14,850
$18,301
$14,850
$14,850
$7,152
$11,250
$10,624
$11,250
$13,304
$22,623
$18,301
$14,075
$8,454
$11,250
$12,041
$12,041
$17,365
$20,366
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
24-841
24-812
24-821
24-822
24-827
24-828
24-829
24-824
24-863
24-836
24-837
24-840
24-847
24-850
24-853
24-854
24-855
24-855
24-860
24-861
$14,275 No. 24-851
$18,501 No. 24-852
$22,623 No. 27-798
$22,623 No. 27-800
$22,623 No. 27-708
$25,095 No. 27-799
$25,095
$22,623
$25,295
$18,301
$14,850
$14,075
$16,868
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
27-801
27-802
27-803
27-825
27-824
27-829
27-830
You con also contact your local M a n p o w e r Services Office for examination information.
I
Title
Pharmacist (salary varies with location)
Assistant Sanitary Engineer
Senior Sanitary Engineer
Clinical Physician I
Clinical Physician II
Assistant Clinical Physician
Attorney
!
Assistant Attorney
Attorney Trainee
Junior Engineer
(Bachelor's Degree)
Junior Engineer
(Master's Degree)
Dental Hygienist
Licensed Practical Nurse
Nutrition Services Consultant
*
Stationary Engineer
Senior Stationary Engineer
Occupational Therapy Assistant I
Occupational Therapy Assistant I
(Spanish Speaking)
Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor
Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor Trainee
Medical Record Technician
Histology Technician
Professional Positions in Auditing and Accounting
Computer Programmer
Computer Programmer (Scientific)
Senior Programmer
Senior Computer Programmer (Scientific)
Mobility Instructor
Instructor of the Blind
Health Services Nurse
(salary varies with location)
Senior Heating and Ventilating Engineer
Senior Sanitary Engineer (Design)
Senior Building Electrical Engineer
Senior Building Structural Engineer
Senior Mechanical Construction Engineer
Senior Plumbing Engineer
Assistant Stationary Engineer
Electroencephalograph Technician
Radiologic Technologist
(salary varies with location)
Medical Record Administrator
Food Service Worker
Mental Hygiene Therapy Aide Trainee
Mental Hygiene Therapy Aide Trainee
(Spanish Speaking)
Associate Actuary (Casualty)
Principal Actuary (Casualty)
Supervising Actuary (Casualty)
Assistant Actuary
Nurse I
Nurse II
Nurse II (Psychiatric)
Nurse II (Rehabilitation)
Medical Specialist II
Medical Specialist I
Psychiatrist I
Psychiatrist II
Social Services Management Trainee
Social Services Management Specialist
Social Services Management Trainee
(Spanish Speaking)
Social Services Management Specialist
(Spanish Speaking)
Industrial Training Supervisor
(salary varies depending on specialty)
Physical Therapist
Physical Therapist (Spanish Speaking)
Senior Physical Therapist
Senior Physical Therapist (Spanish Speaking)
Speech Pathologist
Audiologist
Assistant Speech Pathologist
Assistant Audiologist
Dietician Trainee
Dietician
Supervising Dietician
Stenographer
Typist
Senior Occupational Therapist
Senior Occupational Therapist
(Spanish Speaking)
Occupational Therapist
Occupational Therapist (Spanish Speaking)
Salary Exam No.
$14.388-$15,562 20-129
$14,142 20-122
$17,429 20-123
$27,942 20-118
$31,055 20-119
$25,161 20-117
$14,850 20-113
$12,397 20-113
$11,723 20-113
$11,904 20-109
$12,890 20-109
$8,950
$8,051
$13,404
$10,042
$11,250
$9,029
$9,029
20-107
20-106
20-139
20-100
20-101
20-174
20-174
$14,142
$11,983
$9,481
$8,051
$11,250
$11,250
$11,250
$14,075
$14,075
$11,904
$11,250
$11,250-$12,025
20-140
20-140
20-143
20-170
$18,301
$18,301
$18,301
$18,301
$18,301
$18,301
$7,616
$7,616
$8,454-$10,369
20-227
$11,904
$6,148
$7,204
$7,204
20-348
20-352
20-394
20-394
$18,369
$22.364
$26,516
$10,714
$10,624
$11.904
$11.904
$11,904
$33,705
$27,942
$27,942
$33,705
$10,824
$11,450
$10,824
20-416
20-417
20-418
20-556
20-584
20-585
20-586
20-587
20-840
20-841
20-842
20-843
20-875
20-875
20-876
20-200
20-220
20-222
20-221
20-223
20-224
20-225
20-226
20-228
20-229
20-230
20-231
20-232
20-303
20-308
20-334
|
$11,450 20-876 ;;
I
$iO,624-$12,583 20-877 ^
$11,337
$11,337
$12,670
$12,670
$12,670
$12,670
$11,337
$11,337
$10,118
$10,714
$12,670
$6,650
$6,071
$12,670
$12,670
20-880
20-880
20-881
20-881
20-883
20-882
20-884
20-885
20-888
20-887
20-886
20-890
20-891
20-894
20-894
$11,337 20-895
$11,337 20-895
You may contact the following offices cf the New York State Department of Civil Service for announcements, applications, and other detail; concerning examinations for the positions listed above.
State Office Building Campus, First Floor, Building I, Albany, New York 12239 (518) 457-6216.
2 W o r l d Trade Center, 55th Floor,
York City 10047 (212) 488-4248.
Suite 750, Genesee Building, West Genesee Street, Buffalo, New York 14202 (716) 842-4260.
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Wednesday, November 1, 1978
Page 11
Tragic case of Nancy Vial revived;
survivor denied death benefit claim
ATTICA — On August 5, 1977, a 49-year old
cook at the Attica Correctional Facility, Mrs.
Nancy Vial, was brutally murdered while on
duty at the facility. An inmate at the Attica
facility was subsequently charged with the
s t r a n g u l a t i o n m u r d e r of Mrs. Vial and is
presently standing trial on that charge.
Now the tragedy of her death has been underscored and revived by the denial of a $50,000
death benefit claim under the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Act filed on behalf of Mrs. Vial's
22-year-old son, J a m e s Wayne Vial.
Her death ahd the subsequent denial of the
death benefit claim m a y not ultimately be in
vain, for the case has generated what may result
in a joint effort by the Civil Service Employees
Assn., of which Mrs. Vial was a m e m b e r at the
time of her death, and the State Department of
Correctional Services to introduce legislation to
a m e n d the P u b l i c S a f e t y O f f i c e r s Benefit
P r o g r a m to clarify the eligibility of persons
employed in correctional facilities in other than
a safety officer capacity.
The denial of the death benefit claim was based on the fact that Mrs. Vial's job description as
a cook contains no specific r e f e r e n c e to any
security functions. Actually, under current standards, no "civilian" (non-security) employees of
the D e p a r t m e n t of Correctional Services contain
r e f e r e n c e s to security functions. Therefore, even
though they face daily risk through exposure to
dangerous inmates and conditions, institutional
teachers, food service workers, maintenance
personnel, clerical and administrative personnel, and others, a r e not covered.
o.
—
"""
• " s ' I V : •utvi.
—.....
""a»™.
er
tn ^ * '«fcli * g •^"«»•O 14/
CASE NUMBER:
7 7 - 3 1 9 . This claim determination by the Law Enforcement
Assistance Administration of the United State D e p a r t m e n t of Justice is signed by four reviewing
representatives between August 14, 1978 and September 9, 1978. This determination denies the claim to
Mrs. Vial's eligible survivor, but admits that the deceased was, in fact, exposed to risk on the job.
"Although Mrs. Vial was exposed to risk in her occupation, she did not have the authority to act as a law
e n f o r c e m e n t o f f i c e r , " the report determines.
i.ces
of
s-r^re
ec-r'
COB«
a. i.978
Sept ejnbet
of
teft'
istta tive
tor ^dmi-tv
Servvice?
Ba
1.
ben®
f ot
5UÖJec^cbe
tbe
Ihts
fety .08^
beU®"'®
VJe ^avesViOVi
tv^eic« -tify tbe
OVlt tt^ten
DOt"^
tam
jteps
faci
aoy
ffican^ ^ " t o t bene.{its
teqwe s t
THIS M E M O R A N D U M
dated September 8, 1978 is from J . E . Van De Car. Director
of Manpower Management of the State D e p a r t m e n t of Correctional Services. Addressed to Barbara Kinch, Deputy Superintendent for Administrative Services at Attica, it clearly outlines the
support of the d e p a r t m e n t to obtaining coverage for employees under the Public Safety Ofticers
Benefit P r o g r a m . CSEA supports the d e p a r t m e n t ' s position and has pledged to cooperate in gaining necessary legislation.
Union calls
for changes
The Civil Service Employees Assn., which
represented Mrs. Vial at the time of her death
and which has been pushing hard to obtain death
benefit claims for her eligible survivors, has
reacted strongly to the denial of a $50,000 death
benefit claim under the Public Safety Officers'
Benefits Act.
CSEA Western Region President Robert Lattimer said he is " a p p a l l e d " by the denial, even
though in doing so the claim's officer noted that
Mrs. Vial was exposed to risk in the performance
of her job. Mr. L a t t i m e r calls the determination
"gross injustice" and that it is "painfully
evident that this situation can and should be corrected forthwith."
Rich Becker, President of CSEA Attica Local
152, has been deeply involved in the case since
the murder occurred in August, 1977. Mr.
Becker, upon learning of the claim denial, wrote
to department Commissioner Richard Hongisto
to ask for " t h e elevation of non-uniform
employees to collateral responsibility employees
. . . to acknowledge that the Department does
charge various civilians with specific duties of a
security nature . . . " He called the current conditions "inequitable" and pledged the full support of CSEA to any departmental effort to correct the situation.
Better security — get on with it
The tragic, senseless m u r d e r of
Mrs. Nancy Vial while performing
her duties as a cook at the Attica
Correctional Facility on August 5,
1977 horrified us all.
Her death at the hands of an inm a t e magnifies and supports the
contention long m a i n t a i n e d by
CSEA that non-uniformed
employees working within the confines of correctional facilities a r e
afforded grossly
inadequate
protection daily.
Assaults,
I
a t t e m p t e d assaults and acts of intimidation a r e a way of life for
employees throughout the state's
prison system.
The risks and dangers these people confront must be recognized
and addressed once and for all.
A d e q u a t e s e c u r i t y m u s t be
provided. And the employees must
be compensated for the risks they
work under. They a r e required to
work a m o n g , and often help
maintain control of, the inmate
THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Wednesday, November 1, 1978Page11
population. This f a c e t of their
employment should be immediately included in their job description,
for the exclusion of that description
is primarily what caused the denial
of an otherwise legitimate death
benefit claim by an eligible survivor of Mrs. Vial.
The main concern, however, is
not for the survivor. It is for the
victim. I m m e d i a t e steps to provide
a d e q u a t e s e c u r i t y for nonuniformed personnel at all times
must be taken so that these potential victims of violence never reach
that potential. If new legislation
and m o r e money is the answer,
let's get on with it.
ÜQO®®!?
®5pamS®m