PEF E-Board meeting

[Darth Stateworker]

Thread started to publicly discuss last weeks E-board meeting, which by all accounts, did not go very well. Discussion of the meeting seems to end up censored on the PEF Facebook page, which I find quite disappointing.

[NYS Techie]

(UPDATED now that someone posted a blow by blow):

It seems to me that the pro-Brynien crowd just can't 'let it go. They're STILL running around like chickens with their heads cut off, panicking over their precious jobs and getting laid off, and they HATE Susan Kent for not being weak and submissive like her predecessor. But the fact that she's tough as nails is making it hard for them to exert any influence. It seems to me that she's not putting up with any funny business from ANYBODY. This latest incident, where people were posting asinine comments to Facebook about "impeachment" and their comments were unceremoniously deleted, is proof that the PEF administration has the stones to do their job. I say "Bravo". Good for PEF. Delete those comments! The Facebook page belongs to PEF, and PEF can do as it likes with it. They're under no obligation to give their enemies a soapbox.

As far as the E-Board meeting goes, it seems to me that certain people haven't accepted the results of the election yet, and think they're going to get away with interfering with and undermining the new administration. I'm GLAD they got shut down. I'm GLAD they didn't get to discuss their issues. They had their shot during the election and they LOST. They need to get over it and get out of the way of the new administration. I'm very optimistic about NYUP, they seem to be taking no crap from anybody, and that's exactly what this union needs. So, I see the e-board scuffle as a good sign.

As far as the 14 people who were fired go, the new president has the right to clear the decks and hire her own, loyal staff. Everyone knows this, other presidents have done it in the past, and nobody has any business giving her a hard time about it. There was no reason to drag all that into the e-board meeting, so I don't see anything wrong with ruling it out of order.

From what I'm hearing so far, I like the way they're doing things. Yessiree.

[mbrowne post from fb]

Mike Browne
E BOARD MEETS IN TROY

Today at the E board meeting, Secretary/Treasurer Carlos Garcia said the cost of severance pay for the 14 fired staff was $270,000 plus $198,000 for health insurance. The fired staff will lose their health insurance from PEF if the find employment with someone else.

President Sue Kent said the 14 were fired because funds to pay them were lost in the new contract.
...

She also said some $15.7 million in article 15 money due to PEF members for tuition payments has not been made by the state as required by the contract. The previous administration, under Ken Brynien, had filed a grievance in June.

PEF will spend $15,000 for a float in this years labor day parade in Brooklyn, NY. This is being done to raise PEF's profile in NYC. No buses have been arranged yet for those from upstate regions to attend.

Cameras recorded today's E board meeting though it was not announced until the meeting was well under way. This was done despite a stenographer being paid to record what was said.

The meeting got off to a bad start when it took an hour to get agenda agree upon. Several speakings were ruled out off order by the chair and attempts to challenge to the rulings of the chair were also ruled out of order.

One speaker objected to a visit to State Comptroller being made by President Kent without informing or inviting the local council leaders. He said this violated PEF policy in place since 1993. He was ruled out of order.

State facilities in Central NY are in danger of closing as patients are being moved to larger facilities in Albany or Plattsburgh. Employees are being given the choice of transferring to remaining facilities or going on the preferred list.

That's today's news from Troy.
Mike Browne The firing of the 14 staff people was on the agenda. Sue wanted to remove that. Members objected but were ruled out of order.

Then some wanted member items such as the issues with Region 11 Coordinator Hanson moved up on the agenda & the issues in Region 8 where the coordinator suspended the rules of the PAC & removed all the officers without cause. This was ruled out of order. Challenges to these rulings were ruled out of order.

A motion to censure the President for violating Roberts rules of order was ruled out order.

In short, it was chaos. It seemed that it was the Soviet Union & not PEF. This meeting was a debacle & most of the controversial issues won't be addressed until tomorrow.
21 hours ago via mobile ·
Jennifer Bachman-Molloy lovely. So all these meeting will be about internal chaos. I think it would be great if all of PEFs admin and officials imploded when the meeting reconvenes so we can completely clean house and start new
14 hours ago via mobile ·
Jim Blake Thanks for keeping us informed Mike, Did anyone ask Carlos when the transcript will be put on the website?
13 hours ago ·
Joe NoOney Item for the next meeting's agenda....censorship of the PEF Facebook page.
12 hours ago · · 1
Stephen Demarco Doesn't look good for PEF's future...we're on the ropes unless DRASTIC measures are taken that go beyond "paper tiger" strategies or begging politicians for their support. Start our own political Party as an alternative to the voters representing middle class values of sharing the wealth.
10 hours ago ·

Marjorie DeVoe working families party was supposed to be exactly that Stephen. they just went left.
10 hours ago ·
10 hours ago ·
Joe NoOney Which won't work Steve because we couldn't get enough of the general public to abandon the traditional parties
9 hours ago via mobile ·
Joe NoOney I don't know Marjorie, if the meeting was as Mike described it, perhaps the eboard meetings should be videotaped so we can see exactly what our leadership is up to. Apparently dissenting opinions will not be tolerated, either at the eboard meetings or on this FB page.
7 hours ago · · 1
Joe NoOney So if the funds to pay the 14 people were lost in the contract, does that mean none of them will be replaced? That would be the only logical conclusion I could come to.
5 hours ago · · 1
Mike Browne The minutes for this meeting can't be published until the next e board in November because they have to be approved. That could take the whole meeting.

Some of the fired 14 were there today in case they got that member item. Since they didn't ( which is why member items were put last on the agenda & couldn't moved up). They sat there for nothing.

It was hard to see Darcy there wearing a kerchief.

There were 2 people hired from outside PEF, Hector Millan & a woman from a PR background. The others were all retires from the old CME caucus. A bunch of incompetents one of which has mental issues.
about an hour ago via mobile ·
Linda A. Stankus-Rea So basically everything is out of order... I wonder if she'll rule being impeached out of order..?
Marjorie DeVoe
I object, Mike, I think you need to revisit your comments and remove at minimum the last two sentences; it is unnecessary and slanderous. I was there both days and while contentous at times, the board in the end covered alot and today a qu...
orum stayed till 5pm. Many folks will still be on the road traveling home at 10pm tonight. They completed pac endorsements and much of the convention agenda before adjournment at 5pm required by the hotel because of a wedding booked there. THIS IS NOT the first time the eboard did not finish their agenda or that member items were not addressed. My biggest concern with all of this is that i thought PEF had matured beyond this. Someone said today we might as well be back 19yrs ago with the other Cuomo as Gov. and PEF infighting .. it does not serve the members or PEF as a union. It is time to accept the change and work within it. I have spent over 30 yrs active in PEF, I was not always happy with the administration. No one has to compromise their values but they do need to"work within or part of" the system if they are not happy with it for change. Lead or get out of way! stop complaining and provide viable alternatives. sidenote: I feel for (and questioned) the staff fired but it was within the auspices of the new administration.

[Darth Stateworker]

Based on the last comment (from Marjorie) - it looks like there's two sides to what happened in the meeting. I'd really like to get an objective, 3rd party opinion on what happened there, or to see the meeting on video, because it's difficult to be fair to either side without an objective synopsis without the editorializing.

Regardless, I'm still not a fan of items on the PEF FB page simply disappearing. I may not agree with those that object to NYUPs leadership, but they are entitled to voice their opinions. If there were issues with specific posts where someone got out of line, those posts could simply have been individually deleted. There was no reason to delete the entire thread. This concerns me. The NYUP folks do have to learn to handle dissent without simply punting posts or ruling people "out of order" if Mikes synopsis is to be believed.

Perhaps we can get a more detailed synopsis from others who were there and try to sort this out.

[NYS Techie]

Well, Darth, to be fair, it's their Facebook page now. They don't have to give anybody a forum to voice their opinions. If they want to keep the Facebook page "on mission" and delete things that are distractions and unproductive, that's up to them, right? And I don't see any moral issue with deleting comments from people who are the current administration's political enemies anyway.

Didn't you post something on peffamilies or unionfamilies that "disappeared"? Or was that the other website, the one by that Lana woman? At the time, didn't you mention it and say that it was their site to do with as they pleased?

[Darth Stateworker]

Actually Techie, in this case, I don't agree. It's the unions FB page - not the NYUP slates page. They have their own page. The unions FB page should allow commentary from all members, provided it follows normalized rules of decorum, because that page is a place where members are supposed to be able to communicate with the union and it's leaders. Now, if Wario went on there and said "Sue Kent is a raging bitch!", I'd take no issue with the moderator deleting said post. However, simple discussion about the meeting that didn't have any ad hom but might not have been a glowing review of the meeting? There's no reason to ditch that. It simply makes them look like they're trying to hide something, even if they aren't - and I suspect they have nothing to hide. However, to those members that haven't been following so closely, if they happened to notice a reasonable post that was there previously suddenly disappeared, that might make them suspicious. That's why I said they need to be better at handling dissent.

I never posted anything on the PEF Families site - they didn't have a forum. Though EJ McMahon sent me an email Friday telling me that I was banned from his site... LOL

[NYS Techie]

The idea that a post has to be vicious to be deleted isn't valid in my opinion. If posts are counterproductive to the message the union's trying to put out, there's nothing wrong with deleting them and keeping the website on mission. Remember, as long as they're running PEF, it's THEIR website. They are in charge, so they have editorial power. And there's nothing wrong with this.

Note that a Facebook page is not a forum or a chat room. It's a publication medium, a way to keep members advised of what's going on with the union (and allow them to offer input, but under editorial control). If the site owner doesn't think a thread is helping advance the union's goals, he can delete it.

By the way, I want to direct your attention to some quotes from that facebook thread (emphasis mine):

There were 2 people hired from outside PEF, Hector Millan & a woman from a PR background. The others were all retires from the old CME caucus. A bunch of incompetents one of which has mental issues.

Linda A. Stankus-Rea So basically everything is out of order... I wonder if she'll rule being impeached out of order..?

Jennifer Bachman-Molloy lovely. So all these meeting will be about internal chaos. I think it would be great if all of PEFs admin and officials imploded when the meeting reconvenes so we can completely clean house and start new

It seemed that it was the Soviet Union & not PEF.

Maybe not vicious, but definitely not something PEF has to tolerate. And note the "Soviet Union" comment. What's the Tea Party's favorite attack word? Socialist, right? It's their vision of the Big Bad. The first thing through my head was "Oh, God, you're one of THOSE..." I bet you anything the PEF moderator had the same thought.

My point is, PEF seems to be trying to keep their Facebook page on topic. They're deleting ridiculous nonsense that's getting in the way of their mission. This is a GOOD thing; there are too many people in this union who like to stir the shit pot. Anything that improves our signal to noise ratio is an improvement.

[sunrunner]

I'm sorry it took me so long to get back here. Been busy busy busy. Kids are back in school. Volleyball, Odyssey of the mind starting soon...ect.
By the way....I have the complete raw and unedited video of the eboard.

[Darth Stateworker]

Something I would love to see!

And no worries - we've all been busy so it's been a little slow around here of late.

[NYS Techie]

Hi, SunRunner!

So... How is Ms. Kent doing? I'd rather hear it from you, since I know you're a credible source... Are things going OK? Or are her detractors still attacking her in meetings, hoping to goad her into doing something they can impeach her for?

Because that's what's going on, you know...

[Darth Stateworker]

100% agree with Techie. Those fucktards are vicious and relentless - like a PEF version of a teabagger faction.

[NYS Techie]

Agree with Darth, only I think they're dumber than teabaggers.

[Darth Stateworker]

Sept 21, 2012 16:10:06 GMT -5 NYS Techie said:

Agree with Darth, only I think they're dumber than teabaggers.

Well, I *CAN* think of one or two examples of those people who would actually lend credibility to that theory Techie. A certain moron with a paper bag on his head comes to mind...

[sunrunner]

Hey if I was assured of legalities regarding the distribution of the videos I would have no problem posting some segments. The interesting parts are where they are challenging the ruling of the chair according to robert's rules regarding the video taping itself. Funny shit.
Also the part where they are trying to reopen the severance benefits for the canned management and she rules it out of order. That idiot on the TU blog paints a very deceptive picture of what actually happened.
Maybe we can set up a private screening or something online. Some funny shit. Basically the sour grapes wanted attention.

[NYS Techie]

YOUTUBE!!! ;D