Region 8 Civil Service

Present: Chairman Bill Wurster, Dave Kirmayer, Ray Moroz, Gus Santos, Mariruth Brown, Mario Chiarello, Mike Auerbach, Virgina Bartos, Ken Ferro, Jim Lyons, Sue Kent, Pat Lavin, Jeff Kaye, Lou Barr, Scott Mardon, Rich Marriott, Rich Bojman, Mary Colatosti, Tom Comanzo, George Mata,

CS Litigation

• Dave Kirmayer’s case is going on to the Court of Appeals (non-reachable 52.6)
• 70.1 Transfer Western NY case letter sent to CS Commission. The case hasn’t been rejected yet, so PEF CS Division is exhausting the administrative avenue before going the legal route.
• Battery Litigation is still alive, until CS makes a decision on the ProMoBat.

Civil Service, Testing Services needs to pick-up the pace of offering tests - a bunch of test are scheduled but more are needed to prevent provisional appoints.

The question was asked if, in the absence of the battery, the agency can make up it own tests; the answer was- no, however it may be allowed at the lower level, certainly not at the supervisory or administrative level.

It was asked how long a person can remain a provisional- by law 9 months, with a 9 month possible extension. This can not be superseded by a contract. It was mentioned that some agencies have employees who have worked 20 and 30 years as a ‘provisional’.

The CS committee has referred the idea of provisional to the Region 8 Coordinator and to the statewide CS committee- focusing on the titles with the greatest number of years on the job and those with the greatest numbers of fills.

There were several questions about provisionals. What is PEF’s action plan on dealing with the long-term provisionals. It was announced that the next quarterly Statewide Civil Service meeting will be Nov 14th at PEF headquarters. In response to the question of how does an agency go about beginning the litigative process to force the NYS Dept of CS to give exams, it was mentioned that the division gets the information regarding the complaint/violation to Tom Cetrino as it is his division at PEF that makes the recommendation to PEF’s legal department, which decides whether or not to pursue the issue (if it gets assigned to a PEF lawyer, if PEF legal resources are going to be expended etc.).

It was noted that we are long past DAY One, and the question was brought up- how much time are we going to give the new administration/ and the NYS Dept of CS to address the needs of PEF employees? [provisionals, testing, classifications, reassignments, transfers]. PEF President Ken Brynien with legal staff has met with Civil Service Commissioner and discussions are ongoing.

A better avenue would be ‘working with the agency to determine what exams are going to be implemented in place of the PBT. It was strongly felt that PEF is not pursuing the issue forcefully enough.

One member mentioned that there may be a CS grievance situation at OSC as a promotion was awarded although there was a list of three.

Tom Comanzo announced a few upcoming Region 8 dates:

• Dec 8th - PEF Day at the Regional Food Bank Drive (Crossgate’s Mall)
• Dec 14th - Holiday Party (Bring a toy)
• Dec 15th - It’s A Wrap session for donated gifts

CS Legislation

Reassignments legislation was sent to the governor and vetoed! PEF is pursuing this through the contract conceptional proposal.. Bill will ask Brian Curan (the Legislative director for PEF) for notification of the stage of negations on this issue and a review of the Legislative ALERT system.

Convention review

The positioning of resolutions within groups was mentioned (Civil Service and Contract Resolutions were placed in the same group).

Several people thought the first day of convention was productive, but not much got accomplished after that, and several spoke against giving the governor an award at this time, (the lack of any real change in leadership of agencies, continuation of contacting out, the impasse on the contract, healthcare issues)

The decision to publicize the minutes of E-board meetings was discussed- some felt that a roll call of vote was important but every little nuance need not be up there, while others felt that some very important discussions at past meetings were not recorded and their absence gave a very slanted (false) picture of the proceedings. One example was the NYS School for the Blind- and as a result of the exclusion of discussion some very important concessions were given.

The set up of the room was not very conducive to running a meeting and the absence of microphones in the Region 8 section hindered full participation.

This raised the point that now is a good time to beginning working on next year’s resolutions.

Contract

The team met on Monday, 9/24th with a briefing on the drug issue- Med Co. Drug Plan. Bill was asked if CSEA had been given a package, and if so did PEF know what was in it? The answer was that the CSEA website indicates that they are ‘negotiating’ but no specific details were mentioned. When asked if Lou was working with CSEA, we were told that in this contract period there are ‘unprecedented communications’ with every union but CSEA. It was mentioned that historically CSEA will settle first and PEF will be forced to accept what CSEA has agreed to... Bill stated that PEF is still in the briefing stage while CSEA is beyond that stage.

The cost-benefit of contracting out is to be addressed by an executive order. It was asked if the state was saying how much it was going to cost over the next four years and Bill stated that no figures have been given. They are also not moving on the tuition reimbursement for PEF members issue.

One drawback to SOLIDARITY is a lot of PEF’s members feel as PS&T employees that they are not ‘union members’ but rather professionals. We are UNIONIZED PROFESSIONALS and we need to stand up for our benefits.

The proposal for the 100 % deferred compensation match was discussed. A figure of ~$195 million was estimated. It was mentioned that New York City has a cap at $300. [401K].

In response to whether any one is seeing any of the new state employees promised, not many was the consensus. The last time there was a surge in hiring was when the state realized it was short in the computer technology field.

Divisions Go-Round

OFT- little structural change has happened. Without a change in duties/ qualifications- the specs stay the same. It was mentioned that if there is a problem, classification standards may be modified.

DOT- would like to see PEF get an increase in salary for engineers as the agency can’t compete with private sector. They expect to hire 300 recruits. Bill noted that the division should make sure the agency doesn’t take any short cuts; and also remember that the money was only budgeted for half-a-year.

DOT- an ‘authorization for release of information’ form is sometimes given an interviewee stating that it was necessary for promotion. {There is a form number- so it is a directive in the policy & procedures manual) Releasing this to whom is an issue, and there was concern that the contents would become ‘public information’. It was noted that the State Police won a court case regarding this. Another DOT employee said that this was brought up in council meeting and they were told to ‘alter’ the form to remove some of the ‘irregular’ questions. It was also noted that the form was not consistently used.

OSC- doesn’t see the problem with recruitment but salaries for accountants, engineers and other titles where a degree is required seams low. OSC will be discussing ITC conversions at the next labor/mgt meeting.

• Resolution one at convention got good support; the request for the number of transfer vs. promotions never got off the floor.
• Proposal for PEF to join the NYS Forum as a quasi-agency- with all CIOs and vendors.
• Civil Service wanted to give a standard presentation but this did not happen.
• IT reclass- program analyst to IT specialist 3- grade 18; training & experience; 500 question test; would be position specific testing. Skills of 5 years ago are not needed, and the employee doesn’t have the new skills set. Thus management can pin point the skill weakness and use that as an explanation why they need to hire consultants.
• NY CIO spoke at the NY Forum and clearly recognized the need for flexibility for IT Skills. OSC- recruitment problems: accounting aides doing clerical work- 5 different jobs with 2 positions not filled; sees a ‘deprofessionalization’ of PEF employees.

OMH- hot topic is non-voluntary reassignments. In answer to a question from the floor, Bill stated that Civil Service law allows reassignment within the same county and a 30-mile radius. Thus Albany Co to Renns Co. is not allowed but Albany, NY to Menands, NY would be as both are in Albany Co and within 30 miles. If reassignment is refuse the employees could be laid-off. Their names would be placed on an reemployment placement roster (for 4 years) and they would be considered before persons on any promotional list and an open-appointment list.

OFT- they are undergoing ‘reorganization’ with 6 retiring/ rehiring.

OMR- commented on the mention in the last minutes that the agency was hiring- and noted maybe IT was hiring but not other areas.

OPR 1. The conversions are finally going through- with 40 people becoming permanent. 2. Bureau of Historic sites is ‘testing’ electronic time cards.

DOCS- The discussion mention checking the labor/mgt agreement regarding announcements and postings, and the fact that the division can FOIL through civil service. Grade 23 IT exam grades came directly to the agency. Was zone scoring done away with ?? (increments of 5). It was mentioned that OSC employees could only see their own individual score; DOCS employees could see the entire list.

SED 1. traineeship/ evaluation issues 2. ability to record ACTUAL OT , 3. work force planning; 4. long-term temps were not considered seasonals so were not included in the conversion 5. there is a new Personnel director- Maria Allen [different from the Human Resources director].

OASAS- 1. American Disabilities Act issue 2. Non-classified, non competitive Research scientist positions = not using a promotional list Veterans Affairs- Continuing resolution for the new federal fiscal year (10/1); $19 million (was slated for sunset 9/30- $13 million); new senate Arms Services; It was mentioned that Hillary Clinton was negative to veterans’ issues.

Retirees- lost their bill [permanent tie of the retirees’ health to active employees- for all time- (now it is an annual renewal, not a legislative bill)- bring to Region 8 Civil Service Committee for recommendation to PEF Statewide Civil Service Committee.

Meeting was adjourned

Submitted by Bill Wurster 402-8807