NYS PEF Retirees Capital District Region 8 Chapter

 

Marjorie DeVoe                         Roy Bailey                                Barbara Kearney                       Dick Klee

President                                  Vice President                          Secretary                                    Treasurer

 

      To receive all our meeting notices Please provide your email address to Rmango@pef.org

 

There are over 2,500 PEF Retirees in our Capital District Reg 8 Chapter

and we would enjoy seeing you at one of our upcoming meetings. 

 

Our next meeting will start with a catered light lunch and will be held on

 

Monday, October 5 at 12 noon

at NYS United Teachers Conference Ctr,

800 Troy-Schenectady Rd. in Latham.  

 

RSVP is REQUIRED because of NYSUT catering reservation request

and space limited to 140 people. 

Please call Rachel Mango at 785-1900 ext 288

or email at RMango@PEF.org before 5pm, Weds Sept 30.

 

Our November 2 meeting will be held back at the Pine Grove Methodist Church, 1580 Central Colonie at noon. RSVP is required by Oct 28 for this meeting.

The December Holiday Lunch has not been announced due to the upcoming elections.

 

 If you are unable to attend our Oct or Nov meetings and would like to attend the December Holiday lunch, please contact Rachel at the PEF Retiree office after Oct 28 for info.

Check us out on the web www.PEF8.org or look us up on Facebook.

 

 

 

                     

 Jan ‘09 Budget Rally at the TU Ctr          Picnic Registration                                   what’s your order? Hamburgers/hot dogs ?          

 

Do you recognize your former co-workers? At the rally and sharing food and the festivities at our annual picnic? It was held at Mosell’s Grove. The weather cooperated and over 125 folks enjoyed the picnic fare and fun. PEF Membership Benefits & Travel provided lots of opportunities to save money.  The NYS Comptroller set up computer to provide information and search for lost $ but no one admitted to finding their million $. PEF President Ken Bryien and Sec-Treasurer, Arlea Igoe stopped by to say hello to everyone. The door prizes were widely spread around and we hope the winners enjoyed the movies, dinner and the simply certificates that were prizes We hope there will be more Bridge players next yea & plan to hold a horseshoe tournament to go with the Golf game. Our Thanks to Lou Barr, for getting the golf game going along with Joe Carusone and Hiram Eberlein.

 

 

 

Presidents Message:

 

At our May meeting members approved not meeting in Sept. because of the Holiday. Our constitution only calls for 6 meetings a year and it is apparent as our attendance increases and the cost of providing meeting space and food at our meeting continues to go up that this was an opportunity to control costs and continue to provide quality meetings with sufficient space and food for all.

 

Chapter elections will be a major portion of our next meeting, Mon. Oct 5.

If you are interested in running for one of the offices: President, Vice President, Secretary or Treasurer, we are accepting nominations from the floor during the elections.

 

I would like to personally thank Barb Kearney who is retiring as our Chapter Secretary. Barb has been more than a Secretary to the Chapter; she has contributed speaker ideas, a place to hold our picnic, registration/ sign in sheets and more enthusiasm than anyone I have worked with before. But that being said we all owe her a big thanks for the extra effort she took on to purchase and haul in the soda and ice for each meeting. Her minutes have reflected what really was said and Thanks is not a big enough word for my appreciation for all she has done.  Karen Danish has agreed to run in Barb’s place as Secretary.

 

The 4th PEF Retiree Summer Conference was held in Binghamton. Chapter members; Roy Bailey, Mary Bologna, Hiram Eberlein, Bob Harms, Jayne & Ron Mikat, June Price and I attended. The conference bought together Chapter members from all over the state and was a great success and I hope more of our members will be able to attend next year when its held in Utica, attentively scheduled for July 20-21, 2010. More on Oct 5th.

 

Legislative Notes:

               We all here trying to survive and understand what is happening in this radically changing era. Our health care and pension benefits that we worked for are being challenged, everyday. Our savings have been diminished by the economic downturn, our social security benefits will not increase this year but Medicare costs continue to rise. We all want to protect the future generations from the burden of debit.

 

Ÿ  The Healthcare debate, how do we deal with that? We have PEF to thank for our continued coverage. There have been several attacks on our health care benefit but our union has stridently worked to preserve what we have. The future is still unclear with all the proposals on the table.

Ÿ   

Ÿ  Breaking News from AFT Retiree Friday 8/28 Alert: Due to the economic recession, Social Security trustees have projected that there will be no cost of living allowance (COLA) increase, which is tied to an inflation index, for 2010 and 2011. For many recipients, the lack of an adjustment will mean that their monthly checks will actually go down, because Medicare prescription drug payments deducted from Social Security are scheduled to increase next year. "Faced with these realities, it would simply be unacceptable for seniors on fixed incomes to not receive additional income in the coming year, something that hasn’t happened in over three decades," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said in a statement. "When. Congress gets back in session, I will be introducing emergency legislation that will provide seniors with financial support this coming year."

Ÿ   

Ÿ  We, each and everyone of us, no matter what our political party affiliation or thoughts on the Health Care reform debate, needs to contact our legislators to tell them our opinions and concerns.  It is especially important for us with 3 new legislators; Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Congressman Scott Murphy, Congressman Paul Tonko, Call, write, email or visit your legislators. That’s what our obligation to self protection and the future generations is “Protect by Speaking up!”

 

Ÿ  The choice to join a union is challenged by the corporate employers everyday. As they take home huge paychecks, bonuses and stock options while the on-the-job workers go paycheck to paycheck in the hopes they won’t be laid off or fired because of economic down turns. Union membership is what provided many of our families the basic right of job security based on performance not nepotism or favors owed. Unions have flaws but they brought the common workers living wages, benefits and dignity and created the middle class. Support the Employee Free Choice Act.

 

Ÿ  Reminder: Primary elections will be held on Tuesday, September 15. Be sure to get out to the polls and have your voice heard by VOTING!

 

A final note to all of you, especially our newer members, because continually increasing materials, printing and postage costs, we only mail to our entire membership once or twice a year. If you provide an email address to the PEF Retiree Office, they will send you an email prior to every meeting with our agenda, speakers, date, time and location information. Your email address is secured by PEF.

 

I sincerely, hope each and everyone of you had a wonderful summer and survived the downpours.    Marje