Public Employees Federation - History - Brynien Presidency

Brynien Presidency

Kenneth Brynien was elected PEF president over Michael Del Piano on June 27, 2006, by a vote of 7,874 to 7,024 (a margin of 850 votes, or 5.8 percent). Brynien said a major goal of his presidency would be to enhance PEF's legislative efforts in the state capital.

Brynien and the union confronted a state proposal to close or merge several state-owned hospitals and other health care facilities during his first year in office. A state commission first proposed the plan in November 2006. Brynien and PEF strongly opposed the plan, claiming it would harm patients and lead to lower levels of care. PEF's parent union, SEIU, said it would not oppose the plan. PEF began a series of public protests and a legislative lobbying effort to prevent the closures and mergers. It also sued to prevent the plan from being implemented.

Brynien negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement for PEF in 2008. Negotiations for the new contract were short and generated almost no public notice. The four-year contract's terms, which were retroactive to April 2007 (the date the old agreement expired), included an average 4 percent wage increase per year, higher pay for employees working in or near New York City, new health insurance benefits, and improved educational benefits. About two-thirds of PEF members voted in contract approval balloting, with the pact receiving 97 approval for those who did vote.

During Brynien's first term as president, PEF also won a long-sought ban on mandatory overtime. Legislation on the issue was introduced in May 2007, and on June 18, 2008, Governor David Paterson signed into law a ban on mandatory overtime in state facilities.

Three months later, PEF successfully lobbied the state legislature to provide for permanent collection of union dues and a "fair share" provision in the dues structure. Under prior New York State law, the state was required to collect dues on PEF's behalf (through the state's payroll system) and forward these monies to the union. Non-members were not required to pay dues to the union, even though the union was required by law to represent these workers. This law required renewal every two years. PEF had long sought a permanent version of the law, one which enacted a "fair share" provision requiring non-members to pay a portion of dues (for the services they received). The state legislature finally passed just such a law in July 2008, and it was signed into law by Governor Paterson.

PEF also became embroiled in major battles with Governor Paterson over the state budget, which occupied much of the remainder of Brynien's first term and the first few years of his second. When the late-2000s recession severely depressed New York state tax revenues, Paterson demanded that PEF and other state employee unions re-open their contracts and adopt a wage freeze and other concessions to help the state balance its budget. PEF refused. PEF countered by suggesting a program of early retirement, which lawmakers began discussing. PEF also demanded that the state cut the number of independent contractors working for the state, arguing that New York could save up to $700 million by reducing the number of contractors or reducing payments to them. PEF also urged the state to adopt higher taxes on the very wealthy and for-profit health maintenance organizations, which the legislature did. Governor Paterson, determined to achieve spending cuts, ordered the layoff of more than 8,900 state workers on March 24, 2009. Brynien and other PEF leaders were deeply angered by Paterson's proposal. Led by PEF, the state's public employee unions produced television commercials and newspaper advertisements depicting Paterson with his fingers in his ears and unwilling to listen to voters. The New York Times said that attacks were some "of the nastiest and most personal against a governor in memory ... rare even by Albany's relaxed standards of political decorum." Brynien said Paterson should be faulted for forcing the unions into such an aggressive stand. Brynien also announced PEF would sue the state to prevent the layoffs from occurring. In response, Paterson said he would not lay off any workers if the state's unions agreed to a pension plan ("Tier V") for new workers that would provide much lower benefits. PEF reached an agreement with the governor under which Paterson agreed not to lay off workers in exchange for a $20,000 bonus to 4,000 highly paid workers if they retired early within the next year; the abolition of 2,500 vacant jobs; the creation of a new tier in the pension system which would save $440 million over two years; and the introduction of a plan for workers to voluntarily cut back their working hours.

Brynien was re-elected as PEF's president in June 2009 after no opposition candidate emerged.

In October 2009, PEF also fought a campaign to prevent the state from ordering the mandatory vaccination of thousands of state health care workers against the H1N1 flu virus (popularly known as the "swine flu"). The state ordered the mandatory vaccinations on September 30, 2009. Brynien and other PEF leaders demanded that the state make the vaccinations voluntary, arguing that the mass vaccination plan did not provide for exemptions for worker safety, such as pregnant women or those with severe allergies; the vaccine had not yet been properly tested for safety; and the vaccine did not provide enough protection to outweigh the invasion of civil rights. PEF sued, and on October 15 a state court agreed and imposed a temporary injunction preventing implementation of the plan. The state withdrew its plan a week later.

Six months after the pension deal was reached, however, Governor Paterson announced he would seek to prevent PEF members from receiving their scheduled 4 percent salary increase and seek furloughs of state workers to help close yet another budget deficit. Paterson raised the issues of furloughs in mid-August, just two months after the pension deal was reached. PEF countered once again by arguing that the state spent $3 billion a year on 23,000 consultants at a cost that was 62 percent higher than hiring a permanent worker. On April 1, 2010, Paterson demanded that PEF forgo its scheduled wage hike, but PEF refused to do so. About a week later, Paterson withheld the pay increase unilaterally, leading to strong denunciations by the union. Two weeks later, Paterson announced he would seek to furlough half the state's workforce one day a week for the rest of the year in addition to the wage freeze, and the state legislature appeared ready to agree to the plan. PEF began a legislative lobbying effort, but the legislature approved the furloughs. PEF and other unions sued to overturn the pay freeze and furloughs, and a federal district court temporarily prevented the state from implementing the furlough plan on May 11, 2010. The court also ordered the state to restore the wage increase. The court made the injunction permanent about two weeks later.

Governor Paterson then proposed laying off 10,000 state workers on January 1, 2011 (the day after his no-layoff pledge with the unions expired)—a plan PEF also opposed.

On June 1, 2010, during the height of the tension created by the fiscal crisis, The New York Post ran an article revealing that Ken Brynien had enjoyed an increase in salary of $25,000 annually from $112,440 in 2008 to $137,622 in 2010.