The Public Employees Federation (PEF) is a labor union representing more than 57,000 professional, scientific, and technical public employees in the state of New York. The union is one of the largest local white-collar unions in the United States and is New York's second-largest state-employee union.Northrup, "Layoff Plans in Motion, PEF Wonders What Happened to Retirement Incentive," Albany Times-Union, July 22, 2010. PEF also represents employees who work in private-sector jobs and local government agencies. The union publishes The Communicator, an online newsletter for members, 10 times annually.

Governance

PEF is a member-driven union, with policy set by an elected Executive Board that meets four times annually, and Convention delegates, who per the union's Constitution "shall meet once annually between September 1st and November 30th at a time and place determined by the Executive Board.”

The union President, Secretary-Treasurer, three Vice Presidents, three Trustees, and 12 Regional Coordinators are elected by a vote of the entire membership via mail-in ballot. Statewide officers serve a term of three years. The current officers were sworn in on Aug. 1, 2024 and will serve until July 31, 2027.

Origins In 1971, 61-year-old George Hardy was elected president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).Who Was Who in America, 1991.Cook, "George Hardy, 79, Pioneer Leader of Service Worker Union, Is Dead," New York Times, September 18, 1990. Under Hardy, SEIU's health care and public employee divisions saw rapid growth. Much of the membership growth, however, came through affiliation rather than new member organizing. Hardy viewed the fast-growing American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) as SEIU's chief competitor.McCartin, "'A Wagner Act for Public Employees': Labor's Deferred Dream and the Rise of Conservatism, 1970–1976," Journal of American History, June 2008. AFSCME had grown from a mere 100,000 members in 1951 to 500,000 members in 1972, and had elected a dynamic and aggressive new leader, 45-year-old Jerry Wurf, in 1964.Billings and Greenya, Power to the Public Worker, 1974. Not only was AFSCME's growth substantial, its demographics matched those of SEIU's: At least two-thirds of the rival union's members were blue-collar workers, and a fifth of them worked in hospitals and nursing homes. To counter AFSCME's rapid growth, Hardy adopted a strategy of affiliating existing unions rather than organizing unorganized workers. Between 1971 and 1980, SEIU affiliated 22 independent unions.Moody, An Injury to All: The Decline of American Unionism, 1988. Merger and affiliation accounted for 230,000 new members from 1971 to 1985, and virtually all of the union's growth from 1980 to 1984.

One of SEIU's major growth spurts came in 1978, when it raided the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA). In existence since 1910, CSEA had won representation rights for New York State's 140,000 public employees after the state passed a public employee collective bargaining law in 1968. Structured like an association rather than a union, CSEA hesitated to engage in militant labor action or strike, and yet it had a rocky relationship with the state: The union struck for two days at the beginning of April 1972Clarity, "State Employes Begin a Walkout," New York Times, April 1, 1972. and won a 5.5 percent pay hike.Clarity, "State Strike Ends As Workers Win Raise and Bonus," New York Times, April 3, 1972. But the strike and dissatisfaction with CSEA's leadership led some CSEA members to ask for representation by SEIU. With Hardy's strong backing, the newly formed union was able to gather enough signatures on petitions to trigger a representational vote in two of the four units where workers were represented by CSEA, but SEIU lost the vote by a 3-to-1 margin in December 1972.Stetson, "State Employes Will Vote This Week," New York Times, December 3, 1972.Johnson, "State Institutional Employes to Stay in Civil Service Union," New York Times, December 9, 1972."State's Professional Aides Vote to Retain Association," New York Times, December 10, 1972. A second strike planned by CSEA leaders was called off after delegates overwhelmingly repudiated a strike resolution supported by the union's leaders.Carroll, "State Workers Postpone Strike After Rift Develops," New York Times, April 1, 1975. The internal strife led SEIU to once again challenge CSEA for a large unit of New York State public employees. In an election held December 5, 1975, an SEIU-led coalition which included the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the Laborers' International Union of North America, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and several building trades unions was defeated by CSEA, 10,858 to 10,348 with 1,015 voting for neither union."C.S.E.A. Wins a Test in Albany Election," New York Times, February 8, 1976. With neither side winning a majority, a second election was held the first week of February 1976, which CSEA won (14,321 to 10,184).

But Hardy continued to raid CSEA. CSEA leaders initially sought protection by affiliating with AFSCME. Article 20 of the AFL–CIO constitution prohibits affiliates from raiding one another's members, and an affiliation with AFSCME would have won CSEA relief from the raids."Civil Service Association Bars Merger With Union," New York Times, March 18, 1976. But CSEA delegates formally barred their leaders from seeking an affiliation with AFSCME in March 1976. CSEA's contract with the state of New York expired in 1977. Although CSEA leaders once more proposed a strike, the union settled for a 14 percent pay raise in April 1977.Stetson, "New York State Employees Plan For a Possible Strike on April 18," New York Times, April 7, 1977.Meislin, "Albany Pact to Give State Workers Raise of 14% Over 2 Years," New York Times, April 18, 1977. Hardy, convinced SEIU could successfully raid CSEA, conducted secret polls which showed that deep unrest in the professional, scientific, and technical (PS&T) unit."Tom Hobart Interview," CSEA History Project, SUNY-Albany, December 7, 2004. Working only with the AFT, SEIU once more obtained enough petitions to challenge CSEA representation in the PS&T unit. The raid was successful, and the coalition (known as the Public Employees Federation) won, 15,062 to 12,259.Stetson, "State's Employees Get Different Union," New York Times, April 16, 1978. Hardy and AFT leader Albert Shanker hoped to raid CSEA further, but CSEA affiliated with AFSMCE on April 21, 1978.Gupte, "Union of Civil Service Employees to Affiliate With a Longtime Rival," New York Times, April 22, 1978. The affiliation made AFSCME the largest affiliate in the AFL–CIO.Flint, "New York Labor Dispute Hints at a Jurisdictional War," New York Times, May 2, 1978.

CSEA challenged the SEIU/AFT coalition's victory, however. CSEA attorneys alleged that nearly 5,000 of the signatures on the petition forcing an election were fraudulent."Hearings Consider Union Dispute," New York Times, May 21, 1978. A New York Supreme Court (the state's trial court of general jurisdiction) initially dismissed the suit,"Civil Service Union Loses Vote Appeal," New York Times, July 21, 1978. but it was reinstated by a state appellate court."Civil Service Union Wins Appeal," New York Times, January 12, 1979. As the lawsuit progressed, CSEA won a new three-year contract which included a 7 percent pay hike in the first year.Meislin, "New York State Agrees to 7% Rise And New Merit Setup for 105,000," New York Times, March 12, 1979."Governor Announces Three-Year Wage Pact With State's Workers," New York Times, March 13, 1979. But the new union, now called the Public Employees Federation, ultimately prevailed in the New York Court of Appeals (the highest court in the state of New York) on March 28, 1979."Union Awarded Right to Represent Professional Employees," New York Times, March 28, 1979. PEF subsequently negotiated a controversial contract which gave union members a 36 percent pay increase over three years.Stetson, "State Employees to Vote on New Contract Nov. 19," New York Times, November 10, 1979. Submitted to the members without the approval of PEF's executive council, the contract was overwhelmingly approved by PEF members on December 6, 1979."State Employees Approve Pact," New York Times, December 7, 1979.

History

Kraemer presidency PEF's first president, John J. Kraemer, served a single, turbulent term in office. He was accused of being a "no-show" employee at his previous position with the New York State Department of Labor,"State Accused of Paying Unionist in No-Show Job," New York Times, July 31, 1979. but was exonerated of the charges.Picchi, "Unionist's Career a Stormy One," Albany Times-Union. March 6, 1987. He also had been accused and found innocent of being paid a salary from both PEF and state. As his legal troubles continued, Kraemer focused on negotiating the union's second contract. Pensions were a major issue for the union.Levine, "State Retirees Need Pension Relief Now," New York Times, April 15, 1981. In 1976, the state enacted a new pension plan under which state employees paid income taxes on their mandatory contribution to the state pension plan, which PEF claimed forced workers to pay taxes on income they may never receive.Wexler, "PEF Lobbies for Improved Pensions," Albany Times-Union, June 8, 1988. Although the agreement ratified in March 1982 did not address the pension issue, the contract negotiated by Kraemer won pay raises of 9 percent the first year and 8 percent the next two years in exchange for a reduction in the number of sick days given to employees.Chira, "State Reaches Tentative Pact With Civil Service Employees," New York Times, February 28, 1982.

Kraemer lost re-election in 1982 to Elizabeth Hoke. The 1,100-member Statewide Coalition for a Democratic Union (SCDU), at the time PEF's only organized "political party," had formed to challenge Kraemer and support Hoke.Kelly, "PEF Chief Defeats Challenger in Primary," Albany Times-Union, February 24, 1988. The election was a bitter one, with Hoke accusing Kraemer of poor leadership.

Hoke presidency When Hoke assumed the presidency, she found the union was more than $400,000 in debt. An investigation found that Kraemer had embezzled funds from the union.Halbrook, "PEF Mourns Death of Founder, John Kraemer," PEF Communicator, December 2005 – January 2006.Kraemer would be convicted in 2000 for embezzling from another union, Local 29 of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, in Hackensack, New Jersey. At the time of his death, he would be under investigation for conspiring to embezzle more than $296,000 from the Professional Employee's Guild (PEG) of Hackensack and the union's welfare fund. See: "New York Lawyer Indicted for Alleged Union Embezzlement," press release, U.S. Department of Justice, November 1, 2006. Kraemer pleaded guilty to the charges in early 1987."Ex-PEF Chief Admits Theft," Albany Times-Union, March 5, 1987.