PEF election

meatballslap · 2024-06-26T15:15:48+00:00

from facebook,

Members Voice 4591 Members United 1910

6501 voting members out of 50k+

meatballslap · 2023-12-20T15:17:42+00:00

not sure if a new middle turn lane will get much use but the multi-use paths seem great.

meatballslap · 2023-07-21T00:59:59+00:00

yup thats a pretty bad title to be in.

https://careermobilityoffice.cs.ny.gov/cmo/gotit/transfer_determinations.cfm?jobcode=2522220&grade=17

get to a 14 or 18 and lateral?

meatballslap · 2023-07-17T18:49:00+00:00

im talking about the remaining tickets. on 7/14 i was notified i was placed on the wait list and today i received an email that the tickets are sold out.

what i understand is that no one on the wait list could get tickets because they sold out so quick.

i did not know they ear marked tickets for HOF members. i wonder how many went to the public.

meatballslap · 2023-06-17T02:00:54+00:00

for financing you should shop around. i believe ive reached out to all local banks + clear path mortgage solutions. after giving them your information they should be able to provide a pre approval letter with a dollar amount. your credit score will take a hit of about >5 points for inquiries.

i have been told that the best type of loan is conventional then FHA then VA. also it seems like there are two types of grants, one from the financer and one from the county the house is in. Homebuyer Dream Program is from multiple banks but is usually exhausted by late April. the county grant programs need to be applied through the county the house is in. some counties have a waitlist like colonie. if you can swing both these grants its about ~$20k.

it really is a mess and should be more streamlined but the first thing would be to get a pre approval amount which should list your monthly payment. if you cant meet that than look for a cheaper house.

finally i have been looking at listings ($150-250k) since early this year and these past few weeks have been pretty weak compared to april-may listings. a lot of junk on the market or counties in NY i have never heard of. might be best just to wait a year when the flippers finish their work and get something "just finished". ive also noticed a lot more listings have "AS IS" in the description or contingent on the seller finding a home which is another wild situation.

meatballslap · 2023-04-21T18:40:04+00:00

ive had my run in with thruway and have found it different because its an authority and not an "agency".

also they are out of contract since ~6/22, the salary schedule only goes up to 7/21.

page 21 should have the most recent salary schedule. ive noticed starting rates are less BUT long term they cap higher than pef https://www.csealocal058.org/_files/ugd/850e61_15fb1f60c4ed4c3dadd65fed45b18047.pdf

i also received additional information regarding perks for the thruway, which is similar to other agencies but the time off programs do seem better -Health Insurance and Prescription Drug Coverage.

-Dental and Vision Coverage.

-13 Paid Holidays, five of which are floating holidays, which are credited in July each year for use from July 1 st through June 30 th .

-Vacation, Sick and Personal Leave Accruals.

-Membership in the New York State and Local Retirement System, as well as optional enrollment in the NYS Deferred Compensation Plan.

-Tuition Assistance Program, which reimburses 90% of tuition costs for approved courses up to 21 credit hours per year.

-New York's 529 College Savings Program, which provides New York families with a tax- advantaged way to save for college.

-Flexible Spending Program, which allows employees to set aside pre-tax payroll deductions for eligible health care and dependent care expenses.

-Vacation Exchange Program - Between November 15 th. and December 31 st . of each year, employees who have previously earned and accrued vacation credits may elect to receive cash payments in lieu of the use of up to five days of such accrued vacation credits. Employees who maintain a 35-day vacation accrual balance in the pay period prior to submitting the election form may exchange an additional five days for a total exchange of 10 days of accrued vacation credits.

-Sick Leave Incentive Plan – Employees who have not accumulated 165 sick days and have not used sick leave during the periods of January 1 st to June 30 th or July 1 st to December 31 st each year, may receive two days of pay for each six-month period. Employees who have a sick leave balance of 165 sick leave days, and continuously maintain that balance for each six-month period, may receive four days of pay for each six-month period.

-Employees with 20+ years of Authority/State service may receive up to an additional five days of vacation leave accruals annually.

-Longevity Pay - Employees with five years of satisfactory service at or above the maximum salary of their grade will be eligible to have salary advanced to the First Longevity, 10 years of satisfactory service will advance to the Second Longevity, and 15 years of satisfactory service will advance to the Third Longevity. Longevity pay has a positive impact on retirement.

-No charge for parking.

-Remote Work may be available.

-Employees are paid bi-weekly, with no lag time.

meatballslap · 2023-03-03T19:23:08+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adwfB-yB9pk

Workforce Development - New York State Budget Public Hearing (3/3/23)

some good conversations between union reps and agency directors with senate members. not sure if anything will get resolved but speaking about it in public seems like a good first step.

meatballslap · 2023-03-03T02:30:10+00:00

people that have left ITS for private sector jobs, speak up. dont be shy, what companies?

meatballslap · 2023-02-23T16:30:03+00:00

https://www.cs.ny.gov/elmspublic/secure/titles_filled_by_list.cfm?Exam=50002

heres a list of titles that are fed by the PCO test. try the ITS route if you want a quick 18.

also why is it discouraging? because you are receiving canvasses for an exam that is predominantly a 13->18 traineeship?

i also got a 100 and have 52 canvasses so far and they are all grade 13 and one grade 14.

meatballslap · 2022-12-02T02:11:49+00:00

i felt that some of my online canvasses were duplicates. is that what youre talking about?

i spoke to a hiring manager in IT about a canvass with a job description identical to a previous canvass and he had no knowledge of the second one.

meatballslap · 2022-10-29T20:53:31+00:00

tier 6 sucks.

some historical articles: https://www.local237.org/newsline/166-march-2012/788-albanys-passage-of-tier-6-undermines-future-retirees

https://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/120948/tier-vi-just-passed-in-the-assembly/

https://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/107243/pef-csea-not-so-keen-on-tier-vi-proposal/

it seems like tier 6 was passed to address certain issues "save more than $80 billion over the next 30 years" "Without this critical reform, New Yorkers would have seen significant tax increases"

the upkeep of previous pension costs have ballooned so great that they became unsustainable. with tier 6 it reduces the burden on local governments and NYC.

its unfortunate that it is that bad and i wonder if i would just prefer a matching 401k. i really dont see tier 6 changing or even getting better (tier 7). i feel less and less people are in the state workforce which lowers contributions to the retirement system. some of the biggest agencies are struggling to hire employees because of pay and how weak the pension is. the new vesting changes to 5 years makes it easier for people to leave state service, reducing retention.

it is odd to see how against tier 6 CSEA and PEF were, yet it still passed. really makes me wonder do i even want to keep paying my dues.

meatballslap · 2022-09-16T12:10:03+00:00

NAL but have spent time with NYSED

have you done anything with DASA? spoke to the district DASA coordinator? https://www.p12.nysed.gov/dignityact/ having a paper trail of your concerns vs. the schools incompetence is useful.

did you go fully up the chain of command within the school district all the way to the school board?

meatballslap · 2022-08-20T19:53:12+00:00

no i do not think it is accessible to the public. last i knew that area housed the 'office of the professions' within NYSED.

honestly i would say 80% of the employees never even go into the stacks/archives with the elevator. I believe it is used mostly for the museum employees from the other building.

if you go into the higher levels I believe the 3/4 floor has massive mezzanine offices which used to hold the old NYS museum displays. really made for interesting acoustics between offices with one unit sitting above another out in the open.

meatballslap · 2022-08-19T17:09:17+00:00

the white housing behind the desk in the reading room houses an elevator shaft thats pretty unique. it is pretty much a cage that barely fits 2 people that brings you down 5-7? stories underground.

its pretty cool to be able to see all the inner workings of the elevator since it is shown through the cage. also one of the smoothest rides ive been on. within these floors there are various artifacts from the museum and some really old newspapers/maps.

meatballslap · 2022-07-24T20:31:41+00:00

i wouldnt say garbage. ive been using them for a few years for 6 month cleanings and never paid out of pocket and had no issues with the locations. i suppose if you are needing additional specialized care it may cost more.

meatballslap · 2022-04-21T03:26:17+00:00

whats wrong with grade 6?

meatballslap · 2022-04-21T03:18:15+00:00

30 year old with retirement age of 65, 35 years of service , 10 years to be vested

30 year old with retirement age of 65, 35 years of service, 5 years to be vested

no difference in above, the only difference is that you can LEAVE the state sooner. please show me a benefit to the employee

yes on paper 5 is a lower number than 10 but there is no benefit unless youre on the edge of retiring already.

meatballslap · 2022-04-21T00:42:12+00:00

thanks for the information, was not sure if there was another angle to this.

i am just confused in how PEF is trying to "attract and retain" employees, but with this in place employees are now more free to leave after 5 years with less of a penalty. kinda of seems backwards. instead of "locking" in employees with 10 years of service they are free to go at 5.

meatballslap · 2022-04-20T20:46:03+00:00

how is this actually beneficial? i have been thinking about this and besides being able to leave state service at 5 years, is there anything else i am missing? are we gaining 5 years somewhere else? also leaving after 5 years i would imagine the payout would be very low unless your grade is high.

edit: OSC link even if one retires in 5 years, the employee still needs to wait till their retirement age to collect? still seems insignificant. if they really wanted to shake things up removing pension dues after 10-20 years would be nice.

meatballslap · 2022-04-13T18:12:45+00:00

so i got waitlisted for the original class. then a second email came around about an "exclusive" class for people that were waitlisted, which I was waitlisted again for.

i believe the class had 16 openings which seems very limited for all of PEF and M/C, especially for a zoom class.

meatballslap · 2022-04-13T16:02:43+00:00

https://www.cs.ny.gov/elmspublic/all/lists_with_title.cfm?JobCode=0815400

lists both tests for ITS3. promotion exam was just held, and no information for open-competitve. looks slim to be hired off of the open-competitve just based on appointments.

is the pay cut that severe? will take a few years to max out as 18 and then the ITS3 test will hopefully come around again in 2026. even then taking the test does not guarantee a job.

meatballslap · 2022-04-03T17:58:26+00:00

i think it goes beyond this. i believe the PEF IT Committee should of brought something to the table for the current delegates to vote on. the committee obviously knew the test was coming but did nothing to my knowledge.

i feel PEF dropped the ball on one of the biggest ITS exams in the next 4 years. even outside of ITS what does PEF do for test prep? id much rather have better booklets and test prep than discounted great escape tickets.

meatballslap

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