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County Executive Rob Astorino will be
a guest speaker at the next CSEA Union meeting, at the County
Center, Wednesday, May 5, 2010. For those of you
that have not yet heard, he ran for office on a promise of no
tax hikes for 2011, and he also promised smaller County
government, layoffs, salary freezes, furloughs and changes to
health insurance. The County is in financial trouble and
Astorino is looking to the employees, (yes, YOU!), the little
guy, to close the budget gap.
If you think this will not affect you, if you think this is
not your problem, you are incorrect. If you think you are
untouchable, immune, above this, think again. Even if you are
not laid off you may be affected. You would be wise to look at
the Civil Service bumping rules to realize that you may be
bumped to other positions or other departments in ways that
you cannot imagine, and that nobody can predict until the
bumping is over. The last position you had, you'd better start
reminiscing about because you may be going back. Nobody is
immune and nobody is secure from this happening (D.A.'s
Office, County Clerk's - all included).
If you get laid off, bumped, are asked to take weeks or a
month or more off without pay (furlough), asked to contribute
more to your health care, informed that your raise will not be
coming for a year or maybe more, don't start wondering if you
should have taken this all seriously sooner. Once
it happens, it's too late. You will be standing on
the unemployment line, thinking that you should have
participated more and taken this all seriously, and maybe you
would have made a difference when you had the chance. Or
you'll be writing a check for a few hundred dollars to
contribute to your health insurance, thinking about the good
old days when your insurance cost you nothing. Or you'll be at
the last position you held, where you hated your boss, made
less and were so happy to leave there, and you'll wish you did
more when you could. You must take this seriously now!!!!
The first thing you should do is to be informed and show
Astorino you care. Bring your friends, bring your family,
attend the CSEA meeting at the County Center on Wednesday, May
5, and hear it direct from Astorino's mouth. Have a question
for him, that's your chance to ask it. Want Astorino to see
you and your family that will be affected by his budget cuts,
bring them out to meet him. If you can't get child care, bring
your kids. Bring your spouse, your elderly parent that you
care for, bring them all, because they will all be affected,
too.
If a large quantity of County
employees (and by the way, this means all employees, and not
just CSEA members) do not show up to hear Astorino speak, what
is the message? The message is that this does not matter.
If more employees show up to a picnic
at Playland in June than show up to hear Astorino speak, the
message is that picnics are more important to you than your
job. Guess what? When you are laid off there will be no
employee's picnic for you to attend so it won't matter anyway.
The
County Center, Wednesday, May 5, 2010 Make a Difference While
You Can!
5:30 PM sandwiches; meeting starts 6 PM
call (914)995-2151 or
kkp5@westchestergov.com
to book a spot and
sandwich |