www.csea9200.com_Thank You for May 5 Attendance

On Wednesday, May 5^th, 2010, at the Westchester County Center, CSEA Unit 9200 held its monthly CSEA9200 General Membership meeting.
I would like to first thank the almost 800 CSEA members who sacrificed their evening to attend the meeting, and bringing the events of the evening back to their coworkers that could not attend. Also to the 5 CSEA members who spoke about their positions, work locations and CSEA membership.
Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino was invited to answer some questions and to speak to the membership. The questions that were asked were:

We believe that a good working relationship between the County Executive and CSEA is important to successfully move forward. Do you agree that a good working relationship is in the best interest of Westchester County and will you work with us to develop one?

We believe that a good working relationship is built on trust and that trust is fostered when both parties show respect by talking directly with the other party. We pledge to not talk about you or your administration or about differences between us in public before bringing those issues up directly to you. Will you pledge to do the same in showing respect for our organization and its leadership?

While no one can predict the exact depth of the present revenue problems, we do acknowledge that they exist and that it makes your job and our job difficult during this period. We pledge to look for ways to save the county funds while not damaging the quality of service to the citizens of Westchester County nor the wellbeing of our membership. Will you commit to entertain our ideas and discuss them with us in good faith?

In these tough economic times, are you aware of 54 new employees since January 1^st, including 14 non represented that are working on the 9^th floor? Also, will the proposed layoffs include these 54 new employees, other employees or only the CSEA members?

Are you going to lead by example? We have not heard or seen any indication of any cuts from the administration to “share” the burden of the proposed deficit. We have heard more than once that we “must be part of the solution”, but it seems as if we are the ONLY part of the solution

The responses and the entire meeting will be available on the CSEA website, www.csea9200.com.
After the County Executive left, we had a short wrap up union meeting, and the CSEA Executive Board heard concerns and ideas regarding the meeting and remarks made by the County Executive.
This was the first step; this meeting was not planned to ask Mr. Astorino the “hard” questions we already know the answers to, but to inform him that we are not going to open our contract, we are not going to negotiate in the media, and we are not going to be intimidated into giving up benefits it took us years to receive, with no guarantee that there will not be layoffs anyway.
We also asked the County Executive to commit to working with CSEA to eliminate any deficit Westchester County may have in the future years, starting with any retirement incentives that may encourage county employees to leave county service on their own (thus decreasing the workforce).
We hope to see as many CSEA 9200 members at our monthly meetings, which are held the first Tuesday of each month, to get the most recent information that affects all CSEA 9200 members.

Yours in Solidarity,
Karen Pecora
Karen Pecora, President, CSEA 9200