OMCE M/C Salary Restoration Campaign Activities

In November 2008, with the State facing perilous fiscal times and the Governor having already imposed severe limits on spending by agencies, as well as a hiring freeze, Governor Paterson met with leaders of the State’s major public employee labor organizations, including OMCE President Barbara Zaron, and invited the leaders as representatives collectively of the major stakeholders (i.e. State employees) to present him with their proposals for addressing the budget crunch.  In response, OMCE developed and submitted proposals (View ►►OMCE Proposals for Budget Savings Measures View ►► Additional Proposals for Budget Savings Measures), which included a novel succession planning proposal (View ►►Succession Planning Incentive), and initiated an ongoing dialogue with the Administration, which continues today and is described below.

OMCE M/C Pay Lawsuit - Barbara Zaron, president of OMCE (Organization of NYS Management/ Confidential Employees), an affiliate of OPEIU, Local 153, AFL-CIO, today (8/25/10) announced the filing of a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District against the Paterson administration for the withholding of salary increases and other compensation authorized in statute from OMCE members, effective April 1, 2009 and April 1, 2010.  “An attack on one of us is an attack on all OMCE members,” Zaron said, noting that no other State employees . . . read more ►►

Lawsuit Updates:

9/16/10  We filed our complaint on August 20, 2010. The case has been referred to the NYS Attorney General's Office, which will be defending the matter for all named defendants. Currently, a response date is scheduled for mid-October when the Attorney General's Office is required to submit an answer to our complaint or a motion to dismiss the matter in its entirety. While this target response date is subject to change with judicial approval, our legal team continues to prepare for our next steps once either an answer or motion to dismiss is received. A copy of the complaint itself, without the plaintiffs' affidavits, can be viewed here ►►

10/13/10  In our last update (9/6/10), we had advised that the Attorney General's Office, which is representing the State, was scheduled to submit an answer to our complaint, or file a motion to dismiss it in its entirety, in mid-October. The Attorney General's Office has asked for additional time to respond, moving the expected response date to the end of October. Meanwhile, our legal team continues to prepare for our next steps once the State's response or motion to dismiss is received.

10/25/10  The State has responded to our complaint. We are reviewing the response with our lawyers and discussing our response strategy.

11/30/10  On November 24th we received a revised motion to dismiss our pay raise lawsuit from the New York State Attorney General's Office. Our attorneys are currently reviewing the motion and are drafting a response to be submitted to the United States District Court, Northern District of New York, on December 20, 2010.

12/21/10  On December 20th, we filed our response in US District Court, Northern District of New York, to the latest motion by the NYS Attorney General's Office asking the court to dismiss our pay raise lawsuit. The Attorney General’s Office has asked for an extension to January 10 to file a response to our December 20 memorandum of law submission. That will complete all of the filings necessary for the court to conduct its review of the arguments in the case. We will post additional updates here as developments occur.

1/14/11  The State has met the January 10 deadline set by the US District Court, Northern District of New York, for submission of its response to our December 20 memorandum of law submission, again asking the court to dismiss our pay raise lawsuit. This completes all of the filings necessary for the court to conduct its review of the arguments presented in the case. We will post additional updates here as developments occur.  

OMCE Advocacy Program - advertising and public relations campaign advocating for fair treatment of M/Cs and restoration of the M/C salary withholding

View ►►2/16/10 News Release - OMCE Testifies at Legislative Budget Hearing on 2010-11 Executive Budget

View ►►OMCE Advertisement* - published in the Labor Day issue of the Legislative Gazette

*.pdf file - requires Acrobat Reader (Get here).

View ►►Article in the The Capitol - Confidential Employees Say Paterson Has Breached Agreement, And Trust

View ►►Article in The Chief - State M/C Workers Decry Wage Stall, Urge Pay Lag

View ►►OMCE Radio Spot aired on WGDJ Talk 1300 Albany - ►Click Here to Listen / ►View Text

OMCE Rally for a Fair Shake, The Well of the Legislative Office Building, Albany - December 8, 2009    

OMCE Legislative Strategy - Meetings with the leadership; correspondence to legislators

            View ►►April 9, 2010 Letter to Speaker Silver urging adoption of OMCE Pay Restoration Proposal in 2010-11 Budget

            View ►►April 9, 2010 Letter to Senator Sampson urging adoption of OMCE Pay Restoration Proposal in 2010-11 Budget

            URGENT Write Governor/Legislators: Fund M/C Pay in 2010-11 Budget - Click Here ►►ACTION LINE

            View ►►OMCE President Zaron's Testimony at 2/10/10 Joint Legislative Hearing on 2010-11 Executive Budget

            View ►►September 2009 Advocacy letter to Senators and Assemblymembers

            View ►►Legislative Leaders and Committee Chairs Contact Information

            View ►►Legislative Committees Hearings: OMCE Testimony re Governor's FY 2009-2010 Deficit Reduction Plan

            View ►►OMCE Message emailed to all State Legislators during their 11/10/09 session in Albany

OMCE Correspondence with the Administration concerning the M/C salary withholding, including suggested savings alternatives.

            View ►►4/29/09, to Budget Director Laura Anglin and Director of State Operations Dennis Whalen - reiterates OMCE support for a rolling pay lag as an alternative to layoffs and the M/C salary withholding and details member savings suggestions obtained via OMCE's savings4ny email solicitation.

            View ►►8/3/09, to Governor Paterson - takes issue with the Governor's salary withholding action and demands equitable pay treatment for MC employees.

            View ►►8/11/09, to new Budget Director Robert Megna - reiterates our alternatives savings proposals and salary restoration demands.

            View ►►Enclosure with 8/11/09 letter to Mr. Megna* - chart depicting effects of M/C salary withholding by salary grade and pay status.

*.xls file - requires MS Excel (best viewed in print preview setting - displays header and footer information).

            View ►►8/21/09, to new Director of State Operations Valerie Grey - follow-up to 8/13/09 meeting with Ms. Grey and her staff, thanking them for their courtesy and providing additional information.

            View ►►9/4/09, to Governor Paterson - restates the need to treat M/C employees equitably and reiterates our lag pay proposal as a realistic savings alternative to the M/C salary withholding.

            View ►►April 9, 2010 Letter to Governor Paterson urging adoption of OMCE Pay Restoration Proposal in 2010-11 Budget

            View ►►June 3, 2010 Letter to Governor Paterson: Time to restore M/C salary increases is now!

            View ►►January 4, 2011 Letter to Governor Cuomo offering to work with the Administration and noting that M/C employees already have endured a wage freeze.

            View ►►January 14, 2011 Letter to Governor Cuomo re State Police raises and pointing out the inequity of M/C salaries compared with the bargaining units.

OMCE Member Direct Mail Campaign - inform members of our efforts toward restoration of the 2009-10 M/C salary withholdings and spur them to action, putting pressure on the Governor and the Legislature.

            View ►►September 2009 Letter to Senator Skelos and Speaker Silver

            View ►►August 2009 Letter to OMCE Members

Get Active letters for members to edit and email to Governor and their Legislators - online, web-based advocacy campaigns (via OMCE website) enabling M/C employees to edit and send automated emails to the Governor (and their legislators) objecting to the M/C pay cuts and urging adoption of OMCE’s suggestions for alternative ways to achieve savings.

            View ►►Restoration of M/C Pay Cuts - Urge Your Legislator to Intervene (Posted 8/20/09 - 4/1/2010)

            View ►►Urge Governor to Adopt OMCE's M/C Pay Cut Restoration Proposals (Posted 8/20/09 - 4/1/2010) 

View ►►Write Governor Objecting to his Treatment of M/Cs (Posted 6/23/09) 

            View ►►Write Governor Objecting to M/C Pay Cuts (Posted 4/6/09) 

            View ►►Reject Budget Proposals Targeting State Employees (Posted 1/22/09)

OMCE: Here are the Facts - an online posting on the website NEWS page that sets the record straight.

            View ►►OMCE: Here are the Facts (Posted 4/16/09)

MCs Deserve a Fair Shake - lists a series of spending actions taken since withholding of the M/C pay raises.  Simply put: "If there is money to pay everyone else, why isn't there money to pay M/Cs?

            View ►►M/Cs say: We Deserve a Fair Shake!

Website NEWS page postings - updates (usually weekly) from 2/5/09 to present, describing our efforts at restoration of the M/C salary and vacation exchange withholdings.

            View ►►Click Here to view the updates, starting with the 2/5/09 posting (OMCE Testifies at Legislative Budget Hearing) and scrolling up to the present.

savings4ny@gmail.com - dedicated OMCE email address established for receipt of cost savings ideas and suggestions in furtherance of our pursuit of alternatives to the M/C salary withholdings.