PEF Members:
Three years ago, in 2023, Governor Kathy Hochul pledged to commission a study to look into how State workers like you are compensated. PEF was among the loudest labor voices pushing for the data, because we believed then, and we still believe now, that the state needs to provide market-based salaries for its professional, technical and scientific workforce.
Nearly two years later, in 2025, the New York State Department of Civil Service finally selected a vendor to do the study which was slated to be completed on January 15, 2026. We are now being told it will be finished by July 15, 2026, more than three months after PEF’s contract expiration date of April 1, 2026.
As the PEF Contract Team travels around the State and meets with members, we are hearing loud and clear that affordability is a universal problem no matter where you live in New York or what job you work for the State. Everything is going up, except for wages. That is why it’s more important than ever that New York complete the compensation study and release the results.
Please join me in sending a letter to Gov. Hochul and NYS DCS Commissioner Timothy Hogues urging them to hold the vendor accountable for the contractual deadline to get this study done, and provide PEF and other State bargaining units with the data. We have made it very easy to send an email to them both, just like you do when advocating for PEF’s budget and legislative priorities. Click here to get started. These letters really do make a difference. They are logged and counted and truly serve as a way for elected officials to gauge what voters care about.
Thank you in a advance for your advocacy, and as always, thank you for serving New Yorkers.
In Unity
Wayne Spence
PEF President