This campaign is to remind the members of the Onondaga County Legislature that they cannot balance their budget gap on the CSEA Onondaga County work force. CSEA members will be watching very carefully to see how their Legislators vote on the final budget -- who supports Onondaga County employees and who scapegoats them.

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

As an Onondaga County employee, I am writing you to convey my extreme disappointment with how the County Executive and some County Legislators have chosen to treat our unionized County workers in this budget process.

It is not the responsibility of the workers to come up with savings to offset any budget gap. It is offensive how the County has targeted me and my co-workers for savings, saying that "everyone must share in the pain," under threats of illegal furloughs or wage freezes. Now, suddenly the Legislature "finds" the money to relieve taxpayers from the burden of a tax increase, yet no one seems to be motivated to "find" money to relieve us of the burden of work reductions or layoffs being demanded of us. This is politics at its worst.

With increased demands for public services and in this economy, now is not the time to reduce services or put dedicated workers out of work. We are already doing more with less, and further reductions will only have a negative impact on our services. These threats we are working under are only making matters and morale worse.

One year ago, my union negotiated a binding contract in good faith with the Mahoney administration, and you approved it. I do NOT want anyone making changes to that agreement. Although we are not responsible for the County's fiscal situation, we are not ignorant of it. That's why CSEA has stepped up to negotiate concessions over health insurance contributions in retirement, and why they offered an alternative prescription drug option that will save our County millions of dollars. So far, the County has ignored those savings options. How can you in good conscience ignore these savings, which could stop workers from losing jobs and services from being cut?

Please know that I am not only a County employee, but a resident, taxpayer and voter. I will be paying very close attention to how my elected representative votes on the budget, and who chooses to support me and my fellow workers, and who chooses to scapegoat us.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
October 05, 2009