Governor Hochul Delivers Remarks at the New York State Public Employees Federation 43rd Annual Convention

Earlier this morning, Governor Hochul delivered remarks at the New York State Public Employees Federation 43rd Annual Convention.

VIDEO of the Governor's remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.

PHOTOS are available on the Governor's Flickr here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Thank you. Good morning, fellow public servants. I'm so honored to be in your presence this morning. And first of all, to Wayne, and I know this is deeply emotional, because you care so deeply about your members and the loss of any, even one diminishes the rest of us. So that's just a tribute to who you are. Showing emotion is a sign of strength, in my opinion, that means you're a true human being.

And that's what we're going to do, is continue to bring true human beings to government and our leaders. And I want to thank you for all you've done for us, Wayne. And congratulations on your reelection. Obviously, these people have their faith in you as do I. Locally here, I want to recognize someone who I'm very close to as well. The head of our Western New York area Labor Federation. Peter D Jesus. I want to thank him for everything he's done for us. Leading Western New York through some challenging times as well.

Michelle's Silsbee our PATH region one coordinator. Michelle, let's give it up for her. And Stephanie McLean Bakely I want to thank her for being here, supporting us, and Rabbi Alan Frankie for the invitation. So let's get started. Your leader mentioned that you don't usually see a governor coming to these events, but you've never before seen a governor who has worked her way up from local government, had the privilege to represent thousands of public sector workers over my time as a local government official, then as a county clerk and I, more than anyone, have seen the kind of individuals who are drawn to this work. All of you, you're professionals, you could have gone anywhere. And the private sector might be dangling more perks and benefits, and even more pay, sometimes let's fix that.

But, but there's something in the heart of a public servant that says, "I want to do something for my fellow human beings." And that's why you're in these rooms. And that's why you're in all the places I've gone to. And I know how hard it is, because sometimes people on the outside are not exactly complimentary of our public sector workers. And I have stood up for them, whether I walk into a DMV when I was county clerk, and I said, "These are good people. They're here to serve. You. Treat them with respect." And I didn't see enough of that. And I'll always stand up for the workers of this state and our local governments, because you do deserve, deserve respect.

You know, when I was county clerk, I used to go out there and these people, they got so abused in the county clerk's office. So many times you go to a DMV and you're just cranky to start, right. You don't really want to be there. And you're afraid of a long line. And I would tell my incredible team, I said, just remember you are the face of government to these people. Oftentimes their only experience is negative.

They think of government, they have to pay their taxes or they have to come to a DMV, but how you treat them and treat each other in front of them can really signal a sea change in people's attitudes about all of you and your fellow workers.

And I'm taking that experience to my position as your Governor. We are changing the culture and later on today, you'll see a letter that's coming out from me. I was just making the final edits as I was sitting in the car on the way over. I am committed to changing the work force culture in state government.

It will be one of respect. It will be one of trust. It will be one of respecting each other's diversity. It'll be a place that people want to work again - a sense of positivity, a sense of a can-do spirit, particularly now, more than ever. We have the power to lift people up after this pandemic. And I will tell you, I'll go to my grave and all what I saw you do for the last 18, 19 months.

I was out there at Aqueduct watching people with such a positive attitude - and where's the team of people who are at Aqueduct? Thank you, you are awesome. No one wants to be there getting their vaccination it's stressful, but they almost made it a party atmosphere. These were your members out there making people as they're giving back. I also went to Wadsworth.

I walked the halls during the pandemic and I could not get over the, the first of all, the long hours that were being put in, people were tired, but they never showed it. They told me that what they were doing for months and months and months, and never got a pat on the back. And they're the ones who literally saved people's lives in our state.

They didn't get the gratitude and respect they deserved. I have been all over the state and it appalls me that there has not been that recognition, that simple "thank you" for what you did before and even during a pandemic. Well, that's changing right here and right now. It's changing with a whole new attitude of gratitude from me and my administration to all of you and your thousands of members in every walk of life.

And also think about people like our corrections officers, what they had to do during this. They couldn't phone it in. They couldn't work remotely. They showed up day after day in really stressful circumstances on a good day. But during a pandemic, you don't know that the person you're taking care of and, and watching and doing your shift with is going to give you a deadly virus that you'll then take home to your family.

So many of you- and our nurses, and all our SUNY hospitals, and all our health care workers. You never knew what you were facing every day, but you still ran into that line of fire because you're bold, you're courageous and you're part of the New York state workforce. And I am so proud of what you did. I'm so proud of what you did.

You were incredible and shame on us if we don't respect it and acknowledge that every day of our lives. So I did a few things, been governor less than two months, or maybe right about two months, I don't know I lost count. First of all, we lift the hiring freeze. I said, who thinks of a hiring freeze during a pandemic?

First of all, we lift the hiring freeze. I said, who thinks of a hiring freeze during a pandemic? That's when we need our workers the most. We need you to show up, we need you to be there because the people of New York needed our services more than ever. We lifted the hiring freeze. And I know we have so much more to do to fill thousands of vacant positions and how we attract people who want to be part of this.

I was inspired to go into public service as a child watching John F. Kennedy's speech. And I was really little, but I watched it later. Don't ask what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country? That to me is the foundation of public service. I want to know from you and Wayne and others what I can do to make the next generation to be sitting here in future years. How we inspire them to want to be the nurses and the engineers and the corrections officers and the people who did incredible things throughout this pandemic. I want them to be filling the halls and saying, I want to apply. I want to be a part of this.

This is an army of people who are doing good. We have to get more young people to want to go into these careers or people, not necessarily young, but who've been displaced from their other jobs that he thought would be there forever, but the pandemic took it away. We have to open those doors to more members.

And how about just doing thankless things like getting the civil service exams back up and running? I mean, how many times was I able to pick people, top talented people, top caliber of individuals, who apply for the job? It was always tough because everybody who applied wanted to do good and they had incredible backgrounds. So let's open up those doors.

Also very happy that we constructed a deal with PEF and CSCA to make sure that we paid our SUNY nurses what they deserved. Long overdue, long overdue. I'm just here to say my friends, we're just getting warmed up. We are just getting warmed up and at the end of my term, my terms, as your governor, at the end of my terms, I want everyone to say that we change people's attitudes about their government. They trusted their government, but I am not the government. You are the government. You are the government of the State of New York. And I thank you for being part of my family, the family of New York, and for all you've done in the past and will continue to do in the future.

So, as I said, just getting warmed up, Wayne, look forward to seeing you many, many times. We're going to do this together. And again, I am so proud to call you my colleagues, my partner in government. Thank you very much.