Raga Justin reports for the Times Union that the Public Employees Federation, New York’s largest public sector union, voted late last week for a new three-year contract with three percent raises annually for thousands of employees. The promised raise will affect over 50,000 of the professional, scientific and technical state workers, including nurses, social workers, doctors, engineers, and parole officers that the union represents. The Public Employees Federation also secured 12 weeks of fully paid parental leave in the deal. Gov Kathy Hochul approved, saying, “This contract fairly compensates the hard-working members of the Public Employees Federation who provide critical expertise to benefit New Yorkers each day.... I’m grateful to (PEF President Wayne Spence) for his partnership to help get this agreement finalized and to ensure that New York workers' pay and benefits reflect their important contributions to our state.” A current shortage of employees and more than 26 percent of the state government workforce eligible for retirement within the next five years means many others could benefit from the contract, since the state will have many job openings. Read more about this story in the Times Union.