PEF President Kenneth Brynien raised the threat of legal action against Gov. David Paterson over the withholding of the raises in the budget extender just now.

“If the governor witholds state employee raises, that is a violation of our contract,” said Brynien.

“The New York State Public Employees Federation will hold the state accountable.”

“We will take every action necessary to ensure our members get their negotiated raises,” he said – adding, as his CSEA counterparts did, that he’s met with Paterson to discuss the budget yesterday, in which he said he “reminded” the governor of other budget solutions the union has made before.