Dear Colleagues,
Tomorrow, take a close look at your paycheck. You are about to see what collective bargaining looks like in dollars and cents. The first across the board salary increase of our new UUP agreement with New York State takes effect in the October 7 paycheck: 4.5%.
That is the largest across the board percentage increase UUP has negotiated in decades.
For some historical perspective, there were years when UUP members received no across the board salary increase at all. In 2011, 2012 and 2013, the across the board increase was 0%. That period also included the nine day Deficit Reduction Program, which took money out of members’ paychecks. In our 2016 to 2022 agreement, our annual across the board increases were 2%. Our most recent agreement began with 2% and then provided 3% increases.
Tomorrow: 4.5%.
That came from collective bargaining. UUP fought for it and negotiated it with New York State.
Abigail Cooke, one of our own, had the privilege of serving on our UUP Negotiations Team, and brought back firsthand how much work went into this agreement. The Negotiations Team spent over a year developing proposals, meeting, debating, researching, listening to members across SUNY and ultimately sitting across the bargaining table from New York State and fighting for the strongest agreement we could achieve for more than 42,000 UUP represented employees.
I especially want to recognize our Chief Negotiator, Bret Benjamin, whose leadership at the bargaining table guided us through an extraordinarily complex set of negotiations, and Jeremy Ginsburg, our negotiations legal counsel and NYSUT Staff Director for UUP. Jeremy’s tenacity was critical from the very beginning. He pushed relentlessly to get New York State to the table, kept pressing to move negotiations forward, and never allowed the State’s pace to determine ours. His persistence helped create the opportunity for our team to do the work we were chosen to do: bargain a strong agreement for our members.
And I want to recognize every member of our Negotiations Team. This was a true team effort. Behind every provision in this agreement were countless hours of research, discussion, drafting, debate, bargaining and determination.
A special acknowledgment goes to UUP President Fred Kowal. As we approached the finish line, Fred worked directly with Governor Kathy Hochul to resolve the final outstanding issues and get this agreement over the line. He also was able to get Kathy Hochul to fund the raises–rather than the campuses. Don’t let any administrator tell you differently!! We set an ambitious goal of completing a strong new agreement before our previous contract expired, and we accomplished it!
Tomorrow, you begin seeing the result. Eligible members will see the 4.5% increase reflected in their salary, along with the retroactive pay owed based upon their professional obligation and applicable effective date. And 4.5% is only the beginning. Our agreement provides an across the board increase in every year of the five year contract:
4.5% in 2026
4% in 2027
3.5% in 2028
3% in 2029
3% in 2030
Compounded, those increases amount to approximately 19.3% over the life of the agreement.
The agreement goes far beyond the across the board raises. We won higher salary minimums, increased Retention Awards, a new Higher Education Differential, significant increases for our part time academics, reduced health insurance costs for thousands of members, stronger job security and due process protections, a new promotional pathway for Lecturers, expanded workplace flexibility, and groundbreaking protections addressing artificial intelligence.
Those gains were achieved at the bargaining table because UUP members stand together. There is a reason we bargain collectively. There is a reason we organize. There is a reason union membership matters.
Tomorrow, when you look at your paycheck and see that 4.5% increase, remember where it came from. We fought for it. We negotiated it. We won it together. That is the union difference.
In Solidarity,
In solidarity,
Kat
Kathleen M. Kielar
UUP Buffalo Center Chapter President