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NEW Surveillance Testing MOU
Date posted: July 7, 2021
Dear Colleagues,
I am pleased to announce that we have reached agreement with SUNY on an extension of the mandatory surveillance testing agreement which expired yesterday. The new agreement, which is attached, continues through December 31, 2021, and differs from the prior surveillance testing agreement in certain critical ways:
First, the agreement specifically provides that unvaccinated employees — or, more precisely, employees who choose not to voluntarily disclose vaccination status — will be tested on a weekly basis though the fall semester. In contrast, employees who voluntarily provide confirmation that they are fully vaccinated will be exempted from weekly testing. Fully-vaccinated employees may still be subject to less frequent surveillance testing, conducted on a sampling basis to monitor for possible breakthrough infections. The frequency of testing for fully vaccinated employees shall be established at the campus level after consultation with local UUP representatives.
Second, voluntarily disclosed vaccination information must be collected and retained on a confidential basis, in compliance with Americans with Disability Act (ADA) requirements which limit how medical information that is collected by and employer may be retains and used. Direct line supervisors are not permitted ask the employees they supervise about vaccination status.
Third, the agreement is clarified to recognize that employees who are either isolated or quarantined will be permitted to work from home to the extent possible and if this is not possible will, in the vast majority of cases, be able to stay move without charge to accruals.
The agreement strikes an important balance between continuing frequent surveillance testing of unvaccinated employees in order to rapidly identify employees who may become infected with COVID and significantly relaxing the frequency of testing for fully vaccinated individuals who the science continues to demonstrate are extremely unlikely to be infected with COVID.
The key to making our campuses and our communities safe is for everyone who can to get vaccinated. The vaccine is free, State law provides that employees must be provided with up to four hours paid leave per shot to be vaccinated on work time without charge to accruals. Finally, science continues to demonstrate that the vaccine are safe and effective. Though it is true that the FDA approval is such that the vaccines are still defined as “experimental,” UUP members surveyed have gotten vaccinated at rates approaching 90%. And it is expected that final approval for the vaccines by the FDA is imminent. I urge all UUP-represented employees who have not yet taken the opportunity to get vaccinated to do so as quickly as possible.
At Cortland, UUP is in consoltation with management to determine exactly what the testing process will look like in the fall.
In Solidarity,
Fred
Jaclyn Pittsley
Lecturer IV
English
UUP Cortland Chapter President
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PART-TIME LABOR-MANAGEMENT AGENDA TUESDAY, May 18, 2021
Date posted: May 13, 2021
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R.I.T.
Date posted: April 8, 2021
By Jo Schaffer, Officer for Retiees
No, RIT does not refer to a college located in Rochester nor is it a mistaken set of initials for RIP or RPI another college further east!
It refers to the common definition of a UUP active member as a RETIREE IN TRAINING. This is a term that comes from common usage that the UUP Committee (Retired Membership Governing Committee…formerly COARM) concerned with UUP Retiree issues has used for years. You might think that this UUP statewide committee, representing over 6500 active UUP retirees, is only concerned in enlarging and protecting retiree benefits. Not at all!
We are very concerned that you, as RITs, are aware and prepared for the years following your active service. If you think this is a premature concern, please remember that one of the most important documents you signed when you completed your first introduction to SUNY paper contract bureaucracy was your commitment to a retirement pension plan. Whether you committed to a state plan, such as ERS or TRS, or an ORP (other retirement plan) such as TIAA, or the others offered, you were considered to be an RIT.
I do hope you have taken the opportunity to participate in the frequently offered Retirement Information UUP ZOOM meetings hosted by Walter Apple, UUP’s Retiree Member Benefits Coordinator. It is never too soon to take advantage of Walter’s extensive knowledge in preparing for your eventual retirement. The UUP RMGC statewide committee offers not only regional but local campus sources of information. You can download from the UUP Webpage a great booklet, Organizing Your Vital Information, to put into an easily accessible format for you and your beneficiaries. Additionally, you should periodically update your UUP beneficiary information; it’s easy to do! I can relate sorry histories about some families’ beneficiaries that were not corrected or updated.
Advice from an old retiree: keep your dental work up to date while you are an insurance covered active member. Go into retirement with an appetite and a full set of working choppers.
And in the good news department: Every budget year, the governor tries to insert some anti-retiree issues. Every year, UUP actively fights to have them removed. As of April 1, the budget has not yet been approved but we have, I hope, kept the Standard Medicare Part B Reimbursement where the state provides full reimbursement of the standard premium to eligible state retirees; additionally, IRMAA will continue to reimburse additional premiums paid by higher income state retirees; and state employees retiring on or after October 1, 2021 will not have to contribute a higher care insurance premium. That is your union continuing to advocate on your behalf.
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