Thanks to all who signed the Fair Contract Petition!

Despite December 1 through 15th being the busiest two weeks of the semester, UUP was able to collect 364 signatures from members. These signatures come from every Professional unit and Academic department at the college and include

• Faculty Senate officers and college-wide committee chairs;
• UUP members who are also members of many influential community organizations;
• many award-winning faculty and staff of long service;
• and a number of more recently hired employees we hope to retain.

Everyone expressed full support for the cited proposals, and some cited their frustration with the hardships resulting from having to work without a contract.

On Monday, December 18th, Chapter President Joe Westbrook presented and discussed the petition with Campus President Erik Bitterbaum, reviewing the priority proposals that UUP has argued for during negotiations over the past year. Joe felt that everyone who signed the petition was speaking alongside him as he asked President Bitterbaum to urge Chancellor Johnson to support UUP’s reasonable proposals.

A fair contract will serve the interests of SUNY as well as UUP. At the end of their meeting, President Bitterbaum said he would tell the Chancellor that he supports a fair and equitable contract for UUP when he sees her at an event  late in the week before Christmas.