NEW YORK April 6, 2014 – Karen Magee, a veteran elementary and special education teacher from Harrison, is the new president of the 600,000-member New York State United Teachers. Magee and her slate of officers were elected by a majority of the nearly 3,000 NYSUT delegates who voted Saturday at the union’s annual Representative Assembly in New York City.

Magee is the first woman to serve as NYSUT president, succeeding Richard C. Iannuzzi, the union’s president since April 2005. A teacher for nearly 30 years and a longtime leader of the Harrison Association of Teachers, Magee was elected to a three-year term to lead the state’s largest union.

• For more information: NYSUT Officers and Board of Directors

NYSUT delegates re-elected Andrew Pallotta as executive vice president and voted for two new vice presidents: Catalina Fortino, UFT vice president for education and director of the United Federation of Teachers’ Teacher Center, and Paul Pecorale, a special education teacher in Patchogue-Medford and president of the Patchogue-Medford Congress of Teachers. Martin Messner, a health and physical education teacher in Schoharie and president of the Schoharie Teachers’ Association, was elected secretary-treasurer. Delegates also elected members of the union’s Board of Directors.

“Our team stands for change and our work begins now,” said Magee. “That includes taking on the tough fights and communicating clearly with decision makers at every level. We will be the voice they cannot ignore. We will defend public education and public service. Period.” In the weeks ahead, she and her team of officers will travel the state to call on “each and every member to BE the union, as we unite for change.”

“This election has revitalized NYSUT,” Magee said. “The record-breaking participation in this election shows how deeply our members care about their union. This commitment and passion will carry us forward into a new generation of activism.” She thanked Iannuzzi and the other outgoing officers for “their many years of tireless dedication to NYSUT and the labor movement,” and said she was confident members would now unite in common cause.

Magee is a member of the NYSUT Board of Directors and its Policy Council. She is an elected representative to the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System. For more than a decade, Magee has served as an officer of the Westchester/Putnam Central Labor Body, AFL-CIO and was the first woman to receive the WPCLB Labor Award.

New York State United Teachers is a statewide union with more than 600,000 members in education, human services and health care. NYSUT is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association and the AFL-CIO.

Caption: Left to right: Martin Messner, Secretary-Treasurer; Catalina Fortino, Vice President; Karen Magee, President; Andrew Pallotta, Executive Vice President; Paul Pecorale, Vice President.

Source: NYSUT Media Relations

At the recent membership meeting on April 2, 2014, UUP Fredonia Chapter’s 2014-2015 budget has been approved by the members who attended in person. We thank those members who attended. For more information about the budget, please click on the Budget option on the menu bar.

Labor-Management Meeting Notes
December 4, 2013, 10:30 am-12:00 pm
Compiled by Bruce Simon

Present: Ziya Arnavut, Terry Brown, Michael Daley, Stephen Kershnar, Bruce Simon, Tara Singer-Blumberg, Idalia Torres, Jefferson Westwood, Junaid Zubairi.
Absent: Virginia Horvath [injury]

1. October 7, 2013 LM Minutes: Approved pending small clarifications and corrections in #5, #6, #11b. Issues around searches and procedures for policy revisions explored informally.

2. HARP Procedure Clarification: What happens if someone does not attend a deliberation? Since the goal is to encourage deliberation, meetings should be scheduled to allow for maximum participation, but if someone can’t attend, they are not eligible to vote, unless departments create and approve their own modification to this “default” understanding.

3. Buildings/UUP Office: We discussed possible locations in Jewett, Houghton, and Fenton for a relocated UUP office in light of construction, renovation, and other office moves. Director Daley will develop a timeline for decision-making.

4. Contingent Employee Issues:

a. Floor/Titles: Where is management’s evaluation/decision-making process regarding UUP EB proposals at? Provost Brown explained that she is committed to making the university-wide floor/minimum wage for part-time faculty concept work and continues to research current and optimum costs of instruction, possible funding models, and effects of any changes on compensation and ranks on the current Fredonia budget deficit. This research involves tracking enrollment and retention data, class sizes, course offerings, staffing of courses, and the number of adjuncts on campus, as well as tenure-stream and contingent faculty teaching loads, release time, average numbers of students taught by different ranks, and possible compensation rates that are competitive, appropriate to the work being done, and able to reward quality work. It also involves comparing us to national and SUNY data (by institution and program), examining proposed guidelines on class sizes and student credit hours per faculty member from various organizations, and the Delaware Study on cost of instruction. As a result, she can’t imagine bringing a coherent, comprehensive proposal to Cabinet this academic year. She has already integrated tenure-stream and contingent costs by department into a single spreadsheet for each department. She envisions a new funding model aligned with a new compensation model and with a new titling model, synchronized with HARP revisions. Not in 6 months, but she’s willing to make tough choices.

Brief discussion of external funding sources and advocacy strategies ensued, to be followed up offline.

b. Data Request: How far back can we track our use of contingent academic and professional labor (i.e., all faculty not eligible for continuing appointment and professionals not eligible for permanent appointment). Is it possible to break the data down by appointment type (full-time contingent, part-time contingent) and by semester? Director Daley informed the group that the migration of systems lost us some data, but Diane Howard is trying to merge two databases to track title, salary, appointment status, and changes of status, working backward from recent semesters. LRS Singer-Blumberg will ask UUP to study the issue, too. Part of the problem is that SUNY System Admin shares data with UUP and with SUNY campuses on different schedules.

Know Your Contract Workshop was held at SUNY Fredonia.  The question and answer workshop was attended by 84 Fredonia UUP members.  Presenters were Fred Kowal, Jamie Dangler, Philippe Abraham, and Tara Singer-Blumberg.

Here are some questions from Workshop:

Q: What is used to calculate Dependent Care Advantage/Flexible Spending Accounts?
A: Base salary (available to all full-time and part-time employees).

Q: DSA background?
A: Different from any previous contract–not added to base; campuses required to distribute $ to part-timers.
President Horvath will share exact amounts to be distributed to full-timers and part-timers with Ziya and Tara today; campus President’s decision, UUP role is to consult when requested and to act as watch dog. President Horvath did consult with UUP in Labor Management; no one perspective stood out when we took a survey, so we didn’t advocate a particular method. Management will certify to UUP who got what.

You can find the rest of the questions on Workshop document in this link : Know Your Contract Workshop 2013

President: Ziya Arnavut

VP for Academics: Cynthia Smith

VP for Professionals: Idalia Torres

Secretary:   John Staples

Treasurer: Derrik Decker

Grievance Chair for Academics:  Stephen Kershnar

Grievance Chair for Professionals: Jefferson Westwood

Membership Development Officer:  Sandra Lewis

Officer for Contingents: Bruce Simon

Affirmative Action Officer: Junaid Zubairi

Amenities Officer: Melissa Sidor

Academic Delegates:  Ziya Arnavut, Cynthia Smith, Thomas Morrissey, Gerda Morrissey, Mac Nelson, Joy Bilharz,  Derrick Decker, Gurmukh Singh, Junaid Zubairi, Meral Arnavut

Professional Delegates: Idalia Torres, Michael Gerholdt, Sandra Lewis

United University Professions (UUP, Local 2190 of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO) is the union which represents the faculty and professional staff at the state-operated campuses of the State University of New York.UUP is the largest higher education union in the United States with over 30,000 members. UUP is affiliated with the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), with the National Education Association (NEA), and with the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). UUP negotiates agreements on behalf of its members with the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations and with SUNY.

The Fredonia Chapter of UUP represents the roughly 625 academics and professionals employed by the State University College of New York at Fredonia. UUP goals and activities include:

• Achieving improvements in salary, fringe benefits, working conditions and retirement programs
• Providing funding for professional growth and development through leaves, awards, conferences and other grant programs
• Obtaining state resources for the state university through effective legislative and political action
• Enhancing and preserving the quality of the university
• Providing information on labor unions, state work force and bargaining issues, higher education reform, college faculty concerns, and a variety of higher education topics