UUP delegates faced a daunting agenda at the union’s recent 2007 Fall Delegate Assembly in Buffalo. Delegates listened to reports from the officers summarizing the activities of both the union and University. They networked among their peers during the Academic and Professional delegates meetings. They attended committee sessions and debated resolutions on topics relevant to their careers, the academy and the union.

But each fall, delegates also get the chance to salute exceptional union members and outstanding SUNY undergraduates. Living up to the theme “Honoring Excellence,” UUP paid tribute to four of their own with the union’s Nina Mitchell Award for Distinguished Service and Outstanding UUP Active Retiree Award, and presented union scholarships to three deserving SUNY students.

Delegates were also able to pat themselves on the back for their exceptional advocacy efforts that led to the best SUNY budget in 15 years and a host of other legislative victories.

“UUP has never been in better shape,” UUP President William Scheuerman told the union’s nearly 300 delegates to the September assembly. “Working together, we are now recognized as the most effective public-sector union in New York state.”

Scheuerman pointed to UUP’s reputation for effectiveness in the Legislature, saying the union has become the chief advocate for SUNY, filling the vacuum left by a succession of different SUNY chancellors. The additional $160.7 million in this year’s state budget for SUNY is among UUP’s legislative success stories.

He also noted the achievement of pension equity for the thousands of UUPers enrolled in an Optional Retirement Program (ORP), culminating a six-year struggle for passage of the ORP equity bill. ORP members will no longer be contributing 3 percent of their salaries toward their pensions after 10 years of SUNY service and ORP participation, following a three-year phase-in period. Participants in the Teachers’ and Employees’ retirement systems got this benefit in 2000.

Calling it “the toughest battle we’ve ever faced,” Scheuerman proudly said UUP’s extensive efforts to stave off the privatization of SUNY Upstate Medical University (UMU) in Syracuse worked. He said UUP, with the assistance of NYSUT, convinced the governor to approve an affiliation agreement between UMU and neighboring Crouse Hospital that conforms to the requirements of the Berger Commission.

The Friday night dinner program featured an extensive menu of awards to deserving UUP members. Longtime union activists Gregory Auleta of Oswego, Albert Ermanovics of SUNY Buffalo and Robert Reganse of Farmingdale each received the Nina Mitchell Award for Distinguished Service. This award for exemplary service to the union and University is named after the late Nina Mitchell of Brooklyn HSC.

Judith Wishnia of SUNY Stony Brook, chair of the statewide Committee on Active Retired Membership, was honored as the Outstanding UUP Active Retiree for 2007. The award recognizes UUP retirees who have rendered outstanding volunteer service to their community and have provided exemplary service to UUP and to SUNY after retirement.

Additionally, three SUNY students — Elizabeth Gray of UAlbany, Selena Hill of Old Westbury and Allison Rent of Oswego — were each awarded $2,000 scholarships from the UUP College Scholarship Trust Fund.

Check out the online issue of the October Voice at www.uupinfo.org for more on the award recipients.

UUP Vice President for Professionals John Marino opened up the floor to professional delegates, and there was no shortage of issues. Among them: the need for timely evaluations; raises for professionals; compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act in regard to overtime; promotions; and job titles.

In response to a question from Warren Randall of SUNY Stony Brook, Marino said UUP is working hard to ensure that state employees promoted into the UUP bargaining unit maintain employment security and achieve permanent appointment in a timely manner.

In addition to a resolution condemning Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for disbanding the campus Faculty Senate, which was discussed during the Academics Delegates Meeting (see related story at right), delegates took the following actions:

• Reaffirmed their support for the principle of gender equity. This action was prompted by a federal class-action discrimination lawsuit that alleges Adelphi University unfairly pays its full-time female professors less than their male counterparts doing the

same work. The resolution, which was submitted by the Women’s Rights and Concerns Committee, was adopted by acclamation.

• Adopted two joint resolutions from the Solidarity and Labor and Higher Education committees. The first calls on UUP to support passage of the federal Employee Free Choice Act. The second encourages UUP members to back the Iraq moratorium by hosting anti-war activities on campuses the third Friday of every month, and to attend the Oct. 27 U.S. Labor Against the War demonstration in New York City.

• Adopted a resolution, submitted by the union’s Task Force on Emerging Issues of Diversity, calling on lawmakers to fully fund the SUNY Office for Diversity and Educational Equity. The resolution asks that a minimum of $15 million be added to the SUNY budget, along with ongoing increases, to fully meet the diversity and educational needs of people in protected classes.

Three other resolutions submitted by the task force were adopted: The first calls on UUP to condemn the acts of censorship and restrictions on intellectual freedom on the people of Burma, by that government’s restricting access to information networks and the Internet. The second urges unionists to voice their consternation at the legal system in Jena, La., where the judicial process unfairly serves the African-American community and fails to hold the white community accountable for verbal intimidation and physical assaults. The third calls on PBS executives to acknowledge in future programming the true contributions of Hispanics and Native Americans in World War II.

• Passed a resolution submitted by the HSC Concerns Committee commending the tireless efforts of the UUP and NYSUT leadership to keep Upstate Medical University within SUNY. The resolution also called on UUP to continue to monitor and advocate “for the heart of the University’s health science centers” and the SUNY teaching hospitals at Brooklyn, Stony Brook and Syracuse.

• Honored outgoing Elections and Credentials Committee Chair David Kreh of Cortland on his 25 years of committee and union service. A resolution by acclamation thanked Kreh for his integrity, impartiality and guardianship of open and democratic elections.

Kreh was given a framed resolution outlining his achievements, as well as a mounted microphone proclaiming, “Kreh, Cortland” as he was wont to say prior to uttering his final credentials report at each DA.

• Thanked former UUP staffers Thomas Kriger and Darryl McGrath for their dedication, loyalty and invaluable contributions to the union. Kriger accepted a policy position in the SUNY budget office; McGrath is now a UUP member working as a part-time instructor at UAlbany and is also employed as a part-time writer for NYSUT.

— Karen L. Mattison, with staff reports