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UUP’s efforts to secure competitive pay raises and to hold the line on benefits are two key reasons union members overwhelmingly ratified a new four-year contract with New York state.
The agreement was ratified in mid-March, with 97.5 percent of the members who cast ballots approving the contract. That set a record for the highest approval rate in UUP history, besting the 96.6 percent approval rate for the union’s previous contract in 2004. The American Arbitration Association conducted and tallied the ratification vote.
A total of 10,297 UUP members voted to ratify the new contract, while 249 voted against it. Thirty-three ballots were declared invalid.
"Our goal was to reach a fair and equitable contract for all our members – academic and professional, full-time and part-time," UUP President Phillip Smith said. "The favorable vote is a clear indication our members agree that this is a good contract that addresses their needs. We can all be pleased with this hard-won victory."
Smith said the contract will also help SUNY become one of the finest public higher education institutions in the nation, a goal cited by the governor’s Commission on Higher Education.
"The competitive salaries and strong benefits contained in this contract will help attract and retain top-quality faculty," Smith said.
The ratification caps a two-year process that began with a suggestion form mailed to all members and a listening tour that included stops at every chapter to gauge members’ concerns. Academic and professional representatives from each of UUP’s 33 chapters were appointed to form the union’s Negotiations Committee.
The Negotiations Team, headed by Vice President for Academics Frederick Floss, recently concluded another round of chapter visits to explain the tentative agreement and to answer any questions before the vote.
"The concerns we heard from our members guided us toward reaching a pact that responded to their needs," Floss said.
Smith and Floss thanked both the Negotiations Committee and Team for their dedication and hard work in shaping the framework of the contract.
The new agreement runs from July 2, 2007, to July 1, 2011. It calls for salary increases in each year of:
- 3 percent, retroactive to July 1, 2007
- 3 percent, beginning in July 1, 2008
- 3 percent, beginning in July 1, 2009
- 4 percent, beginning in July 1, 2010
The pact features other benefits, including:
- A one-time $500 salary advance to employees who will receive permanent or continuing appointments, or a second, five-year appointment on their respective campuses during each year of the contract;
- A lump-sum $500 payment to part-time employees who have worked at least eight consecutive years at their current campus;
- Location stipends increasing up to $3,026 for employees in the downstate area and up to $1,513 for employees in the Mid-Hudson region;
- Discretionary salary increases of
1 percent in each year; and
- A $200 contribution per eligible employee by the end of the contract to the UUP Benefit Trust Fund, which covers dental and vision benefits.
The contract holds off any percentage increase in the portion members pay toward their health insurance premiums, and calls for only small increases in co-pays.
The pay bill covering the added costs in the contract will be submitted by
Gov. David Paterson to the Legislature for approval, and then it will come back to the governor for his signature.
Once that process is completed, the state comptroller’s office will set dates to distribute retroactive paychecks and paychecks reflecting raises.
– Donald Feldstein