Month: July 2021

Dear Colleagues:

On behalf of myself and UUP’s Chief Negotiator Bret Benjamin, I am pleased to announce UUP’s Negotiations Team for the upcoming round of contract negotiations.

I am grateful to each and every one of them for their willingness to serve. This is one of the most demanding and important volunteer positions in our union. The team will begin its official work next month, followed by a series of campus visits (both virtual and in-person) during the Fall semester to solicit member feedback on priorities for the coming round of negotiations.  As we move forward, expect to see a member survey as well as a dedicated area for 2022 negotiations on UUP’s website which will be updated on a regular basis.

Negotiations Team:

Bret Benjamin, Chair                               Albany Chapter
Redetha Abraham-Nichols                            Downstate Medical Center Chapter
Jennifer Drake                                     Cortland Chapter
Mindy Heath                                        Upstate Medical University Chapter
Shoshana Hershkowitz                               Stony Brook Chapter
Jude Jayatilleke                                   Buffalo State Chapter
Aaron Major                                        Albany Chapter
Pamela Malone                                      Empire State College Chapter
Jackie Pittsley                                    Cortland Chapter
Benita Roth                                        Binghamton Chapter
Idalia Torres                                      Fredonia Chapter
Bill Tusang                                        Cobleskill Chapter

In solidarity,
Fred

Colleagues,

As you know, UUP has launched a letter-writing campaign focused on advocating for key provisions to be included in the American Families Plan. This work is part of the ongoing joint efforts with our coalition partners that we met with last week during the Higher Education Labor Summit. If you haven’t already, please join me in sending a letter to New York’s congressional representatives here.

To increase awareness, UUP has developed a social media toolkit with graphics and sample posts that can be used to easily share the letter via personal and chapter social media pages. You can view that toolkit here.

Thank you for your continued support as we advocate for SUNY and public higher education at the federal level.

In Solidarity,
Fred

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:

Fall 2021 Surveillance Testing MOU

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.

Please circulate this widely to your members.

In Solidarity,
Fred

Dear Chapter Leaders,

 I have some good news. UUP received word from the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations (GOER) that the grace period for the Dependent Care Advantage Account (DCAA) 2020 plan year has been extended. This is a change that UUP and other state employee unions pressed for in an April meeting with GOER representatives.

 The current grace period ended March 31, 2021. Employees can now submit claims for expenses incurred between January 1, 2020 – September 15, 2021 for reimbursement from their 2020 DCAA. The grace period will temporarily expand the ability for employees to utilize any unused amounts in their 2020 DCAA that would normally be forfeited at the end of a plan year. The grace period is applicable for the DCAA only, as long as the employee had a DCAA as of December 31, 2020.

Employees also can seek reimbursement for children who turned 13 during the 2020 plan year from their 2020 DCAA.

The last day to submit DCAA claims is September 30, 2021 for expenses incurred through September 15, 2021.

GOER sent an email notifying all employees with a remaining 2020 DCAA balance, but please feel free to distribute this message to colleagues. Employees can e-mail fsa@goer.ny.gov or call WageWorks/Health Equity at 1-800-358-7202 with any questions about the grace period. Visit https://goer.ny.gov/dependent-care-advantage-account  to access the IRS guidelines of covered services.

Thank you,
Fred

Dear Chapter Leadership and Members,

We still have some open spots for this month’s Pre-Retirement Workshop on Tuesday and Thursday July 20^th and July 22nd from 12-1pm.  We split the workshop over two days so we could cover the items covered in an hour so it can be done at lunchtime. Part 1 deals with Medicare and trading in sick days to pay for health insurance and Part 2 deals with the available benefits such as Vision and Dental care that staying a member of the union provides. The Chair of the Retiree Membership Committee Charlie McAteer usually attends this session and will give you information on maintaining membership when you retiree and why it is important.  You may take these workshops as many times as you like as the information is rather complex especially with Medicare.  Also you can take these two workshops in any order as they don’t depend on each other, also next month we will be doing the workshops in the evening.  These Workshops have been very popular over the past year and we have had over 2,000 members attend and I encourage every member to attend, even new members so you understand the great benefits we have negioated for you over the past 45+ years. Walter Apple does a great job at running these workshops and is able to answer individual members questions.  We do not record these workshops because of privacy concerns and because the information does change and we want to make sure you have the most current instructions.  Let me know if you have any questions.

To register for the workshop use the below link:

https://forms.gle/45YM8aSKBc1EmYKu6

In Solidarity,
Tom

Tom Hoey
State Wide Membership Development Officer United University Professions
Cell 518-378-1474