Author: Kathy Farrell

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Professional Development

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General

Telecommuting Agreement Extended to December 31, 2022

UUP has gotten the telecommuting agreement extended to December 31st, 2022. We continue to fight for it to be extended further as well as to get it into our next contract.

Categories
Professional Development

UUP/IDA Awards 2022-2023

New York State/United University Professions Joint Labor-Management Committee Individual Development Awards (IDA)

IDA awards are one way in which full or part-time employees can support their professional development/activities. Any member of the bargaining unit (faculty and professional employees) can apply.

We have not yet received our allocation for 2022-2023, but we know, contractually, that these awards will be available.

Because the UUP contract expired on 01 July, the program has been given a nine- month extension. Thus, our allocation will cover the period 01 July to 31 March. We expect to receive the precise number early in the fall.

We have divided the year into two cycles. Cycle #1 includes activities between 01 July and 14 November. Applications for funding of activities during that period are due by 01 November.

Cycle #2 includes activities between 15 November and 31 March. Applications for funding of activities during that period are due by 18 March.

After our committee reviews applications, we forward our recommendations to the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations (GOER) for final approval. Once applications are approved by GOER, applicants will receive email notification.

As per the guidelines provided by the UUP IDA Joint Labor-Management Committee website, proposed projects/activities, which support professional development, can include:

  • Basic, applied, or historical research
  • Curriculum or instructional material development
  • Workshop, seminar internship or course work not covered by the Tuition Assistance program or SUNY tuition waiver
  • Conference participation or attendance
  • Preparation of material for publication
  • Grant Proposal development
  • Artistic or creative endeavors
  • Other work-related professional/scholarly development projects or activities

Members of the chapter can apply for up to $1000/academic year for one project.

The exact dollar amount awarded will be determined based on the number of applications received. Please make sure that your application includes a detailed budget to be considered.

Please also note that IDA funds can be used to supplement funding already received through the SUNY Empire Faculty Development Fund or Professional Development Fund.

All applications will be reviewed soon after the application deadline date by the committee that has been appointed by both labor and management: John Beckem (co-chair), Alan Mandell (co-chair), Carl Burkart, Sherri Newell, Veronica O’Geen, and Brian Carolan. Stacey Turner supports the committee’s work.

All applications must be signed by the applicant and should be emailed to Stacey Turner (stacey.turner@esc.edu) (Note: The application does not require a dean/associate dean’s signature.)

Categories
General

Join UUP on Labor Day

Dear Colleagues,  

On Labor Day, Monday, September 5, working people across the country will celebrate the achievements of the labor movement. I’m writing to invite you to join UUP, the AFL-CIO, Central Labor Councils across New York State, and our coalition partners on Labor Day as we honor the hard work of our union colleagues and friends. This is an important show of solidarity, not only among UUP and its membership, but with the statewide labor movement.  

Additionally, on Saturday, Sept. 10, UUP will be participating in the nation’s largest Labor Day Parade in New York City!  

We urge you and your colleagues to join us—please share this information widely.  

Click HERE to register and find out more information about an event near you:  

Western New York: Labor Day Parade, Sept. 5
Capital District: BBQ Picnic and Celebration, Sept. 5
Syracuse, NY: NYS Fair Labor Day Parade, Sept. 5
Massena, NY: Labor Day Parade and Solidarity Celebration, Sept. 5
New York City: NYC Labor Day Parade, Sept. 10  

In solidarity,   Frederick E. Kowal, Ph.D. President United University Professions
Categories
Benefits Webinar

UUP Voluntary Benefits: AFLAC & Colonial

Join us on August 1, 2022 at Noon, to hear our representatives from AFLAC and Colonial explain the insurance benefits they can offer to our members as part of the voluntary benefits program they have arranged with the UUP Benefits Department.

This event will take place virtually via Microsoft Teams. Contact our chapter office at empire@uupmail.org for a link to the meeting.

AFLAC Supplemental Insurance
Colonial Voluntary Benefits
Categories
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion General

Join UUP SOUL Committee on June 30

Dear Colleagues,

For over 50 years, the month of June has been dedicated to honoring and commemorating members of the LGBTQ+ communities. Pride Month is an important time to celebrate, but it is also a time to consider the challenges still faced by LGBTQ+ people around the world.

On Thursday, June 30 at 12 PM, I invite you to join me and members of the UUP statewide Sexual Orientations United for Liberty (SOUL) Committee who will lead a meaningful discussion on WORDS MATTER: The Erasure of LGBTQ+ Lives. More than a dozen states have proposed the Don’t Say Gay bills that mirror the controversial Florida law, which bars discussion of gender identity or sexual orientation topics for students in kindergarten through third grade. Panelists will consider how such bills will impact the youth they target, and whether those bills rob students’ rights to freedom of speech and confidential health care.

Panelists include:

Kelly Keck: UUP SOUL Committee chair; UUP statewide Executive Board member; Delhi Chapter President

Jess Blake: EOP Counselor at SUNY Delhi; co-chair, SUNY Delhi Faculty & Staff of Color Association

Mattie Cerio: Social Worker, Upstate Medical University

Luca Jurich: LGBTQ Patient Services Coordinator, Upstate Medical University

Sean Massey: Associate Professor, Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Binghamton University; former Binghamton Chapter President

London Wright: Staff Therapist and Outreach Coordinator, LeMoyne College, Syracuse

We urge you and your colleagues to register in advance to attend this meaningful virtual event (see attached flyer).

We also encourage you to utilize the UUP Pride Month Social Media Toolkit by sharing the images on your personal and chapter’s social media outlets during the month of Pride and please consider displaying the UUP Pride virtual backgrounds while on meetings. Both resources were developed in coordination with the SOUL Committee.

Please share this information with your colleagues. I hope to see you on June 30 for this important discussion.

In solidarity,

Frederick E. Kowal, Ph.D.

President United University Professions

Categories
General

Negotiations Update 6/1/22

Dear Colleagues,

It’s official. Negotiations over our next contract with the State have begun. On Friday, May 27, the UUP Negotiations Team met with representatives from the State’s Office of Employee Relations, Department of Civil Service, Division of the Budget and SUNY to formally begin negotiations.  

At this first session we presented our package of conceptual proposals. These proposals were developed by the UUP Negotiation Team, based on the extensive member input we received, and approved by the UUP Negotiations Committee prior to their presentation to the State. These conceptual proposals outline a targeted but ambitious bargaining agenda that attempts to address the varied needs of a diverse bargaining unit. 

We have now posted the UUP 2022 Conceptual Proposals, along with our next Negotiations Bulletin, in Members Only on the UUP website.  Please share this information widely with your membership, keeping in mind that the information is posted to the Members Only section of the website to ensure that we are communicating directly and exclusively with our membership and not with SUNY management, the state, or members of the public. 

UUP Members may access the conceptual proposals and the bulletin at UUP | United University Professions (uupinfo.org) by clicking on “Members Only” on the Member drop down bar and following the directions in the ‘Members Only portal” for logging in. To log in members will need their UUP membership ID number, which can be found in the lower left-hand corner of their UUP membership card. Members will also need their UUP chapter code, which is listed on pay statements and in electronic payroll records as either their “department code”, “campus code”, or “agency code”. 

Additionally, we encourage all members who wish to learn more about UUP’s bargaining agenda to register for one of our upcoming virtual Town Hall sessions where Chief Negotiator, Bret Benjamin and Counsel to the President, Elizabeth Hough will present the conceptual proposals and answer questions. Town Halls will be held on June 8 at noon and 4pm, and June 9 at noon and 7pm.  Please register in advance, and sign up for only one session to allow as many members as possible an opportunity to participate.    

In solidarity,  

Fred Kowal, UUP President

Categories
Advocacy and Action General

NYSUT Statewide Member Organizing Institute, Summer 2022

Hey, NYSUT Members in New York State! We want YOU to be a part of the plan to build the strongest union in history. Join the NYSUT Member Organizing Institute. With attacks on public schools, colleges, and workers coming from both the state and federal level, it’s sometimes challenging to have your voice heard and to make a difference.  That’s why NYSUT founded the Member Organizing Institute. Launched in the summer of 2017, we are rapidly building our statewide network of member organizers who will take a leading role in the campaign to promote our members’ rights and fight for educational justice!

Program Requirements

Successful applicants should feel comfortable having one-to-one conversations with members of NYSUT at their homes (the work you do will be in the region where you live or work). These conversations aim to be deeply engaging and build a long-lasting relationship between members and their union.

The NYSUT Statewide Member Organizing Institute requires participants to commit to all aspects of the program.

In particular, all participants will be expected to:

  • Complete either 12 or 18 shifts (4 hours each) over the 12 week duration of the program.
  • Attend (1) one of (4) four multi day training sessions:
    • June 28 & 29, Rochester Regional Office, Rochester NY
    • July 5 & 6, Nassau NYSUT Regional Office, Long Island, NY
    • July 7 & 8, Sleepy Hollow Hotel & Conference Center, Tarrytown NY
    • July 8, 9, & 10, NYSUT Headquarters, Latham NY
  • Accept observation and constructive feedback from NYSUT Organizers.
  • Be comfortable with the basic navigation of a smartphone.
  • Be on their feet walking for most of their shift, including in inclement weather and after dark. Driving between houses may be required as well.
  • Because we will be visiting members at their home, participants must be vaccinated or provide weekly negative COVID tests.

Shifts & Compensation

Members accepted to participate in the NYSUT Member Organizing Institute will receive $25 an hour as well as reimbursement for mileage and tolls.

Apply Today

The deadline for applying to the NYSUT Member Organizing Institute is June 10, 2022.

Link to Apply: https://nysut.cc/moi2022

Questions?

Please email Megan O’Brien: Megan.OBrien@nysut.org

Categories
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion General Professional Development

NYS/UUP JLMC Professional Development Workshops

Professional development workshops are being offered by New York State/United University Professions Joint Labor-Management Committees (NYS/UUP JLMC).

All workshops will be held virtually via Zoom, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The application deadline is one week before the workshop.

Send the completed Workshop Application to nysuuplmc@oer.ny.gov.

For more information contact NYS/UUP JLMC:

Email: nysuuplmc@oer.ny.gov
Phone: 518.486.4666
Mail: Agency Building 2, 8th Fl
Empire State Plaza
Albany, NY 12223

The workshops and dates are listed below.

Workplace Civility

In this one-day workshop participants will acquire knowledge and awareness of the benefits of a positive, respectful workplace environment. Participants will, through a combination of facilitator presentation, small group discussion, and interactive exercises, acquire an understanding of how to contribute to a respectful, collegial, positive workplace and how to co-create the type of workplace that brings out the best in people so that they can flourish in their careers.

Dates:

May 17
May 20

Connect and Compromise: How to Navigate Workplace Conflict

In this workshop, you will learn to effectively manage conflict by building on the positive aspects of your communication style while balancing the personalities and preferences of your co-workers. Through interactive exercises and role-playing opportunities, you will deepen your understanding of functional communication and help others feel more supported at work. Upon conclusion of this training, you will gain the ability to re-frame responses and attitudes to resolve differences in a more collaborative manner because when people can honestly express their ideas and opinions, they feel more supported and satisfied in their work environment.

Dates

May 4, 2022
June 1, 2022

Developing the Leader Within

This one-day workshop is intended to provide participants with an opportunity to acquire knowledge about models of leadership and acquire insights about their own strengths and areas for development. Participants will gain knowledge of models of leadership, and they will be able to interactively reflect on their own leadership style and consider ways that they can leverage the strengths of their style, as well as to develop and refine areas that might be less familiar for them. Participants will learn about leadership as a process of influence, and they will learn about the different roles of a leader. After this workshop participants will be able to reflect and plan what
they want to work on as leaders within their organizations.

Dates:

May 10
May 24
June 14

Diversity: Learning How to Leverage Difference at Work

This one-day workshop will provide participants with the opportunity to learn about different models of diversity which include primary and secondary types of diversity. Participants will acquire awareness and understanding of a variety of dimensions of diversity including but not limited to demographics. Topics in this workshop include cross cultural diversity, generational diversity, education, social class, race, age, gender, religion, and other ways that diversity manifests and is also tacit in the workplace.
Participants will come away from this workshop with an increased level of sophistication about difference and they will acquire skills in recognizing and valuing diversity

Dates:

May 11
June 8
June 10

Global Cultural Diversity and Inclusion: Communicating Effectively in a World of Difference

In this survey-level workshop, participants will develop a practical understanding of the complexity of effective communication in organizational settings where they need to work every day with  colleagues, students, and other stakeholders who are culturally diverse and come from various international backgrounds and all walks of life. Participants will learn about the differences and  similarities in key national cultural systems represented in our increasingly global workplace. They will acquire skills in effective  communication including attentive listening, effective messaging, empathy, and ways to identify the meaning and intention of verbal and non-verbal communication with the purpose of creating a  meaningful sense of inclusion in the workplace. The participants will engage in several interactive critical incident analysis sessions in  which they can explore and evaluate their own communication  styles and take appropriate action for a meaningful intervention. They will also work on an action plan for ongoing refinement of their global communication skills and for sustaining an inclusive  productive relationship with key stakeholders. 

Dates:

May 13

Categories
Advocacy and Action Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Say Gay Anyway – Call To Action

This week in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his hateful and mislabeled Parental Rights in Education bill, also known as “Don’t Say Gay/Don’t Say Trans,” into law. AFT member and Manatee County kindergarten teacher Cory Bernaert felt its real-world effects even before the bill was signed.

As you well know, building relationships with our students is a vital part of our work. To build those relationships, we often talk about our lives and our shared experiences―spouses, kids, pets, what we did over the holidays and so on. This bill makes it nearly impossible for LGBTQIA+ educators and students alike to share and be who they are in their workplaces and schools. Cory is happily partnered, but if students ask what he did on the weekend, he can’t say he and his partner went paddleboarding. He can’t even explain what the word partner means. He can’t answer any questions about himself. His students who have LGBTQIA+ parents aren’t able to share their home life with their peers and their teacher. The safe and welcoming environment Cory has cultivated in his classroom has been put significantly at risk.

Like any educator, or American for that matter, has the right, Cory voiced his concerns. He spoke out eloquently against how this harmful legislation will impact his ability to teach and his students’ ability to learn. He was met almost immediately with abuse from some people on the right wing, who are trying to paint him as some monster. Fox News even included him by name in a segment attacking gay teachers. Anyone who knows Cory knows he is a gifted, wonderful teacher and human being.

Why are his detractors doing this? The same reason as DeSantis. They think fearmongering helps them politically. Cory is just one of many Floridians who have experienced these kinds of attacks since the bill has been put into effect. This abuse and bullying is hateful and threatens the safety and well-being of educators like Cory.

Educators are trusted as professionals who should be able to focus on teaching and creating an environment where all students feel safe to learn, thrive and recover from the disruptions of the pandemic. And rather than undermining LGBTQIA+ educators, politicians should be working to make sure our public schools are provided with the resources and supports they need, from academics to mental health services.

Parents and educators agree: We will not stand for this kind of hate and discrimination. That is why, in partnership with PFLAG, the AFT has started a petition to voice our strong opposition to DeSantis’ harmful bill that will affect one of the most important parts of teaching: the link between teachers and students. That is unacceptable, and we will continue to fight against it.

Let’s show them that people across the country―whether parents, educators, healthcare workers or allies―support all families and all teachers, including LGBTQIA+ teachers. Let’s make sure every LGBTQIA+ educator and student in Florida hears us today.

Solidarity is an action word. This is our moment to stand with Cory and every LGBTQIA+ educator in Florida.