The governor and state lawmakers reached agreement on a new state budget before the April 1 deadline, but the content of the 2011-12 budget was not exactly what UUP had hoped for.

UUP refuses to throw in the towel.

With the Legislature scheduled to be in session through June 20, the union looked to galvanize support among lawmakers to pass a supplemental state budget that includes funds restoring SUNY budget cuts.

The governor’s proposed $100 million reduction for SUNY remained intact in the final state budget. That raised the total cut to SUNY’s operating aid to nearly $700 million during the past three years, meaning that state support for SUNY has been sliced by one-third.

The outcome proved slightly more encouraging when it came to SUNY’s three teaching hospitals, which had faced the elimination of their state support in the governor’s budget. In the final budget, lawmakers restored $60 million of the $154 million cut aimed at the hospitals in the Executive Budget, and the hospitals will amortize—in other words, reschedule—pension payments for a current-year savings of $24 million.

“This level of restoration of state support is nearly unprecedented,” UUP President Phil Smith said. “But we need to keep pressing for additional restorations to enable SUNY’s hospitals to continue providing vital health care services for thousands of uninsured and underinsured New Yorkers, as well as work to restore funding to our campuses.”

UB 2020 ALTERNATIVE

Proponents of UB 2020 fell short of their goal to have the controversial plan included in the budget, but the proposal was still lurking in early May when the governor presented a scaled-down version of UB 2020 called NYSUNY 2020. In contrast to the original UB 2020 plan that called for $5 billion in construction, NYSUNY 2020 would offer up to $35 million in capital funds to each of the four SUNY University Centers as “seed money.”

UUP had actively sought to stop UB 2020, and Smith said UUP has serious reservations about portions of NYSUNY 2020.

“This proposal could permit the four University Centers to impose differential tuition. That could deny access to tens of thousands of students from low-income households,” Smith said as details of the plan were still emerging. “Potentially, that increased tuition could be used to fund public/private partnerships. We don’t think it’s fair to force students to line the pockets of private businesses.”

UB 2020 emerged as one of UUP’s major targets as union advocates headed back to Albany with a revised legislative agenda.

SEEKING A REVERSAL OF FORTUNE

UUP’s revised agenda also urges lawmakers to pass an amended budget to reverse the massive cuts to SUNY campuses and hospitals.

UUPer Barry Trachtenberg of UAlbany presented a personal account of how deeply SUNY has been cut.

“When I started in 2003, I was one of five faculty in Judaic studies. Now we’re down to one faculty member—me,” he said during a legislative visit.

UUPers also pressed lawmakers to extend the millionaire’s tax to raise additional revenue that could be used to restore funds to SUNY.

The union’s advocates planned on pursuing these issues during the NYSUT Committee of 100 Advocacy Day May 10.

UNITED FOR HIGHER ED

UUP activists also worked for restorations prior to the budget vote. In addition to making personal visits to legislators, UUPers joined nearly 2,000 of their sisters and brothers from NYSUT— UUP’s statewide affiliate—the Professional Staff Congress representing CUNY faculty, PEF and CSEA for “A Rally for Public Ed” outside the state Capitol. UUP President Smith was among more than a dozen speakers addressing the rally on a blustery, late winter’s day. All asked that funding for education be restored in the budget and an extension of the millionaire’s tax.

Smith also worked in partnership with SUNY Student Assembly President Julie Gondar. The two co-wrote a letter to the editor of the Albany Times Union calling for adoption of a rational tuition plan for the state university.

But Smith cautioned that any such tuition plan must be accompanied by an increase in the maximum Tuition Assistance Program grant.

The budget fight is not over. UUPers are urged to send letters to lawmakers via the union’s website and its advocacy site at www.savesuny.org, asking them to restore funding for SUNY and its hospitals in the supplemental budget.

— Donald Feldstein

Delegates re-elected President Phil Smith, Secretary Eileen Landy and Membership Development Officer Ed Quinn, and sent all but one incumbent back to the Executive Board in union elections held during the 2011 Spring Delegate Assembly (DA).

More than 325 delegates attended the two-day DA, held May 6-7 in Albany. They listened to Smith’s update on union issues, such as the newly proposed NYSUNY 2020 plan, and voted on a number of resolutions, including items regarding affirmative action, academic freedom, and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).

Unionists unanimously approved special orders honoring Potsdam’s Ed Alfonsin as UUP?Outstanding Retiree of the Year, and the late Stony Brook delegate Salvatore Lentini for his service to the union. Delegates also collected $1,314 in donations for Alabama tornado victims, dollars that were matched by UUP.

ELECTING LEADERS

Union elections were center stage at the DA, with multiple candidates vying for statewide offices and eight Executive Board seats.

Smith, who faced challenges from Vice President for Academics Fred Floss and Buffalo Center delegate Paul Zarembka, received 171 votes, a majority. Floss got 128 votes, followed by Zarembka with 16 votes. After the elections, Smith thanked delegates for returning him as president, and urged UUPers to unite and move forward.

“The voters have spoken; we are all one,” Smith said. “Let’s move on.” In the race for statewide secretary, Landy received 251 votes, while Morrisville delegate Raul Huerta got 61 votes.

The tightest race was between Quinn and Alfred delegate Robert Rees for statewide membership development officer. Quinn won a majority by a single vote, 155-154. Empire State College delegate Jacqui Berger is the Executive Board’s sole new member, winning the board’s specialized colleges seat. She joins Edison Bond Jr. of Brooklyn HSC, Caroline Bailey of ESF, Bob Reganse and Mike Smiles of Farmingdale, Plattsburgh Chapter President Dave Curry, Potsdam Chapter President Laura Rhoads, and Brian Tappen of Upstate Medical University as Executive Board at-large seat winners.

Executive Board positions carry two-year terms, set to begin June 1.

SMITH SPEAKS

During his president’s report, Smith urged UUPers to stand together to repel a growing anti-union sentiment that has spread across the country. “We need to be united; we cannot be divided,” he said.

He also expressed serious reservations about the NYSUNY 2020 proposal, a scaled- back version of the controversial UB 2020 plan. Smith warned NYSUNY 2020 could allow the university centers to charge differential tuition, which could cut off SUNY access to thousands of students from low-income families.

The plan may also permit the universities to use increased tuition to fund public/ private partnerships.

Smith noted that this is the 15th version of a SUNY flexibility proposal; UUP has been instrumental in defeating the others.

USE SUNY SURPLUS

UUP will continue to press SUNY and SUNY schools to use budget surpluses to cover state budget shortfalls, derail retrenchments and nonrenewals, and hire new academics and professionals. SUNY’s $600 million surplus is expected to grow by $120 million annually, more than enough to cover $100 million in state aid cuts in the state’s 2012 budget, Smith said.

“The chancellor and the SUNY Board of Trustees have the power,” he said. “They should do the right thing.”

RESOLUTION WRAP

Delegates referred a proposed constitutional amendment regarding UUP election procedures to the Executive Board, which will create a task force to investigate the issue. Delegates will hear a report on the matter at the 2011 Fall Delegate Assembly. They also approved an Affirmative Action Committee resolution that encourages chapters to appoint affirmative action officers and to consider a constitutional amendment at the 2011 Fall DA to reinforce the election or appointment of an affirmative action officer. The item requires UUP to implement a training program for chapter affirmative action officers, and to develop and publish an affirmative action handbook.

Delegates also approved resolutions to:

• Condemn the actions of governments in Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Syria and Saudi Arabia for “excessively repressing” the voices of academics and university students and for persecuting faculty because of their religious affiliations.

• Direct UUP’s president to investigate alleged bargaining unit interference involving AAUP.

• Offer UUP’s support of Sodexo workers employed on SUNY campuses to ensure them rights to fair wages, benefits and union organizing activities.

• Take action to use “all available means” to resolve attacks on the integrity and academic freedom of bargaining unit members teaching online courses.

• Oppose a proposed change of U.S. Patent Law from a “First to Conceive” to “First to File” basis to protect UUPers who file patent applications when their work is completed.

• Oppose a move by Harper Collins to change the basis of its e-book sales to libraries from outright purchase to a limited use license.

• Encourage documents distributed to UUPers be printed using Tahoma 12 point font or in an enlargeable electronic format.

• Invite Dr. Jesse Kabwila Kapasula to serve as a SUNY visiting professor until her safety can be reasonably assured. Kapasula, acting president of the Chancellor College Academic Staff Union, was fired by the government of Malawi over academic freedom issues and has received death threats.

Highlights of the DA are posted on the UUP website at www.uupinfo.org.

— Michael Lisi

SMITH

LANDY

QUINN

	BAILEY		BERGER		BOND		CURRY
	REGANSE		RHOADS		SMILES		TAPPEN

Above left, UUP intern Mark Agnello helps Cobleskill delegate Z.J. Jiang send a letter to lawmakers urging them to reject the NYSUNY 2020 bill. Above right, Treasurer Rowena Blackman-Stroud discusses the consolidation of SUNY Downstate Medical Hospital and a private downstate medical facility.

Several UUP chapters and the union’s retiree contingent earn two dozen awards for outstanding communications efforts. The annual competition is judged by Albany-area journalists and graphics designers. Winning awards were, front row, from left: Mike Behun, Buffalo Center; Yolanda Pauze, Farmingdale; Judy Wishnia, Stony Brook; Jacqui Berger, Empire State College; and Carol Braund, Upstate Medical University. Back row, from left: Bill Simons, Rob Compton and Norm Payne, Oneonta; Candy Merbler and Michael Knee, UAlbany; Margaret Porciello, Farmingdale; Marc Dearstyne and Jamie Dangler, Cortland; Pam Wolfskill, Stony Brook; Jen Drake, Cortland; Kathy Southerton, Stony Brook HSC; and UUP President Phil Smith.

In the wake of bitter attacks against unions and collective bargaining rights in a number of states, more than 100 UUP members joined more than 2,000 of their NYSUT sisters and brothers in vowing to fight back.

The unionists brought together their collective strength during NYSUT’s 39th annual Representative Assembly, held April 7-9 in New York City. The RA’s theme, “United We Lead,” was a call for unionists to remain united to meet the serious challenges ahead of them.

In his State of the Union address to delegates, NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi detailed the obstacles facing public education and unions, and he warned that the struggle is not confined beyond the borders of New York.

“Make no mistake about it, the battle isn’t only in the Midwest. The battle is here in New York as well,” Iannuzzi cautioned. “We see it in attacks on seniority and pensions. We see it in attacks on due process. And make no mistake about it, the battle will be fought here. And the battle will be won here.”

SUPPORT FOR UUP

UUP got help in its battle against SUNY budget cuts, in the form of a resolution sponsored by UUP passed unanimously by the delegates. The resolution called on NYSUT to work with the governor and the Legislature to ensure that SUNY and its hospitals receive adequate funding to carry out their core missions.

Another UUP-sponsored resolution asked NYSUT to seek legislation requiring more transparency and accountability for the SUNY Research Foundation and other SUNY campus foundations.

“If we could lift the veil of secrecy surrounding the Research Foundation, it could help us stop UB 2020 because the legislation would shed some light on the activities of the UB Foundation,” UUP President Phil Smith told the College and University Resolutions Committee. The resolution was adopted unanimously.

UUP delegates also chose its representatives to the NYSUT Board of Directors. Rowena Blackman-Stroud, Tom Matthews and Ed Quinn were elected by the UUP delegation. UUP President Smith was re-elected by all RA delegates to an at-large board seat.

MEETING CHALLENGES

UUP members and their NYSUT colleagues applauded a series of speakers who lent their support to the political challenges the labor movement faces.

AFT President Randi Weingarten said the tide is turning in favor of labor. “You see signs in store windows and letters to the editor,” she said. “People are saying the same thing; it’s wrong to take away rights, silence voices, crush the middle class and strip workers of their voice and dignity while giving huge tax breaks to the wealthy.”

NEA President Dennis Van Roekel said the move to erode workers’ rights is not about economics. “It’s about silencing the voice of unions and the middle class,” he said.

NYSUT Executive Vice President Andrew Pallotta fired up the crowd, asking members to not just be in the union, but be the union. “We have not yet begun to fight,” he shouted. “The revolution starts now, and it’s in our own backyard.” UUP delegates like Deb Zinser of Plattsburgh liked what they heard.

“The attack on workers upsets me tremendously,” she said. “I’m livid that they feel as though they can take away benefits and bargaining rights of people who have worked hard to get to where they are.”

UUPer Bruce Altschuler of Oswego agreed.

“All of my colleagues work hard, and no one goes into academe for the money. We do it because we love our work,” Altschuler said.

Wasting no time putting their words into action, RA delegates took up a collection to support the AFL-CIO’s Unity Fund. They raised nearly $15,000 and NYSUT added another $25,000 to the Unity Fund’s coffers.

— Donald Feldstein

Dozens of UUPers—including every statewide officer—joined nearly 15,000 of their union sisters and brothers at the “We Are One” rally in Times Square April 9. Many of the UUPers marched as a group for 15 blocks to the rally from the site of the just- concluded NYSUT RA shouting, “This is what democracy looks like.”

Activists from across the state jammed the sidewalks along Seventh Avenue for more than four blocks south of Times Square for the rally—organized by the New York State AFL-CIO—prompted by the attacks on workers’ rights in a number of states. Those attacks include a new law in Ohio barring unionized public employees from negotiating health care, sick time or pension benefits. In Wisconsin, a new law strips public employees of their right to collectively bargain on anything except wages, and calls for almost all public workers to contribute more to their pensions and health care coverage, changes that amount to an average 8 percent pay cut.

UUPer Janie Forrest-Glotzer of Oneonta found it very moving to be part of such a huge gathering to support and affect positive change for the labor movement. “It’s critical for unions to stick together and support one another under the ‘We Are One’ theme,” she said. “Together we support safe working conditions and health care for all.”

A lineup of prominent labor leaders energized the crowd, leading them in chants such as “Workers united can never be defeated,” and “Respect our rights.” “We will not be pushed around,” said state AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes. “We will stand up and fight for the middle class. We are the labor movement and we are one.”

“What we’re facing is an attack on working conditions,” NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi said. “We hear this garbage about how it has to do with deficits, but it’s really an attack on collective bargaining.”

AFT President Randi Weingarten and NEA President Dennis Van Roekel said unions will not go away in the face of demoralizing attacks. Rather, they have become stronger and more energized.

Several speakers directed their attacks against the leaders of Wall Street and the wealthy who are using their clout to gain tax breaks while public workers are being targeted for sacrifices. UFT President Mike Mulgrew said history being made now will be a lesson for future generations. Mulgrew believes that 20 years from now, teachers will be telling the story of how the wealthiest 1 percent of the country tried to take more from the rest of us—and failed.

The rally was part of a series of events held in the days around April 4 to honor the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated on that date in 1968 in Memphis. His assassination came one day after he gave a speech to striking sanitation workers who were demanding the right to bargain collectively.

— Donald Feldstein

Union members are making a difference every day.

UUPers?and more than 400 of their higher education colleagues from across the country know that only too well—and proved it once again in April during the AFT Higher Education Issues Conference in Philadelphia.

Underscoring the theme “Making a Difference Every Day: Our Work, Our Union, Our Students,” participants discussed the growing concerns on college and university campuses nationwide, as well as the all-out assault on unions and workers’ rights. Six UUP members moderated discussions and served as panelists on issues ranging from the role of professionals in student success, to bullying on campus, to promoting faculty diversity.

TAKING THE LEAD

UUP?President Phil Smith moderated the opening plenary on confronting the fiscal and political crises across the nation.

“We have an American public that has been fed a line that public employee pensions and other hard-fought union benefits are to blame for their problems,” Smith said. “America faces real economic and fiscal challenges. Our opponents—now in power—have chosen not to try to solve these problems, but to use their opportunity to destroy us where they can, and to exert as many concessions as possible where they can’t.”

Smith set the stage for AFT?President Randi Weingarten, who called on unionists to take a stand for workers everywhere.

“I don’t think anyone knew how evil these people are,”?Weingarten said. “These are not the faces of extremists, but of people who took the anxiety of the middle class and exploited it. They are trying to eviscerate every right, every economic benefit, every education initiative we’ve worked for all our lives. They want to change the body politic so, in Carl Rove’s words, they can have a ‘durable majority.’”

Weingarten said the future of the labor movement is at stake, and urged members to mobilize.

“Those of us in this room get to decide if we have the gumption to turn this moment into a movement,” she said.

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler echoed that sentiment in her keynote address.

“It’s important for us to remember that the protests spreading across America are not the result of the AFL-CIO, the Democratic Party or the Obama administration,” Shuler said. “This is a bottom-up, grassroots movement with its own momentum—a true spontaneous outcry against our winner-take-all political culture.”

THE ISSUES

The partnerships among labor unions and the community can—and should—be used to heighten public awareness of AFT’s higher education priorities and to show that education unions are not solely about their members, but about their work and their students, too. Key priorities of the AFT are academic staffing, student success, faculty diversity, and academic freedom—all of which were discussed at length during the three-day conference.

Released during the conference was a new AFT report, “Student Success in Higher Education,” which offers the faculty and staff perspective on higher education curricula, teaching and student assessment. “We hope our perspective will advance the national dialogue on these concerns,” the report states.

For the full report, go to www.aft.org and click on Higher Education. For further dialogue, go to AFT’s What Should Count website at www.whatshouldcount.org.

UUPERS LEND A VOICE

Panelists Jamie Dangler of Cortland and Charles Callahan III of Brockport discussed the growing gap between a diverse student population and the diversity of the faculty who teach them. The panel stressed the important role higher ed unions can play in improving the gender, racial and ethnic diversity of faculty with the goal of enhancing the educational experience of their students.

UUP Vice President for Professionals John Marino moderated a workshop on the increased reliance on professionals to achieve student success. During the workshop, UUP delegate Jen Drake facilitated small-group discussions on strategies to ensure student success and on how the union can promote student values and support their needs.

UUPer Joel Neuman of New Paltz, an associate professor of management and organizational behavior, shared his expertise on the hows and whys behind bullying. The panel also discussed how unions can institute policies to protect members from bullies.

— Karen L. Mattison

SMITH	CALLAHAN	DANGLER
DRAKE	MARINO	NEUMAN