Author Archives: United University Professions Admin

January 2010

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We must crush the Cadillac tax

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There is a wolf in sheep’s clothing in the Senate’s recently approved health care reform package.

And if nothing is done, the wolf is going to take a financial bite out of many middle-class workers who, like UUP members, happen to have solid health coverage.

The Senate’s bill, which passed with so much fanfare on Christmas Eve, contains a 40 percent excise tax on health plans worth more than $8,500 yearly for individuals and $23,000 annually for families. For retirees ages 55 and older, the bill would tax individual plans worth more than $9,850 and family plans worth more than $26,000.

If you haven’t heard about this so-called Cadillac tax, you will, especially it if it becomes part of President Barack Obama’s health care reform bill. You’ll feel it through the tax, or more likely, through the ratcheting down of the quality of health coverage by employers to avoid paying the tax.

If this does become part of the federal health care package, you’ll end up paying higher out-of-pocket costs for co-payments for medical care. And don’t be surprised if quality dental and vision care coverage, as well as mental health and other higher-end policy benefits, become things of the past as employers seek to dodge the tax.

We should be alarmed because according to recent reports in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and other outlets, even President Obama has started pushing for the tax as a well-meaning compromise to bring the House and Senate bills in line. Millions of middle-class insurance policyholders would be affected by such a tax. Such a concession is giving away far too much for the sake of expediency.

The Cadillac tax is unacceptable and must be done away with.

The tax would take effect in 2013. Steadily rising health care costs would cause more and more plans—including health plans offered by many unions—to fall under the tax each year, according to information from the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

The Congressional Budget Office projects that by 2016 the tax would be imposed on more than 19 percent of all U.S. workers with employer-provided health coverage—or roughly 31 million people. By 2019, as many as 27 percent of health plans would be affected, according to Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation.

As more and more health plans are swept over the tax threshold, more and more middle-class Americans could see their health care benefits diminish. And that could mean higher out-of-pocket medical costs for a majority of Americans, according to AFT data.

Tax proponents claim it would raise more than $150 billion in revenue over 10 years and significantly reduce the amount spent on health care—which they believe would drive down health care spending because higher out-of-pocket health costs could cause workers to think twice before going to the doctor. How’s that for a “savings” plan?

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) say otherwise. According to CMS, the Senate tax benefits would lower national health costs by a paltry 0.3 percent in 2019. Higher out-of-pocket co-pays may also cause some consumers to not seek necessary treatment, which could lead to higher health costs down the road.

Again, who reaps the “savings?”

So let me make this simple: the Cadillac tax would force the middle-class to pay more for their employer-provided health insurance or cause them to lose health benefits—benefits won by many unions during hard-fought negotiations that, in some cases, led to giving up wage increases and making other concessions.

This isn’t fair and it isn’t right. Cutting workers’ health benefits is a cut, no matter how you slice it.

The state is also a loser under the Senate’s health care bill. New York would have to shoulder more in Medicaid costs under the Senate’s plan, which would result in an annual budget hit of nearly $1 billion.

Overall, the U.S. House of Representatives has a much better way of handling health care reform. The House’s bill calls for a 5.4 percent surtax on incomes above $500,000 for individuals and over $1 million for those who file taxes jointly. The surtax would take effect Jan.1, 2011.

There are a few things that are certain in this life: death, taxes, and the annual income growth of the rich. Since 2001, federal tax cuts have disproportionately benefitted the richest 5 percent of Americans thanks to the Bush tax cuts. The wealthy should be made to hand over some of their tax gains instead of having a health benefits tax slapped on the middle class.

I’ve said my piece. Now it’s time to do your part. We need to you contact your Congressional reps and tell them in no uncertain terms that the Cadillac tax has got to go. Visit the UUP Web site for more information.

The time has come for health care reform. But let’s do it right—the first time!

Famous SUNY alumni speak out: Graduates achieve greatness

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NBC “Today” show weatherman Al Roker believes he wouldn’t be where he is today without his SUNY Oswego degree and the guidance he received from a pair of former UUPers who helped swing open doors in broadcasting for him.

“Dr. Lewis O’Donnell, he was a local broadcasting legend who played Mr. Trolley on ‘The Magic Toy Shop,’ set up my first job (interview),” Roker said during a recent phone conversation from the “Today” show set. “I was in Doc O’Donnell’s TV performance class and, at the end, he told me about a weekend weather job at (Syracuse TV station) WHEN. Soc Sampson, who was in charge of graphics at Oswego, helped me make two weather maps that I could draw on and we did tapes and sent them to the news director. I auditioned and I got the job.

“Doc always preached ‘Get your foot in the door,’ so I figured I’ll do this weather gig until a directing job opens up,” Roker continued, laughing. “I wouldn’t be at NBC today if it weren’t for SUNY Oswego. I’m very proud of that school and my SUNY education.”

Roker is in very good company. Over the years, thousands of SUNY graduates have gone on to make amazing achievements in science, medicine, business, broadcasting, journalism, entertainment and dozens of other fields.

SUNY graduates are Pulitzer Prize winners, doctors, astronauts, and war heroes. They are entrepreneurs who played roles in the development of the Apple Macintosh computer, SoBe energy drink, Jolt cola and the Internet social site, MySpace.

SUNY alumni are award-winning authors, and Grammy, Emmy, Golden Globe and Tony award winners. They are top executives at VH1, IMAX, A&E Television, Disney Cruise Lines, and the Gospel Music Channel. Two Brockport alums, Dave Trembley and Stan Van Gundy, manage the Baltimore Orioles and the Orlando Magic, respectively.

Politically, they affect change statewide, nationally and internationally. Fredonia graduate James Foley is the Ambassador-designate to the Republic of Croatia. Oswego grad Heraldo Munoz is the Chilean ambassador to the United States, while Oswego’s Marianne Myles is U.S. Ambassador to Cape Verde. And Cortland grad Ann E. Dunwoody is the U.S. Army’s first female four-star general.

“I had the opportunity to consider schools like Marist and Syracuse and I’ll tell you, it was a no-brainer for me when it came to going to Buff State,” said Tom Calderone, a 1986 Buffalo State graduate who is executive vice president and general manager of music video cable network VH1. “I was able to secure internships; I got individualized attention and hands-on experience. I mean, I was program director of the (school) radio station in my sophomore year.”

For Alex Storozynski, a 1983 New Paltz graduate who won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing and wrote “Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of Revolution,” SUNY was where he discovered his passion for journalism.

“New Paltz certainly helped my career,” he said. “It was the first stepping stone and a huge stepping stone. It was the first place I got real bylines and the first time I got state senators mad at me for things I had written.”

Alums like Storozynski and Roker know the value of a SUNY education, which explains the disdain they have for continued state cuts to the University, which amount to more than $410 million over the last 18 months. Such cuts have resulted in fewer classes and courses for students, and spurred hiring freeze and tuition increases.

“SUNY attracts great students who will hopefully stay and achieve success in the state,” Roker said. “You look at survey after survey, and when it comes to bang for your buck, you can’t do much better than SUNY schools.”

“Proper funding of SUNY is essentially creating an economic engine for New York,” said Storozynski, president and general director of the Manhattan-based Kosciuszko Foundation. “You’re not only giving jobs to people who work at the colleges, you’re creating a talented pool of employees who will go out and get better jobs. It’s an investment that pays for itself.’

Howard Permut, president of the MTA Metro-North Railroad, credits his Binghamton University degree in geology for giving him the skills necessary to pursue his career. Permut, a 1973 Binghamton grad, was part of the original team that created Metro-North in 1983 and has been instrumental in expanding the railroad’s service area, ridership and revenue.

“I had some really good professors at Binghamton who taught me how to think and analyze problems and situations,” Permut said. “They made you think about things in a much broader context than the right answer. It gave me a good background and the tools to go on to graduate school.”

Calderone, Roker and Storozynski all benefitted from the mentoring of memorable professors and the hands-on experience they got at SUNY, both in and out of class.

Storozynski, who wanted to be a diplomat, was drawn to New Paltz by a course to study the United Nations for a semester. He changed his career choice to law and settled on journalism after former UUPer and political science professor Alan Chartock, executive publisher of the Legislative Gazette —a state government newspaper featuring stories by SUNY students—spoke about an internship with the paper in class.

“I figured that attorneys should know how to write, so I took an introduction to journalism course and Chartock came in and said ‘If you’re a serious journalist, you should do an internship at the Gazette,’” said Storozynski. “So I did the (Gazette) internship and I got bitten by the journalism bug.”

“I don’t know of other undergraduate universities that have programs like that,” he continued. “At that time, Hugh Carey was governor and I got to go to press conferences, and I got to meet Mario Cuomo. What college student gets to go to press conferences and ask questions?”

Calderone, awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters by Buffalo State in 2008, felt the same way about his SUNY experience. Energized by UUPer Tom McCray, one of his communications professors, Calderone became program director of college radio station WBNY and turned it into an influential alternative rock outlet that was one of first in the country to air new music by U2, 10,000 Maniacs, R.E.M., and Goo Goo Dolls.

“10,000 Maniacs, they were like our house band and we’d have them play when we’d bring shows like R.E.M. to town,” said Calderone. “We had major record labels who would tell us that their artists would sell records because we played them. That’s why R.E.M. would play Buffalo four to five times a year.

“The classes I took and all the teachers there were so amazing and so connected to what was happening,” he said. “But working on the radio station and the television station was just as important.”

For Roker, his time at Oswego has proved invaluable; his SUNY education and the contacts he made at college led to his big break. Roker knows this, which is why he often returns to Oswego to speak to students. It’s also one of the reasons why he made a sizeable donation that led to the college’s student television studio being renamed in his honor in 2007.

“I believe in that school,” Roker said. “We don’t have a large football program, or the other things that engender school loyalty at other schools. At SUNY, you love your school because of your classes, your professors. It’s a summer evening on Lake Ontario, watching that sun set, or the fierceness of the winter snowstorms. It’s those things.”

On top of it all, Roker said, “These schools are economic engines that are going to fuel New York’s growth.”

— Michael Lisi

Battle for SUNY rages on: Governor vows to curb state spending; unions pledge to fight for education

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UUP is mounting an aggressive advocacy drive, prompted by indications that this will almost certainly be a difficult budget year.

Gov. David Paterson left that impression in his State of the State address Jan. 6, when he said, “This is a winter of reckoning for New York.” He blamed what he called “cultures of addiction to spending” for leading the state into its current fiscal crisis.

As The Voice went to press, the exact scope of the challenge facing UUP was not clear, since the governor had not yet introduced his Executive Budget. Given the suggestion from the governor that all areas of state spending faced the budget knife, significant reductions in state support for SUNY appeared more than likely.

“We need to be and will be very visible in our budget fight this year,” UUP President Phillip Smith pledged. “More than ever, we need to educate lawmakers and the public about how valuable SUNY is to the future of this state and its economy to ensure the University is not undercut further by more budget cuts.”

The union’s advocacy drive in Albany was scheduled to begin Jan. 26, with members meeting state lawmakers to push for additional funding for the University. A series of advocacy days is scheduled through May. Smith urged members to join the effort.

“We can’t afford to have people sitting on the sidelines,” he said. “We need to have more people in the trenches fighting for the future of the University.”

UUP is also taking the battle for SUNY directly to the public in the form of a television and newspaper advertising campaign that begins this month.

Meanwhile, more UUP chapters are providing momentum for continued coalition building, aligning themselves with various groups and organizations to safeguard and broaden state support for SUNY.

The Purchase Chapter got into coalition building in a big way, co-hosting a campus forum with the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG). Titled, “Taking Back Our Education: A Student & Legislator Hearing,” the Dec. 10 forum zeroed in on the need for increased state funding for public higher education.

“SUNY has already taken an enormous hit from previous budget cuts,” UUP Purchase Chapter President John Delate told the forum, referring to the $410 million in state funding sliced in the last two years. “We understand these are challenging economic times, but SUNY has already taken more than its fair share of reductions. It’s more important to fund this economic engine rather than deplete it further.”

A crowd of about 75, mostly students, heard Delate make his case, along with three state lawmakers from Westchester County who attended. Students and faculty got the opportunity to address their concerns and questions to Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer (D-Mamaroneck) and Assembly members Amy Paulin (D-Scarsdale) and George Latimer (D-Rye). All three lawmakers pledged to work to ensure that public higher education receives proper funding. Delate said the groundwork for UUP’s cooperative relationship with NYPIRG grew from both organizations having worked together on a joint rally with CUNY faculty Oct. 27 in Manhattan.

UUP’s Cortland Chapter kept up its coalition building and advocacy activity. A four-member delegation from the chapter met with Sen. James Seward (R-Milford) in his district office to express their concerns about state support for SUNY.

Chapter President Jamie Dangler found that Seward empathizes with the union about the crisis facing the University.

“He stated SUNY isn’t the problem. It should be the solution,” Dangler said. He is concerned that SUNY will not have funds for basics like utilities in the coming year.”

Additionally, Dangler said Seward sought specifics about how the budget cuts are affecting the Cortland campus.

Dangler and Chapter Secretary Elizabeth Owens also reached out to build a coalition with the Midstate Central Labor Council at their December meeting. They handed out fact sheets about SUNY’s budget cuts along with a flier detailing Cortland’s economic impact on Central New York. The UUPers also broached the idea of having council members work with UUP to organize presentations to local legislators and community groups.

— Donald Feldstein

On campus: Farmindgale aviators earn their wings with both feet on the ground

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Farmingdale Chapter President Yolanda Pauze was a study in concentration as she sat in the cockpit of the new flight simulator, her eyes fixed on the computer screen straight ahead.

“Wow, this is amazing,” Pauze said. “It’s like being in an actual airplane.”

That’s why students and instructors at Farmingdale’s aviation program are so excited about the acquisition of the $90,000 simulator—a device the college wouldn’t have without the initiative and persistence of Farmingdale UUPer Barbara Maertz. Maertz was instrumental in helping the college secure a state grant that paid for the training device.

From its controls to its instruments and Global Positioning System (GPS), the Frasca flight training device is a replica of cockpits found in single- and double-engine aircraft. Students can practice taxiing up the runway, taking off, cruising, descending and landing, while their instructor—sitting at a computer just to the side of the simulator—feeds in real-time scenarios and weather hurdles, such as snow, clouds and rain.

The simulator was unveiled during a Dec. 10 press conference at Farmingdale’s Aviation Center at Republic Airport.

“It’s a true representation of what can happen in the air,” said Mike Hughes, a UUPer and the aviation program’s director of operations. “It’s the best possible way to teach and save dollars.”

“Students can practice emergency situations, like fire, smoke in the cockpit, engine-out procedures and navigation problems, that are too dangerous to do in the air,” said Farmingdale UUPer Steve Campbell, the aviation program’s chief pilot. “No one will ever crash and burn using a simulator.”

The quest for a new simulator began seven years ago, when Campbell met with Maertz and asked if there was anything UUP could do to help secure funding for a new flight simulator. The aviation program, one of the oldest in the country, has been using older flight training devices that are still in use but are not compatible with GPS systems.

Maertz took the request to Assemblyman Robert Sweeney (D-Lindenhurst), who eventually secured a grant through the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York. Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr. (R-Merrick) also aided in delivering the dollars.

But bureaucratic red tape from the state, tie-ups due to the grant being linked to another Farmingdale project that never took off, and delays by the school’s administration to place an order for the simulator kept the apparatus out of reach for a long time, she said.

“It took a while, but we were finally able to make this project a reality and the union membership is thrilled,” said Maertz. “I am very proud to have had a part in this.”

During the press conference, Sweeney acknowledged Maertz’s efforts, saying that she “doggedly persisted” until the grant was awarded.

“I have to say that this wouldn’t have happened without the union,” Campbell said. “Barbara had the contacts, she set up the appointments. It was the union that kept asking administrators where things were, that kept following up.”

The state-of-the-art device is approved for use by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It will allow students to gain crucial flight experience time without stepping in a plane—and with less stress on their wallets.

Students, who pay as much as $200 per hour to fly with an instructor (students usually fly two-hour sessions), will pay between $40 and $45 an hour to use the flight training device, said Sarah Kilkenny, an aviation program senior.

“The feel of the flight simulator is so realistic,” said Kilkenny, who has more than 400 hours of FAA-certified flight time. “All the controls and instruments are the same. And the best thing is you can freeze the (simulator), turn around and ask your instructor what you did wrong.”

To earn a four-year bachelor of science degree and become an entry-level pilot, students must complete 64 credits of liberal arts and science courses and 65 credits of aviation and flight courses. Students can also earn a number of pilot certificates, including certified flight Instructor (CFI), CFI multiengine instructor, and private pilot certificate.

Kilkenny and Farmingdale senior aviation student Ray Castaldini said they plan to make good use of the simulator, as will the rest of the 60-plus aviation students, Hughes said.

“It will certainly help us attract students when they see it at our open houses,” Campbell said. “They get excited when they see things like this.”

— Michael Lisi

UUPeople: UUPer brings Grammy gold to Purchase

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It’s been a year since UUPer Arturo O’Farrill won a Grammy Award for best Latin jazz album and he’s still jazzed about it.

“I’m still pretty amazed,” said O’Farrill, the director of the Purchase College Jazz Orchestra and head of Purchase’s Latin Jazz program. “We were up against some really big record companies. I guess … we were lucky.”

It was a lot more than luck that O’Farrill’s 2008 album, “Song for Chico,” beat out the likes of Latin jazz masters Papo Vasquez, Nestor Torres and the Caribbean Jazz Project for the Grammy.

The album, which honors his father, Chico, a big band leader and Latin jazz trailblazer who wrote and arranged music for Benny Goodman, Stan Kenton and Count Basie, seamlessly blends bebop and Afro-Cuban musical stylings with Arturo’s sassy, modern arrangements. The record, which features O’Farrill on piano backed by his hot Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, includes versions of “Caravan,” (made popular by Duke Ellington), Tito Puente’s “Picadillo,” and two of his father’s songs, “Cuban Blues” and “The Journey.”

“It kind of becomes a tribute to Chico because we patterned ourselves on what he did,” said O’Farrill. “I’m only doing as I was taught and what my children will do, hopefully. Teach them the music and that’s what makes it relevant.”

For O’Farrill, who has released more than half-dozen albums, including his latest “Risa Negra,” teaching music is a passion, just as playing music is a passion. And teaching at Purchase is, in a word, wonderful, he said.

“I was really floored when I joined the faculty and found (Purchase) to be one of the nation’s top-level conservatories” he said. “I don’t do this for the money, I do it as a choice.”

“My one regret in teaching is that I don’t have the time to devote to it that I wish I did. It’s a heavy responsibility and I take it very seriously.

“One of the most important people in my life was an American history teacher I had in college,” he continued. “This guy changed my life. For me, standing up in front of a group of students and doing anything less than being completely integral with them is a sham. My performance career is very alive, but I wish I was a better administrator of my time.”

He’s right about his performance career. For starters, O’Farrill has had a standing Sunday night gig at New York City’s famed Birdland for the last 14 years, leading his father’s Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra. He released two albums in 2008, “Song for Chico” and “In These Shoes,” a collaboration with vocalist Claudia Acuna on the Zoho Music label.

“Risa Negra,” featuring O’Farrill’s wife, Alison, and children (14-year-old trumpeter Adam and 17-year-old drummer Zachary), was released in October 2009.

The album won rave reviews from the likes of JazzReview magazine, which called it “one of the best of 2009, count on it.”

“This was really a labor of love for me and I’m really proud of it,” he said. “It’s a record that my wife plays on and my kids play on, and all the people on this record are family members.”

O’Farrill can’t hide his pride when he conducts Purchase’s Latin Jazz Orchestra, which he did in December in the college’s Performing Arts Center. The orchestra, made up of students from the School of the Arts Conservatory of Music, performed seven selections, including Chico O’Farrill’s “Manteca Suite,” and the title track from “Song for Chico.”

“I care a lot about the music and I always want the music to come out and reach people on the inside,” O’Farrill said.

— Michael Lisi

December 2009

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UUP members build coalitions to support state university

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UUP members are moving full steam ahead, building coalitions to preserve and expand state support for SUNY.

UUPers have aligned themselves with student government organizations at their respective campuses to participate in a series of student rallies to protest state budget cuts. The most recent rally took place indoors at SUNY Potsdam on Dec. 3 and attracted more than 200 people, including about 60 UUPers.

“All of us are very concerned about these devastating cuts,” said Potsdam Chapter President Laura Rhoads, who was among the speakers at the rally.

“We need you to ask your parents, grandparents and friends to contact their lawmakers through UUP’s Web site to express their concern.”

Potsdam Chapter members drew support from Canton Chapter President Dave Butler and Plattsburgh Chapter President Dave Curry. Curry told the protestors how state support for SUNY had plummeted since 1990, when the state provided 75 percent of SUNY’s operating budget. Now, he said, with the most recent $90 million budget cut, students for the first time are financing more than half of the University’s operating budget.

Two Potsdam-area state legislators came to the campus to demonstrate their backing of the University. Sporting their “SUNY is the $olution” buttons, Sen. Joseph Griffo (R-Rome) and Assemblywoman Addie Russell (D-Theresa)—both of whom proudly proclaimed themselves as SUNY graduates—emphasized the importance of a SUNY education and the need to restore funds for the University.

Two other North Country lawmakers received dozens of letters from Plattsburgh chapter members. Sen. Betty Little (R-Queensbury) and Assemblywoman Janet Duprey (R-Peru) received the letters from UUPers sent through the union’s Web site asking them to protect SUNY from additional budget reductions.

“Our legislators understand the value of Plattsburgh State to the local economy, and now our members understand the value of reminding our legislators just how much we actually contribute to the local economy,” Chapter President Curry said.

UUPers at Cortland didn’t just send letters. They got students to sign union-authored letters as a follow-up to an earlier student rally attended by UUPers.

“We received approximately 500 signed student letters to legislators from around the state and UUP members addressed them and mailed them to Albany,” said Chapter President Jamie Dangler. Student representatives also were invited to join chapter members at a meeting with Sen. James Seward (R-Milford).

Dangler also said her chapter enlisted the help of the campus CSEA local by having about 100 of their members sign letters to lawmakers. The UUP chapter enhanced its alliance with other local unions by attending a local labor coalition meeting.

UUP’s Buffalo Center chapter is in the midst of building coalitions, having formed an ad hoc advocacy group. Outreach Committee Co-chair Thomas Tucker said the group is working with other Western New York campus chapters, unions, student groups and local businesses to mount joint efforts to promote SUNY as a top budget priority. Among those they’re reaching out to are business owners who stand to lose the most from budget cuts to the University.

“We’re making efforts to communicate with local vendors on campus to show them how important SUNY is to their businesses,” Tucker said.

While coalition building continues, UUPers continue meetings with state lawmakers in their district offices. Seven members from Upstate Medical and Cortland met with Sen. David Valesky (D-Oneida) in Syracuse in early December, hammering away at funding for SUNY and its hospitals and fighting so-called “flexibility.”

“Health care and education should be the last and least to be cut, not the first and most to be cut,” Brian Tappen of Upstate told Valesky. The senator pledged to help as much as he can once he sees the governor’s proposed budget for 2010-11.

Statewide, UUP upped its efforts to reach out to parents, who are feeling the sting as much as their children are.

During Thanksgiving week, the union placed half-page ads in 129 weekly newspapers reaching 1.5 million readers in New York’s major metropolitan areas.

“We want parents of SUNY students to find out what’s going on at their child’s campus and to take action if the news is bad,” said UUP President Phillip Smith.

Playing the role of the shocked mother is UUP Secretary Eileen Landy. Her daughter is portrayed by Sally Frank, UUP’s legislative intern and a grad student at UAlbany.

— Donald Feldstein

CLUW’d in: Coalition of Labor Union Women meets in LA

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For Judith Wishnia, the Coalition of Labor Union Women’s (CLUW) 15th Biennial Convention was something to shout about.

And dance about.

“More than 600 union sisters and brothers from numerous unions opened each session and greeted each speaker with clapping and dancing in the aisles to the rhythm of R&B music,” said Wishnia, a professor emeritus at SUNY Stony Brook and elected chair of the union’s Committee on Active Retired Membership. “Who knew union meetings could be fun as well as informative?”

Wishnia and a handful of other UUPers joined hundreds of delegates to the convention, “The Rising Tide of Change: Activism, Leadership—Union Women!” held Oct. 14-17 in Los Angeles.

Buffalo Center UUPer Lorna Arrington, CLUW Rules Committee co-chair, presented the rules report during the opening plenary, which came one day after a series of 21 workshops ranging from family leave and women’s health, to gender discrimination, organizing and politics.

“CLUW has spent the last three decades improving the participation, position and influence of women in the labor movement and society,” said Arrington, an associate professor in Buffalo’s Educational Opportunity Center. “I always walk away with information I can pass on to my colleagues. It is very rewarding to be part of such a vital and vibrant organization.”

Karen Skelton, senior executive producer of A Woman’s Nation, spoke on The Shriver Report, which updates the 1963 report by the Commission on the Status of Women appointed by President John F. Kennedy.

According to the 2009 report, women earn 60 percent of the college degrees awarded each year and fully half of the Ph.D.s and professional degrees. Almost 40 percent of working women hold managerial and other professional positions, and women make 80 percent of the buying decisions in American homes.

A summary of The Shriver Report can be found at www.awomansnation.com.

“The economic contribution of women is crucial,”Wishnia said. “Unfortunately, women still earn only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men.”

Fair pay is just one of the many reasons UUP’s liaisons to CLUW are urging their colleagues to join the coalition at www.cluw.org.

— Karen L. Mattison

 

UUPer puts the vibe in vibraphone

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As a high school trumpet player, UUPer Ted Piltzecker collided with a tuba and dented his horn.

The “marching band accident,” as Piltzecker puts it, led him to the vibraphone and changed his life.

Piltzecker, an internationally-known vibraphone player, discovered the vibraphone—a xylophone-like percussion instrument with metal bars and motor-driven resonators for tone and vibrato—after bringing his trumpet to a music store for repair. He spied the vibes (short for vibraphone) and began playing it, impressing his parents so much that they got him one for Christmas.

Piltzecker, an associate professor at Purchase College, fell in love with the vibes and has been playing ever since.

“I had it in my dorm room as a student at Eastman (School of Music),” said Piltzecker, who studied trumpet and vibraphone in college. “Once I got out of school, I got steady work playing the vibes and did some major touring.”

Jazzing it up

Piltzecker, a UUPer since 1999, toured internationally as part of jazz piano icon George Shearing’s quintet in the 1970s and 1990s; he appears on jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli’s 2002 album “The Rare Delight of You,” which features Shearing and band.

Over the years, Piltzecker, has shared the stage with a who’s who of jazz greats, including Mel Torme, Joe Williams, Gene Burtoncini, Ernie Watts, and Toshiko Akiyoshi among many others. He’s also cut three albums of his own, including “Unicycle Man,” (yes, Piltzecker can ride a unicycle) a record that prompted praise from Chuck Mangione, who called Piltzecker “an original” and “… one of my favorite composers.”

“I’ve been really fortunate,” said Piltzecker. “For me, it’s all about the music. It’s all about the exchange.”

Piltzecker has also performed with classical chamber ensembles and has written music for and toured with Japanese Taiko groups and gadulka (Bulgarian violin) players. But he’s particularly passionate about Latin and world beat music and has performed in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, playing with some of the world’s best bandoneon players, such as Ricardo Fiorio, with whom he performed in Argentina. You can hear a sampling of Piltzecker’s music on his Web site, at http://www.tedvibes.com.

“I have played to some large crowds, but to me, music is about personal growth,” he said. “There’s something special about crossing cultural boundaries.”

TP and Company

Piltzecker plans to cross those boundaries again on his next album, an as-yet untitled effort featuring Purchase graduate students he’s been playing with to keep his vibraphone skills honed; Piltzecker rarely plays the vibes in class.

He liked what he heard, and thought it might be interesting to use the students—who go by TP and Company when they play out with Piltzecker—on his upcoming album. Piltzecker said he expects to release the disc in the spring and has some record label interest.

“It’s not your typical mainstream kind of jazz,” said Piltzecker. “There are world music influences, some pop, and I come from a mainstream be bop background, so there’s that too. There are songs with single line melodies and counterpoint and some thickly harmonized ballads. I’m very excited about it.’

Being a full-time professor has limited Piltzecker’s touring schedule, although he continues to line up gigs, including a July 2010 performance in Washington, D.C. at the American Guild of Organists Convention. There, he’ll join renowned organist/composer Dorothy Papadakos (Paul Winter Consort) to debut her commissioned work, “La Petite Sweet,” a tribute to Duke Ellington.

But he’d rather be at Purchase than on the road.

“Teaching at Purchase has been a wonderful experience. So is being a UUPer and being part of a union that cares about and cares for its members. I’m blessed to be here and I share that with my students,” he said. “I’m still excited about the music.”

— Michael Lisi