The making of an advocate often has its roots in a single defining moment, when a worker realizes there’s no other place to turn except the union.

Barbara Habenstreit, one of UUP’s most stalwart activists, can remember the day 20 years ago when she sought help from her union for the first time. She’s never looked back since then.

New York state had instituted a systemwide job reclassification for professionals at SUNY, and Habenstreit — a journalist and author turned administrator at Brooklyn HSC — suddenly realized that she needed help appealing the much lower salary cap in her new classification.

“So I turned to the union, which I had never needed before,” recalled Habenstreit, the chapter vice president for professionals at Brooklyn HSC. “And suddenly I needed it, because I was going to appeal, and that was the only way you could appeal it — through the union.”

Habenstreit ended up volunteering to help her chapter process the more than 300 appeals during the reclassification, in a gesture that set the pattern for her hands-on approach to unionism. And UUP came through for her: She ended up with a higher salary cap for her job classification.

That experience, Habenstreit recalled, “showed me what the union can do. It was something I took very seriously.”

Habenstreit retired in December 2005 after 27 years at Brooklyn HSC, where she was the administrator of preventive medicine and community health. She completed her final term as chapter vice president for professionals this past June.

With her will go an exceptional record of service to UUP, and a reputation for advocacy that will be difficult to replace, said Brooklyn HSC Chapter President Rowena Blackman-Stroud.

“Hers is really a history of advocacy,” Blackman-Stroud said. “People get involved in the union for different reasons, but hers is one of total advocacy. And it was the way she did it — she gave it her all.”

Among Habenstreit’s credits: Service on the statewide UUP Outreach Committee; a stint as statewide VOTE/COPE coordinator; and longtime membership on the Joint Labor/Management Committee on Employment.

Prior to joining Brooklyn HSC, Habenstreit worked as an editor, magazine journalist and author, who produced seven nonfiction books, mostly about civil liberties and the U.S. government. She turned that background into union service as the editor of her chapter newsletter.

She also served on the UUP Negotiations Team in 2000, where her vast experience, record of advocacy and involvement in many social justice projects through her union work and her job made her a trusted advisor to then-Chief Negotiator Thomas Matthews of Geneseo.

“She was always the one I could depend on for a straight, honest assessment of whatever we were dealing with,” Matthews recalled. “As a Team member, her insights were critical.”

Habenstreit has many good memories of special projects at Brooklyn HSC that dovetailed the union’s focus on community service with her dedication to the health care field. Among her favorite projects: Bringing free pap tests and breast cancer screenings to neighborhood clinics that targeted low-income women, who often lacked regular health care.

“That was very rewarding work,” Habenstreit recalled. But the clinics operated mostly on grants, she added, and as a result, they continue on a much smaller scale. The effort to serve the often high-need population in the hospital’s own back yard, and the effort to obtain adequate funds with which to do that, have been driving forces in Habenstreit’s long record of advocacy at Brooklyn HSC.

For this longtime unionist, the advocacy never ends.

“If we keep at it, and keep working on it, we can succeed,” Habenstreit said.

— Darryl McGrath

Sometimes, changing the way the world thinks begins close to home.

And so as the NYSUT Fair Trade Task Force marks its first year, its members are expanding the group’s reach into school districts and college campuses around the state, said UUP Membership Development Officer Edward Quinn. Quinn is a founding appointee to the task force, which also has members from NYSUT and the New York State Labor-Religion Coalition.

In its first year, the task force formed a strong relationship with Equal Exchange, a supplier of fair-trade food products. UUP members sampled and purchased those products from a task force display booth at two Delegate Assemblies in the last year.

Now, the task force is trying to learn which school districts and campuses adhere to fair trade and fair labor practices in their coffee shops and stores, Quinn said. The task force is also developing lesson plans and training materials for teachers that will be used to explain the goals of the fair trade movement.

“We’re contacting NYSUT local presidents and UUP chapter presidents to see if they can find out what’s going on with their campus or their school district,” Quinn said. “What we’re trying to do is get out there to the school districts and the campuses and get the message out. Ultimately, what we want to try to do is offer them an alternative.”

NYSUT created the Fair Trade Task Force last year following the 2006 NYSUT Representative Assembly, at which representatives approved a resolution to promote fair trade. The task force follows the Labor-Religion Coalition’s definition of fair trade, which most commonly, but not exclusively, refers to coffee, tea and chocolate, Quinn said. Under that definition, the “fair trade” designation guarantees a price that can support the families of the workers in that industry; protects the environment; supports democracy and local communities; promotes education; and encourages a sustainable model of international trade.

The NYSUT Social Studies Curriculum Committee has also been working with the task force to prepare a series of lesson plans about fair trade that will be offered for use in social studies classes in school districts around the state, said Maureen Casey, the Labor-Religion Coalition’s international project coordinator and a member of the Fair Trade Task Force. Equal Exchange has told the task force that the lesson plans are also noteworthy because they conform with New York’s strict state standards for curriculum, Casey said.

“Equal Exchange is thrilled; we are thrilled,” Casey said. “Once people know about fair trade, they’re tremendously excited about it and want to run with it. That has been this year’s lesson.”

— Darryl McGrath

Two years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is still crying out in need. And two years after the storm, UUP members are still giving their time and their talent to help this proud but nearly moribund region revive.

Two UUP members — Sandra Spier and Janelle Gordon, both of Brooklyn Health Science Center — were part of a group of 40 unionists from around the country who traveled to New Orleans for two weeks in late June and early July to help repair homes and schools.

In volunteering to be part of AFT’s Union Summer program, Spier and Gordon also became the latest members to participate in what has become a passionate commitment for UUP. Members from around the state have made more than a dozen trips to New Orleans and the surrounding region to help with rescue and recovery. Some chapters have made multiple trips, either through union programs at the state or national levels, or through collaborative community efforts.

A shocking sight — still

Spier and Gordon struggled to find the words to adequately convey their reaction to the devastation. Their descriptions of abandoned neighborhoods, children who had drifted nearly two years without attending school and homes falling apart reflected the shocked impressions of their UUP sisters and brothers who had seen earlier versions of the destruction.

Perhaps the saddest part of all, both women said, is the realization that many of the worst-hit sections of the city seem to have hardly recovered. Their colleagues who journeyed to New Orleans in the weeks and months after Katrina described huge swaths of the city as abandoned wastelands. Much of that bleak scenery appears to have hardly changed, Spier and Gordon said.

“There’s not much infrastructure in many of the schools,” Spier said. “The Lower 9th Ward is not habitable; there’s no water, no schools. In the Upper 9th Ward, one out of five homes is affected. So you can see why people aren’t rushing to fix things up.”

Children lose precious time, schooling

Gordon had a chance to talk with some students while she helped paint hallways in a high school in the Upper 9th Ward. The children had lived like refugees in

an undeveloped nation for most of the last two years. They described an odyssey that started with their families fleeing the killer floods in New Orleans, extended to a series of temporary homes and ended with their return to their barely recognizable city.

“They just got back into school in January, so they had been out of school for a year and a half,” Gordon said. “These kids had lived in three different states.”

She found the children’s stories wrenching, even as she realized that the children were true survivors.

“I guess children are very resilient,” Gordon said. “They thought of it as a one big adventure; I was bawling.”

Difficult conditions, heartfelt appreciation

Spier and Gordon were part of a group of nine New Yorkers who joined unionists from all over the country. The

volunteers stayed in dormitories at the University of New Orleans, where they had air conditioning but sporadic power; lights would go out and elevators would stop in mid-travel. Strangers bound together for two weeks as volunteers made do with the unpredictable conditions, because they realized that any inconvenience was both temporary and minimal compared to what New Orleans residents have faced.

“Everyone was working together as a unified group,” Spier said.

Contact with residents was limited, because so few people have been able to return to the neighborhoods where the volunteers were working, Gordon said. But in her few conversations with residents, she came away knowing that residents recognized that she was a unionist, and appreciated that fact. New Orleans has seen its share of well-meaning volunteer organizations whose good intentions ended up as disorganized or limited assistance. Gordon said she came away from her two weeks with the feeling of a job well done.

“Because we were union people and because we went with a true caring spirit, everyone that I worked with did what they did well, and cared about what they did,” she said. “It was a job to be pleased with, because we cared.”

— Darryl McGrath

They’re poised to help lead UUP into the future.

About 30 newly elected UUP delegates and 23 newly elected chapter leaders came to Albany in June for separate orientation sessions.

“We’re here to help you,” UUP President William Scheuerman said as he welcomed the new leaders. “We get a lot accomplished,”

he added, pointing to the union’s aggressive and successful effort to keep Upstate Medical University in Syracuse within SUNY. “UUP is the most effective statewide union in the political realm.”

Preparing new strategies

Several of the new leaders spoke of their plans to energize their respective chapters. As the new chapter president of Stony Brook HSC, Kathleen Southerton said her goal is to get more people involved, and she plans to do that by communicating with chapter members through more newsletters. She hopes that continuing biweekly orientations with recently hired employees will yield positive results.

“We’ll try to get new faculty to sign up with the union on their first day,” she said.

The Plattsburgh chapter’s new president, David Curry, will use his training to reach out to about 30 faculty members involved in satellite academic programs based at Adirondack Community College in Glens Falls, about 110 miles from Plattsburgh’s main campus.

“The leadership workshop was very helpful,” he said. “The overall advantage of collective bargaining representation is something I’ll want our new members working from Adirondack Community College to know about.”

The new leaders’ training provided an overview of the resources available through UUP, plus a workshop on problem solving.

Fresh faces

For most of the new delegates, the training session represented their first foray into union leadership. Many said their chapter presidents encouraged them to become delegates.

Diane Baldwin-Bello, a professional at SUNY Stony Brook, said she wanted to be more involved with her campus and UUP.

“The training gave me a better understanding of how things work and what UUP does to support its members,” she said.

Who’s the boss?

For both the new leaders and delegates, Scheuerman stressed that he and the union’s other leaders remember who they’re working for.

“We all work for you,” he said. “You guys are the bosses. We’re all here to serve the interests of our membership.”

The new leaders began their two-year terms June 1.

The new delegates will be seated beginning at the 2007 Fall Delegate Assembly, scheduled for Sept. 28-29 in Buffalo.

—Donald Feldstein

UUPers mounted an aggressive effort to secure passage of the union’s legislative agenda during a series of advocacy days in Albany.

UUPers knocked on the doors of no less than 60 state lawmakers combined during NYSUT Higher Education Advocacy Day Feb. 27, and University Center/Health Science Center/Optometry Advocacy Day March 6. On March 13, more than 40 UUPers returned to the Capitol for University College/EOP/EOC/Library/ Part-timer Advocacy Day, and visited 50 legislators.

“The next three weeks are crucial,” UUP President William Scheuerman told the union advocates of the task before them. “This is the year where we really have to turn the corner.”

UUP began turning that corner last year when it convinced state lawmakers to override the veto of then-Gov. George Pataki to add $25 million to the state budget to enable SUNY to hire more full-time faculty. This year, the emphasis was on maintaining that momentum.

Fredonia UUPers Ziya Arnavut, left and Tom Morrissey listen to Assemblyman Darrel Aubertine's response to their request for more funding for SUNY

Higher Ed Advocacy Day

UUPers wasted no time getting started on their initial advocacy day, emphasizing the need for an additional $35 million in this year’s state budget to hire as many as 350 more full-time faculty. They also forcefully spoke against the privatization of the three SUNY-operated hospitals in Brooklyn, Syracuse and Stony Brook, sparked by the recommendations of the Berger Commission.

“The Berger report was supposed to be about beds, not privatization,” UUP Vice President for Academics Frederick Floss told Assemblyman Darrel Aubertine.

UUP garnered support from many legislators. For example, Sen. Catherine Young said she realizes SUNY’s need for more full-time academic and professional faculty. The senator used a personal anecdote to reflect her support for additional resources for SUNY libraries.

“My daughter who attends Geneseo had to go to the University of Rochester because Geneseo’s library didn’t have what she needed,” Sen. Young observed.

SUNY Outreach Committee Chair Glenn McNitt of New Paltz pressed the need for additional subsidies for the SUNY hospitals and opposed privatizing them in his meeting with Sen. John Boniac. UUP seeks a $22 million increase in the state subsidy to the SUNY hospitals, $35 million to begin closing the hospitals’ annual operating deficits, and $5 million for Buffalo HSC. Boniac said he was impressed with UUP’s knowledge about hospitals, and made a pledge.

“The Legislature will be your ally,” Boniac said. “We will not let the state devastate the hospitals.”

The perils of privatization got a strong airing during a meeting with Assembly-man William Magnarelli.

“If we lose our burn unit and trauma center to privatization, where are our students going to get the training?” asked David Peckham of Upstate Medical University.

Univ. Ctr./HSC/Optometry Day

Nearly 20 UUPers from Brooklyn, including Chapter President and UUP Treasurer Rowena Blackman-Stroud, made the trip to Albany along with a

group from Upstate Medical to zero in on the needs of the SUNY hospitals. The Brooklyn delegation stressed the services it offers that could be lost to privatization, including its highly-regarded intensive care unit, as well as its three community health centers.

Upstate Chapter President Phillip Smith asked lawmakers to consider having Upstate assume control over neighboring Crouse Hospital in Syracuse. The Berger report had recommended the two hospitals merge, but become a private entity.

“It makes no sense to take a public institution and merge it with a private entity that’s in trouble,” Smith said, referring to Crouse’s financial difficulties. “The better fix is a quicker fix. Merge Crouse into SUNY,” he recommended.

“We could not run our fellowships at Upstate if we didn’t offer some of the specialized services we have now,” warned Mike Lyon of Upstate, referring to the anticipated loss of some expensive critical care health services if the hospital were privatized.

But the day didn’t belong exclusively to the hospitals. UUPers also advocated for additional full-time faculty for the next year, asking for a three-year plan that would increase the ranks of full-time faculty by 1,000.

Univ. College/EOP/EOC/Library/ Part-timer Advocacy Day

Nearly four dozen UUPers, many of whom came to advocate for the first time, arrived as lawmakers began to pass budget bills. Several stressed the need for more full-time faculty to decrease the reliance on part-time faculty.

“Part-timers are not as available to students because of their part-time

status,” Edward Wesnofske of Oneonta told Assemblyman David Townsend. “And part-timers are not paid to advise students.”

UUPers strongly made the case for more funds to support campus libraries. Ronald Foster of the Utica/Rome chapter said there’s not enough money to acquire all the books that students need.

“Libraries often get overlooked at the expense of spending on technology,” Mila Su of Plattsburgh claimed during a meeting with Assemblyman Joel Miller.         

A+ for advocacy

Based on the favorable response by state lawmakers, McNitt summed up the first three advocacy days as a smashing success.

“The reaction was overwhelmingly positive,” he said. “Everyone we spoke to is aware of the Berger Commission and its impact on SUNY, and I’m heartened by that.”

— Donald Feldstein