Walter Apple has been hired as UUP retiree member services coordinator. He replaces Anne Marine, who retired in April after 12 years of service to the union and its retiree members.

Apple comes to UUP most recently from a temporary position at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, where he worked as an administrative assistant in human resources. Prior to that, Apple worked for nearly two decades at Aetna, starting out as a claims benefits consultant before working his way up to senior customer service representative. In the latter role, he served as concierge for eight direct accounts, as a mentor to represent-atives to increase performance, and as a liaison for the company’s benefits, eligibility and technical divisions.

“Walter comes to UUP with 18 years of customer service experience in health care and dental,” said UUP?President Phil Smith. “He also is knowledgeable in COBRA, HIPAA, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and short- and long-term disability regulations.

“He will be a great asset to our members who are looking toward retirement and to those who are currently retired.”

Committee on Active Retired Membership (COARM) Chair Judy Wishnia and COARM Southern Tier Region Chair Jo Schaffer were involved in the interview process.

— Karen L. Mattison

Being a member of UUP has numerous advantages. Our members have access to discounted programs from UUP and several of our affiliates.

Listed below are some of the benefits available through the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the National Education Association (NEA) and New York State United Teachers (NYSUT).

Start your search engines and embark on a virtual tour of the benefits available to you and your eligible dependents.

AFL-CIO—Browse the AFL-CIO website at www.afl-cio.org and you’ll find low- interest credit cards, scholarships, mortgages, legal services and much more. There is also an AFL-CIO online store where you can purchase union-made items such as T-shirts, hats, buttons, coffee mugs, lapel pins and more.

AFT—AFT+ Member Benefits at www.aft.org/aftplus offers some unique programs, such as moving van discounts, the “Save My Home” hotline, home health care products, pet insurance and Pet Assure veterinary care savings.

There are also many discounts from retailers for products and services ranging from hotels and vacation rentals to entertainment and health clubs.

NEA—With just a click at www.neamb.com, you will find everyday savings on auto purchases, Costco membership, theft protection, credit card reward programs, and the Whirlpool Corporation VIPLINK program. Discounts are also available on health and wellness programs, books and magazines, car rentals, and travel and tours.

Eligible members also can take advantage of the valuable, automatic term life insurance coverage provided by NEA complimentary life insurance, provided at no cost to active, staff, reserve and life members for: Up to $1,000 of term life insurance; up to $5,000 of accidental death and dismemberment coverage; up to $50,000 of AD&D insurance for any covered accident that occurs while on the job or serving as an association leader; and up to $150,000 of life insurance for unlawful homicide while on the job.

Go online to check your eligibility and, while you’re there, don’t forget to name a beneficiary.

NYSUT—Surf your way to NYSUT at www.memberbenefits.nysut.org. Here you will find a long list of retail discounts and other programs, such as a legal service plan, consumer credit counseling, EPIC hearing service plan, Lifeline medical alert, and dozens of insurance programs.

UUP—At www.uupinfo.org, you will find all your negotiated benefits through the Benefit Trust Fund, such as dental, vision, scholarship, and life insurance.

There are also a number of services through the UUP Member Services Trust Fund, including discounts from AT&T, Crystal Rock bottled water, Bally Total Fitness, Enterprise, Hewlett Packard, Goodyear tires, OfficeMax, Sprint, Verizon and more.

On behalf of the UUP Benefit Trust Fund, I would like to wish our members a safe and enjoyable summer.

— Doreen Bango, UUP Manager of Member Benefits and Services

Here’s one thing you don’t get as president of UUP: a crystal ball. So, as The Voice goes to press, it’s impossible to say if New York will have a new state budget by the April 1 deadline. However, all signs point in that direction.

I don’t need to be a clairvoyant to say this: UUP has been running a full-court press to restore the $100 million in state budget cuts earmarked for SUNY in Gov. Cuomo’s Executive Budget.

We’ve also kept up the pressure on lawmakers to return $154 million in state aid to hospitals and restore millions in Medicaid funding that the governor shortsightedly cut from his proposed budget. Our state representatives are seeing things differently in this area, thanks in large part to UUP’s efforts; the Senate is calling for a $115 million restoration, while the Assembly advocates a $64.3 million restoration.

Rest assured we will continue to push legislators to invest in public higher education and reconsider hospital cuts, no matter the odds or what the latest news reports say. As I told a reporter over the din of hundreds of SUNY and CUNY students shouting to save public higher education at the Capitol March 15, this game isn’t over.

As a wise old Yankee once said, it ain’t over till it’s over.

PULLING OUT THE STOPS

Our push for SUNY has been a multi-faceted one that began in late January with the first in a series of weekly Albany advocacy days—that won’t end until the budget is passed. Hundreds of UUPers from all corners of the state came to Albany to tell elected officials how more than $585 million in cuts to SUNY over the past three years have impacted campuses. Members from Brooklyn HSC, Buffalo HSC, Stony Brook HSC, and Upstate Medical University chapters warned lawmakers that cutting state funding to SUNY’s three public hospitals and medical schools would be catastrophic, especially to uninsured and underinsured patients who rely on the hospitals for vital services.

While we held rallies at the state Capitol to bring attention to the proposed SUNY cuts, we took things a step further this year.

IN STEP WITH STUDENTS

In March, we joined with students from SUNY’s Student Assembly and CUNY’s University Senate, at a Student/Faculty Higher Education Action Day at the Capitol. Nearly 500 students, faculty and public higher ed supporters from UUP, NYSUT, the Professional Staff Congress, and the New York Public Interest Research Group took part in the event, which started with a boisterous march to the Capitol and ended with a press conference.

It was a great way to get our message across and an exciting day for SUNY.

ON THE AIR, ON THE WEB

What we didn’t do in person, we did with airwaves and ink.

We saturated the state with our message in March with an extensive advertising campaign that included TV and newspaper ads, billboards and Long Island Rail Road transit posters. The two-pronged campaign was focused on restoring budget cuts to SUNY, and our hospitals and medical schools.

The 30-second TV spot was particularly effective. It featured a student who looked like he was packing for college. In reality, he was packing his dorm room to leave college; state budget cuts made it impossible for him to get courses needed to graduate on time, forcing him to stay an extra year in school—which his parents couldn’t afford—or leave without a degree.

We also revived our saveSUNY.org micro-website, a treasure trove of information about proposed state aid cuts to SUNY and how important SUNY is to New York and New Yorkers.

NEVER SAY NEVER

If you’re reading this and the final 2011-12 budget has restored state cuts to SUNY, thank you for your hard work. If the budget doesn’t restore the cuts, then we’ve got our work cut out for us.

Scores of you heeded the clarion call and joined the battle to save SUNY. But we need you to keep doing what you’ve been doing: spreading the word that public higher education must be a priority in New York. Keep visiting, calling and e-mailing your state representatives. Go to saveSUNY.org and sign our petition, and tell your friends to do the same.

Keep making it clear to lawmakers that state public higher education cuts must end. New York can’t cut itself out of this crisis. It needs a strategy that builds and invests in public higher education, not one that tears it down.

We were hoping that a new year and a new governor would turn a new page when it comes to state funding for SUNY.

Unfortunately, what we got in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed spending plan was the same old story—another bone-deep cut in funding to state-operated campuses and our three teaching hospitals.

The governor slashed SUNY’s state support by 10 percent in his Executive Budget, which would increase the total funding loss for state-operated campuses to about $685 million—or a third of SUNY’s annual operating budget—if it passes.

It’s difficult to say just what the impact of Cuomo’s proposed cuts to our hospitals in Brooklyn, Stony Brook and Syracuse would be, since reduction targets haven’t been identified. But it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to realize that the governor’s plan for massive Medicaid cuts is intolerable and must be rejected, along with his call to eliminate $154 million in state subsidies.

Fortunately, Cuomo’s draft budget is not written in stone. We must work tirelessly to rewrite this bleak chapter by sending a strong message to legislators to “Think Ahead, Invest in Higher Ed.”

This is a time of action for UUPers.

We need you to stand up and speak out against these cuts and proposals. We need you to get involved.

BUILDING BRIDGES

It is imperative that we redouble our coalition-building efforts and align ourselves more closely with area labor federations. Public education is under attack. Organized labor is under attack. It is time to join together with a united voice to fight for fairness and spread the word about the critical importance of proper funding for higher education, and the positive impact union members make at work and in their communities.

UUP is working with New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, a coalition of churches, hospitals, inner city ministries, family health groups and unions—such as NYSUT, CSEA and PEF—to ensure New Yorkers have a quality educational system, affordable health care and housing, and other essentials for job growth and a thriving state economy.

A vibrant public higher education system, one that’s adequately funded, accessible and affordable, is a requisite to reach those goals. We cannot allow the state to reduce SUNY’s funding any further.

SUNY has shouldered far more than its share of reductions, and this trend must be reversed. If it isn’t, expect more of what happened at UAlbany and Geneseo last year, when those campuses announced stinging cuts to humanities and other programs.

Students and parents will find larger classes, fewer instructors and fewer course offerings. Fewer courses would mean an extra year of school—and another year of tuition—for students shut out of classes required for graduation.

ACT II

And then there’s the undying issue of SUNY flexibility.

This year’s plan would permit SUNY to lease campus properties, enter into public/private partnerships with limited oversight and hire services without further approvals from the state comptroller or attorney general. We oppose all those proposals.

However, there are some things we can get behind, like the purchase of goods without the delays inherent in the state comptroller’s approval process.

TIME FOR ACTION

Cuts to SUNY need to stop now. Students can’t afford it. Parents can’t afford it.

SUNY’s future affects the future of hundreds of thousands of New York students looking to public education for a college degree. They have a right to an affordable, quality education, the crux of SUNY’s mission.

We need you, now more than ever, to step up. Please, volunteer to take part in one of our Albany advocacy trips to meet with legislators. Become involved with UUP’s coalition-building efforts. Organize a visit to the home offices of your local legislators. Get involved on your campuses.

Tell everyone you know that investing in SUNY is investing in our future.

To succeed in today’s global economy, workers must be educated, not just trained for a career. That’s why the humanities have always been at the core of higher education.

Courses such as English, history and philosophy teach students how to think, reason and understand the world around them. Greek mythology is much more than the study of the gods and heroes of the ancient Greeks; it’s an avenue to understanding that culture.

The study of languages helps bring the world within reach, as UAlbany’s theme proudly states.

So it’s understandable that the university’s announcement to suspend five humanities courses—French, Italian, Russian, classics and theater—to help absorb heavy-handed state aid reductions sent shock waves across the campus and through the entire SUNY system.

The bad news spread quickly, generating coverage on National Public Radio, and in the Washington Post and The New York Times—whose columnist Stanley Fish claimed UAlbany’s move marked the start of “the crisis of the humanities” in an Oct. 11 editorial. International news outlets such as the British Broadcasting Corp., Radio France and the French newspaper LeMonde have also reported on the cuts.

TARGET: HUMANITIES

Perhaps Fish overstated the danger. But his point is well taken: the humanities are in trouble. An expanding list of public higher education institutions—including Arizona State, Washington State, and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette among others – have targeted the humanities or have them in their budget-cutting crosshairs.

SUNY Geneseo made that list in November when it announced plans to phase out majors in studio art, along with degrees in computer sciences, and communicative disorders and sciences.

Yet a year earlier, Geneseo President Christopher Dahl referred to the Communicative Disorders and Sciences Department as “the gem of the college.” Apparently, this gem has lost some of its sparkle in the eyes of administrators.

Fortunately, no other SUNY schools were contemplating cuts in humanities as The Voice went to press.

COOL HEAD IN TOUGH TIMES

Yes, the economy is in trouble and times are tough. We understand this all too well; SUNY state-operated campuses have been socked with $585 million in state aid reductions since 2008, including the latest mid-year cut ordered by Gov. David Paterson in October, that sent SUNY campuses scrambling to close million-dollar funding gaps.

But now is not the time to turn away from higher education’s overarching mission: to produce well-rounded college graduates who can think critically and reason ethically. We need knowledgeable people who can solve problems, not react to unpredictable situations in predictable ways. A broad liberal arts education gives students a chance to explore, to discover what it is to be human.

College should compel students to consider and assess, to write, and to communicate.

Arts, history, languages and theater courses raise intriguing questions about life and the search for answers. They broaden the consciousness, cultivating a personal understanding as to why the world is as it is.

As budgets are squeezed and unemployment lines grow longer, it’s no surprise to see schools under increasing pressure from students and parents to adjust curriculum to match labor market shifts. But adopting a “cookie cutter” approach to education— where students are tracked into courses with an emphasis on career preparation—is short-sighted.

SHARE THE PAIN

UAlbany’s refusal to even consider trimming budgets across campus instead of cutting the humanities courses is unfortunate, to say the least. UAlbany President George Philip, in the Oct. 15-21 edition of the Capital District Business Review, said that spreading budget cuts across campus was not an option because “cutting across the board is the formula for mediocrity.”

That’s a great sound bite, but do you have any evidence to back up such a claim? Where’s the proof ?

UAlbany UUPers haven’t taken news of the cuts lying down. Along with a group of concerned students and alumni, UUPers have attended student rallies protesting the cuts and signed a petition calling for the programs’ reinstatement; more than 13,000 people signed the petition, which was submitted to administrators on Nov. 1. Also, UAlbany’s Faculty Senate passed resolutions against the cuts in November.

FIGHTING BACK

It’s up to all of us as union members to stand tall for SUNY. We need you to join the fight to protect and enhance SUNY to ensure its future as a vibrant state university system that will provide an affordable, quality education to all New Yorkers.

If we do nothing, we can expect to hear more heartbreaking news of programs and departments being cut at other SUNY campuses to make up for deeper state aid cuts. More jobs will be lost; one of them could be yours.

Talk to your legislators. Explain how SUNY is under siege and how important it is to preserve the integrity of the nation’s largest public higher education system. We need to be loud and bold. The time is now.

We knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

But few expected that SUNY would be under attack on so many fronts, and that the battle would be brought right into our living rooms.

That happened in May, when Gov. David Paterson—who has done more to harm education than any governor in state history—attempted in an emergency spending bill to impose a weekly one-day furlough on more than 100,000 unionized state workers to cut costs until a state budget is passed.

We threw a monkey wrench into those works. UUP—along with Professional Staff Congress/CUNY, CSEA and PEF— won a May 11 federal temporary restraining order to block the furloughs. The governor had a May 26 court date to “show cause” why the furloughs shouldn’t be stopped. This issue, as well as the 2010-11 state budget, were still unresolved as The Voice went to press.

Before moving forward with furloughs, Gov. Paterson threatened layoffs and called for a lag payroll. He insisted we forego contractual salary increases, and then gave huge raises to a number of his aides. He quickly rescinded their raises after news outlets got wind of the spending. If the governor wants to talk, we’ll listen. But any deal worth considering will go to members for ratification, since it constitutes reopening our contract. Our members—not the governor—will control this situation.

SUNY, by the way, stood by quietly as the governor cut campus budgets and forced the furlough issue. SUNY’s Board of Trustees sat still in April, when Stony Brook closed its Southampton campus for “budgetary reasons. Inexplicably, SUNY found $3 million this year to operate The Levin Institute, an entity that lost its state funding last year.

That doesn’t mean that SUNY’s leaders have been complacent. Far from it.

Over the last few months, they kicked into high gear a campaign to press for approval of the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act (PHEEIA), which would allow SUNY schools to raise tuition, and enter into contracts, leases, and other business ventures without state oversight. UUP opposes PHEEIA because we believe it is anti-union, will privatize SUNY, reduce access and erode educational quality.

We have stepped up our resistance to PHEEIA. Our members have made hundreds of visits to legislators and sent thousands of e-mailed faxes urging them to dismiss the Act. We created our Save SUNY website (www.savesuny.org), a Facebook page and a Twitter account to protest PHEEIA and state budget cuts to SUNY.

We also ran television, Internet and print campaigns against PHEEIA and Paterson’s cuts to SUNY, the state’s public hospitals and the New York State Theatre Institute.

So here we are without a state spending plan, more than two months after the state’s April 1 budget deadline.

Let’s use their delay to continue urging legislators to restore the $152 million in state aid cuts slated for SUNY. If those cuts go through, SUNY will have lost more than $562 million—or nearly 25 percent of its operating budget—over the last two years!

Rest assured, no matter what happens, we will hold the chancellor to her recent promise to expend $147 million in SUNY reserves to help cover state aid cuts.

Now more than ever, we need you, our members, to take a stand for SUNY.

Tell students, parents, business owners and other unionized workers about our fight and what saving SUNY can mean to them and all New Yorkers. Visit your legislators and tell them to restore cuts to SUNY, turn away PHEEIA and to vote no on any proposals advanced by the governor to breach our hard-won contract.

We negotiated that contract in good faith. We are expected to uphold our obligations under the contract and we will.

The governor should do the same.

Once again, SUNY finds itself left out in the cold in Gov. David Paterson’s proposed Executive Budget for 2010-11.

Did I say cold? Deep freeze may be a better way to describe it.

In January, the governor lopped off another $118 million in state support. Now, SUNY?is being subjected to an additional “employee savings” cut of $34.4 million, bringing the total cut to nearly $153 million.

As if that weren’t enough, he also proposed his so-called Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act that would allow SUNY campuses to enter into contracts, leases, partnerships and joint ventures without legislative approval or oversight by the attorney general and comptroller. Let me be very clear: This act will lead to privatizing SUNY and its workers! It is clearly an anti-labor proposal.

The plan could also raise tuition by as much as 10 percent next year. It would let campuses unilaterally impose differential tuition fees that wouldn’t be subject to a cap.

SUNY hospitals and health science centers didn’t fare well; they’d be required to absorb $75 million in new mandatory costs and fringe benefits, a recurring theme for more than a decade. This comes on top of $6 million in Medicaid cuts.

And the governor again set his sights on the New York State Theatre Institute (NYSTI), this time proposing that NYSTI’s state funding be reduced by more than half this year and completely cut off by 2011 so it can become a self-supporting agency.

Is it freezing in here, or what?

One thing is certain. Our union will not take this lying down. Enough is enough. We must stand up and fight.

To be successful, we’ll need your help. We must bring our message to state legislators and urge them to keep the University an affordable, accessible educational avenue for students and to provide adequate funding for SUNY hospitals and health science centers.

There is much to fight for. For starters, if the governor’s $153 million cut goes through, SUNY will have lost more than $562 million in state aid over the last two years! That’s well over 25 percent of SUNY’s annual operating budget, and it would leave SUNY with $85 million less in state support than it got in 1990—when it had 40,000 fewer students.

Try cutting your household budget by 25 percent and see how difficult it becomes to make ends meet.

As you well know, many campuses are reeling from the continued cuts to SUNY, and are trying to make do with the least amount of impact to students, staff and programs.

It hasn’t been easy.

Retrenchments are already happening at Morrisville and are under discussion at Fredonia. Hard hiring freezes are in effect at Cobleskill, Fredonia and Stony Brook. At Delhi, operating dollars are at 2002 levels. And most campuses are experiencing larger class sizes and offering fewer courses as fund reserves begin to dwindle and the budget impacts begin to take hold.

This lack of access flies in the face of SUNY’s mission to provide an accessible, affordable, quality education to all New Yorkers. If cuts to SUNY continue, more and more students will be forced to stay in college for an extra semester or an extra year to get the courses they need to graduate.

And students and parents will continue to pay more for less. This year, they shelled out three-quarters of a billion dollars more in tuition than they did 10 years ago.

Gov. Paterson’s plan to let SUNY unilaterally raise tuition is one of the deepest flaws in his Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act. If passed, tuition may rise by as much as 10 percent next year, hitting the proposal’s cap on across-the-board increases. But there’s no cap on differential tuition, a supplemental fee above and beyond across-the-board tuition.

And we’re not buying SUNY’s claim that this “flex plan” will create 10,000 new campus positions and more than 64,000 construction jobs. Tuition would have to rise by $765 just to cover the governor’s proposed cuts—no job creation there.

Hospitals and NYSTI

SUNY’s hospitals must be adequately funded. Besides their teaching mission, our hospitals provide care to indigent and hard-to-treat patients. These institutions have been forced to cover more than $233 million in unfunded, unavoidable spending growth since 2007-08. The time has come to reverse that trend.

Finally, Gov. Paterson’s plan to make NYSTI self-supporting is ill-conceived. NYSTI is much more than a venue for theatrical performances. It is an invaluable educational and cultural resource for children that complements their public school opportunities. For many students, NYSTI provides their first exposure to theater and the arts.

We understand that New York is in financial trouble, but cutting SUNY to the levels proposed by Gov. Paterson and opening the door to huge tuition increases is unfair, unwise and unacceptable. Investing in SUNY is an investment in New York’s future. Now is not the time to slash SUNY.

For UUPers, it is a time of action. We need you to speak out against these cuts and proposals. We need you to get involved.

Please, volunteer to take part in one of our Albany advocacy trips to meet with legislators. Get involved on your campuses. Visit our new micro Web site—SaveSUNY.org—and sign a petition, or go to uupinfo.org and fax a letter to your local legislators.

Now is the time to act. The very viability of SUNY is at stake.

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!

My father is in his mid-80s and while he’s in good health for a man of his age, he’s got his share of pill bottles in the medicine cabinet.

If it weren’t for Medicare, which partially covers the cost of his much-needed medications, the out-of-pocket cost of my father’s prescriptions would run into the thousands of dollars every year.

But like all health care coverage, Medicare costs are on the rise; premiums have doubled over the last eight years and will double again by 2017 if action isn’t taken to stem that growth rate.

If health care reforms aren’t passed this year, all doctors in Medicare are expected to see a 21 percent cut in fees—which means that many doctors will stop seeing Medicare patients, according to Seniors to Seniors.com, a coalition of senior citizen advocacy groups advocating for health care reform. A link to the Seniors to Seniors site can be found on the AFT’s Retiree Web page, at www.aft.org/retirement/index.htm.

As more of us near the Medicare-eligible age of 65, these thoughts can send chills up the spine. That’s why seniors—and all of us—should embrace President Barack Obama’s proposed health care reform plan.

Don’t be afraid, this is good change. It’s about your health—and your life.

I’m proud and pleased that UUP delegates to the Fall DA overwhelmingly approved two resolutions supporting health care reform. One pushed for “meaningful health care reform” while the other asserted equal access to quality health care as a human right. Health care reform is imperative; it must occur so all Americans can have this necessary medical coverage.

Medicare, a program so important to millions of American seniors, will be made stronger in many ways under a health care reform package passed by the House of Representatives in November and a bill being debated by the Senate.

Before I get into the pros of health care reform, let’s dispose of the rumors:

• Health care reform will not create “death panels” that would deny care to seniors for savings. Insurance companies will not be making life-and-death decisions concerning you or your family.

• Health care reform will not cut any guaranteed Medicare services, such as doctor visits, hospital care or rehabilitation services.

• Health care reform will not cause doctors to stop taking Medicare. It’s just the opposite: doctors will be paid fairly, so they will continue treating Medicare patients.

And now, the good news.

According to Seniors to Seniors, the House and Senate bills both keep current Medicare benefits intact and improve coverage with services, like coordinating care for chronic conditions and setting lower costs for preventative care.

Prescription drug prices would drop—keeping cash in seniors’ pockets—by closing the coverage gap, or so-called “doughnut hole” under Medicare Part D coverage. Seniors are in the doughnut hole when their out-of-pocket drug costs exceed $2,700 for the year. Once there, they pay the entire cost of medications for the rest of the year until they reach $4,350—an unlikely scenario—when government subsidies restart.

Doctors will be paid fairly under health care reform, which will keep more of them in the system and make it easier to find a doctor if you don’t have one. Long-term care will be more affordable and there will be protections so spouses of those in long-term care won’t go broke paying for the service.

The quality of treatment and management of diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic conditions will be improved. And Medicare will be beefed up financially, in part by eliminating subsidies to private insurance companies, doing away with system waste and fraud, and ending hospital readmissions by offering follow-up care to help seniors return home and not be readmitted for the same issue in a few days or weeks.

Health care reform is good news for all Americans. A comprehensive public health care plan option will guarantee high-quality, affordable coverage for everyone.

Rising health care costs are putting a strain on family budgets and businesses, sucking away dollars that could be used to help pull the country out of the recession. President Obama’s reform plan will give all Americans affordable health care coverage for the first time, and provide many with the option to choose their coverage. Just as importantly, it will establish quality staffing standards that will improve patient safety and reduce medical errors.

You can help make health care reform a reality by telling your elected officials to support President Obama’s reform plan.

You can do that by going to the UUP Web site, www.uupinfo.org, and click on the large “Call to Action” box near the top of the home page. Once there, go to the bottom of the page and click on the AFT health care reform link. That will bring you to AFT’s online Legislative Action center page, where you’ll find a letter titled “Health Care Reform: The Time is Now!”

For seniors like my father, health care reform means more than lowered drug costs, keeping your doctor and improved care. It’s about peace of mind.

It is time to take a stand.

SUNY is under attack. The University’s viability and its future as a world-class higher education institution are under attack. SUNY’s very mission of quality, accessibility and affordability is under attack.

The latest salvo came Oct. 6, when Gov. David Paterson ordered $90 million in midyear state aid cuts to SUNY. That huge cash grab from the University has knocked SUNY funding to its lowest levels since the 1990s. The implications of these cuts are many, and are all negative for SUNY. We cannot and will not let this happen without a fight.

It is time to take a stand.

For months, I have detailed the dire consequences continued cuts to SUNY would mean for the University, college-bound high school and transfer students and their parents, and New York’s economy.

Now, cuts to SUNY have become so drastic that the cost-cutting measures campuses put in place last year—everything from hiring freezes to cutting courses to increasing class sizes—may not be enough to see them through without considering other, much more unsavory, options.

Already, two departments at Morrisville are in active retrenchment. At Plattsburgh, the administration is threatening to cut 66 positions to help cover a nearly $4 million budget shortfall. And this just in: In just 12 months, more than 153 full-time positions and 468 part-time jobs have been chopped from SUNY.

Meanwhile, more and more financial pressure is being foisted on students and parents in the form of tuition and fees to make up for continued state aid decreases. In 1990, SUNY funded $915 million, or 75 percent of the University’s operating budget, with 25 percent financed by students and parents. Now, the state’s share of SUNY’s budget will be $907 million—$8 million less than it spent 19 years ago! As for the share students and parents will pay this year: a whopping $1.1 billion.

It’s time to take a stand.

Thankfully, many of you have heeded my call for action, joining with the UUP Outreach Committee or working to form and mobilize campus crisis outreach groups to rail against Paterson’s cuts and help spread the word that SUNY is the solution to the state’s economic woes.

In October, more than 100 of you boarded buses to Manhattan and stopped rush hour traffic as you waved signs, shouted chants and marched to protest cuts to SUNY and the City University of New York, which is facing cuts targeted by the state of $53 million.

Others, like UUPers in Plattsburgh, Buffalo, Oneonta, Oswego and Albany, took part in student-led rallies against SUNY cuts at campuses across the state.

That’s right, the students have also launched a battle for SUNY. Led by the SUNY Student Assembly, students on campuses statewide have staged rallies opposing Paterson’s cuts. They also gathered more than 10,000 signatures for their “Many Voices, One SUNY” campaign, which opposes SUNY cuts.

That’s not surprising considering that students are the ones who see and feel firsthand the impact of these cuts: a shortage of courses, fewer, more crowded classes and fewer instructors to teach them. All this after fighting to gain admission to a SUNY school, which has become increasingly tougher as applications and enrollments reach all-time highs.

Students, many of whom were blindsided by a tuition increase in the spring, have more to fear. The governor is proposing to cut $26 million—or about $120 per grant—from the state’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), which helps students pay for college. They are telling lawmakers and the governor they can’t afford these cuts.

I wholeheartedly encourage you to team up with students on your campus to fight these heinous cuts to the University. If you don’t know the student leaders on your campus, you can call the UUP Administrative Office for contact names and numbers.

Speaking of lawmakers, a few of our friends have publicly opposed the governor’s aid reductions. Most recently, Sen. Ken LaValle, ranking minority member of the Senate Higher Education Committee, went on the record saying that SUNY should not be subjected to the type of cuts proposed by the governor.

Sen. Toby Stavisky and Assemblywoman Deborah Glick previously came out against the cuts. Glick said it was “counterintuitive to heap more cuts” on SUNY and CUNY. Stavisky called the reductions “an unfair burden on New York’s students and the state’s economic future.”

Now it’s your turn. We need you to step up and advocate for SUNY. Reach out to the UUP Outreach Committee. Get involved on campus.

At the very least, go to the UUP Web site, www.uupinfo.org, and click on links to letters that will be faxed via computer to Gov. Paterson and state legislators.

We must keep up the fight to protect SUNY students, for quality higher education in New York, and for the state’s economic future. The state university is an engine that can help pull New York from its economic mire.

It’s time to take a stand.