UUP has escalated its drive to keep Upstate Medical University in Syracuse part of SUNY by initiating a lawsuit.

Assemblyman Jack Quinn, left, and UUP statewide VOTE/COPE Coordinator Tom Tucker of SUNY Buffalo talk about how important SUNY-operated hospitals are to New York state during a recent Committee of 100 advocacy event hosted by NYSUT. Tucker was joined by hundreds of his K-12 union colleagues.

The litigation, filed March 27 in state Supreme Court in Albany, seeks to derail the Berger Commission’s mandate to merge Upstate and neighboring Crouse Hospital under the control of “an entity other than SUNY.” UUP alleges the Berger Commission’s recommendation to join the two hospitals — which became law Jan. 1 after the Legislature failed to reject or amend it — is unconstitutional, irrational and illegal because it seizes decision-making capacity that by law belongs to elected officials.

 “It was not up to the Berger Commission to make a public policy decision about a public institution,” UUP President William E. Scheuerman said in announcing the lawsuit.  “Only the state Legislature has the authority to make a policy decision to take a public entity out of public control, and there is no rationale for making such a decision for Upstate Medical University.”

UUP contends the Berger Commission exceeded its authority by recommending a change in governance or the privatization of any SUNY entity. UUP also points out the Commission never explained why it seeks to remove Upstate Medical University from SUNY governance, nor did it suggest what form the new governance should take.  

In the lawsuit, the union argues that separating Upstate Medical University from SUNY would undermine its vital public health, teaching and research mission.

The filing of the lawsuit does not close the door on finding a negotiated solution with the governor and the Legislature, but the lack of any such agreement thus far forced the issue.

“Time limits in the court system require this step to keep all options open,” explained NYSUT President Richard Iannuzzi. Attorneys for NYSUT are handling the litigation for UUP.

“We are filing suit to protect the rights of our members and the health of the patients they serve, but at the same time we will continue to look for ways to work cooperatively with the state to resolve this issue,” Scheuerman said.

Named in the suit as defendants are New York state, Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the state Health Department (DOH) and its commissioner Dr. Richard Daines, the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century (commonly known as the Berger Commission), and its chairman Stephen Berger.

DOH and Daines are named since the agency has the responsibility for implementing the Berger Commission’s recommendations and have already taken steps to do so. For example, as noted in the suit, Upstate Medical University President David Smith has been ordered by DOH to complete an agreement to merge Upstate Medical Center and Crouse by Dec. 31, 2007. If he fails to do so, DOH could revoke Upstate’s operating certificate.      

Also named are the state Dormitory Authority and its executive director, Maryanne Gridley. The agency was assigned to conduct research for the Berger Commission.          

UUP’s fight to keep Upstate Medical University within SUNY also continued in other areas. The union launched a multi-media campaign that included a 30-second TV commercial which aired in Albany and central New York in late March. The commercial warned of the consequences of removing University Hospital from SUNY, including the possible loss of the regional trauma center, the Clark Burn Center and affordable medical education.

UUP moved beyond its traditional advocacy to conduct an innovative Internet media campaign to rally support. The union spearheaded a “viral” online campaign, asking recipients to forward the link to their friends and associates, who in turn would forward the link to their respective contacts.

Banner ads purchased at more than 500 Web sites targeted specifically at Internet users in a 15-county area around Syracuse directed them to a streaming video that powerfully makes the case for keeping Upstate Medical University within SUNY. The banner ad reached nearly four million Internet visitors.

The video — also accessible through the UUP, NYSUT, AFT and AFL-CIO Web sites — spotlights a bicyclist who received lifesaving treatment at Upstate Medical after suffering a head injury, plus a hospital nurse and a Syracuse firefighter touting the vital services of Upstate and why it should remain a SUNY hospital. Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers received the video via e-mail from UUP, the AFL-CIO and the International Association of Firefighters.

More than 100,000 students at SUNY and Syracuse University (SU) who use Facebook also got access to the video. The intent: to garner support from other SUNY campuses and from SU students who stand to lose vital medical services in their own backyard.

The video links to an e-mail message directed at Gov. Spitzer, telling him to keep Upstate Medical University within SUNY.

UUP’s viral campaign also features an online petition circulated to thousands of concerned citizens warning that privatizing SUNY’s Upstate Medical University would be wrong for New Yorkers. Nearly 3,000 people signed the petition in the first week, many composing their own messages. The petition will be sent to the governor this spring.

Among the impassioned messages on the petition is one that states: “If it’s privatized and taken out of SUNY, it’s likely that any services that don’t turn a profit will be shut down — and that would include the only level-one trauma center in the 14 counties surrounding Syracuse and the only burn unit serving the surrounding 27 counties. For some in upstate New York, the distance to a level-one trauma center would double. Simply put, taking Upstate out of the SUNY system and privatizing it would cost lives in upstate New York.”

—    Donald Feldstein

Weeks of traveling to Albany by UUPers, crowding into elevators packed like sardines, and knocking on the doors of dozens of state lawmakers have paid off for UUP in the form of a positive state budget.

“Last year’s budget that provided $148.8 million in additional funding for SUNY’s state-operated campuses was the best higher education budget in a generation,” said UUP President William Scheuer-man. “This year, we did even better.”

In the flurry of activity that preceded passage of the new state budget April 1, the Legislature added $17.5 million in spending for SUNY. Combine that with the additional $143.2 million included in the Executive Budget, and the overall increase comes to $160.7 million.          

But this positive outcome could not have happened without the tireless advocacy of UUP, fueled by the union’s final two advocacy days as the Legislature prepared to enact the final budget.

Nearly two dozen UUPers were among a total of 740 members of NYSUT, UUP’s statewide affiliate, during NYSUT’s Committee of 100 advocacy day.

“This is the first year we’ve had such a large group,” noted NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan Lubin. Among their targets: keeping Upstate Medical University in Syracuse part of SUNY, despite the Berger Commis-sion’s recommendation to merge Upstate with neighboring Crouse Hospital under the control of an entity other than SUNY.

“This is part of an ideologically motivated attack by right-wing groups trying to undermine the legitimacy of public education,” said Stephen Allinger, NYSUT’s director of legislation. “NYSUT stands with UUP,” he said, referring to the lawsuit that was filed eight days later.

“We’re worried about the possible death of public hospitals,” Kathy Southerton of Stony Brook HSC told Sen. John Flanagan, adding she was disappointed lawmakers didn’t overturn the Berger Commission report when they had the chance in December.

Political Action Committee Chair Tom Tucker of SUNY Buffalo expressed to Assemblyman Jack Quinn the union’s opposition to the Berger Commission recommendation regarding the SUNY hospitals. “Hopefully this can be fixed,” Tucker said.

Close to two dozen UUP members from around the state descended on Albany for Retiree/Tech Sector/ NYSTI Advocacy Day.

NYSTI Chapter President John Romeo made the most of the opportunity by meeting with state Assembly Majority Leader Ron Canestrari.

“We’re committed to giving kids a little bit of theater culture,” Romeo told Canestrari while asking for funding for NYSTI to accomplish its mission. “We’re the only cultural event some schools get to see.”

Canestrari expressed support for NYSTI, telling Romeo, “You do a great job.”

UUPers also put in their final pitch for additional funding for more full-time faculty during their visits to nearly four dozen lawmakers.

The final budget included up to $10 million to hire as many as 150 more full-time faculty.

“While we hoped for more, these added funds keep the momentum going by enabling SUNY to hire more full-time faculty for the second year in a row,” Scheuerman said. “But our work is far from done. We need to press our efforts next year to help replenish the number of full-time faculty diminished by years of underfunding.”

—Donald Feldstein