Officers testify, members protest against commission recommendations
The ink was barely dry on the Berger Commission’s report released Nov. 28 before UUP began mounting an aggressive drive against its recommendations.
Right, UUP President Bill Scheuerman testifies in Manhattan in opposition to the Berger Commission recommendations that SUNY hospitals be privatized UUP Treasurer and Brooklyn HSC Chapter President Rowena Black-Stroud also testified at the hearing.
“We are very troubled by the recommendations in the commission’s report, which would devastate the public health mission of the state university hospitals,” UUP President William Scheuerman said in a statement released the same day, calling on the Legislature to reject the commission’s recommendations. But that represented merely the first salvo of an all-out campaign to save the three SUNY-operated hospitals.
Fighting the good fight
Just three days later, Scheuerman delivered a strong message in testimony before the state Senate Health Committee in Albany. Before a packed hearing room, he characterized the commission’s report as “a recipe for disaster,” warning the commission’s recommendations would potentially force the three SUNY hospitals and their affiliated medical schools to close.
“These hospitals provide a lifeline for their communities, offering services many may not otherwise have access to,” Scheuerman said. He took issue with the report’s call for a study on privatizing the three public teaching hospitals.
“If privatized, it is likely that many of the more expensive and unique of these critical services provided would be cut back or, more likely, completely abolished,” he said.
Members protest outside hospitals
UUP ratcheted up the pressure on state lawmakers to reject the commission’s report with two rallies Dec. 11 at opposite ends of the state. Teaming up with members of NYSUT, the Public Employees Federation and the Civil Service Employees Association, UUP protested outside SUNY Stony Brook’s Health Sciences Center and the Syracuse OnCenter, the site of one of seven public hearings on the commission’s report being held the same day by the Assembly.
About 150 sign-bearing unionists walked and chanted, “They say cut back, we say fight back,” in Syracuse, where Upstate Medical University would be privatized by consolidating with Crouse Hospital.
“We won’t let it happen,” UUP Vice President for Academics Frederick Floss shouted at the rally. That demonstration drew more than 75 UUP members — not just from Upstate, but also from Empire State College, Oswego and Cortland, whose members protested in support of their union brothers and sisters. UUP leaders presented testimony during each of the seven hearings across the state that day, echoing the message that Scheuerman conveyed in Manhattan.
And the fate of Upstate was part of his message.
“After the 9-11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, Upstate stood ready to treat the survivors,” Scheuerman said, referring to Upstate’s state-of-the-art burn unit. “The terrorist threat hasn’t gone away, so where would we send the survivors if terrorists strike again?”
Scheuerman warned that the burn unit was one of the many vital services that would disappear if the three SUNY public hospitals were privatized.
UUP Treasurer Rowena Blackman-Stroud testified with Scheuerman at the New York City hearing. She stressed that Brooklyn HSC, where she serves as UUP chapter president, also stands ready to help New Yorkers after a terrorist attack or epidemic, and is uniquely qualified to do so as a public institution.
“New York City is a mecca for travelers from all over the world and must maintain its capacity to handle medical crises involving new infectious diseases and other unknown health emergencies, such as large-scale terrorist attacks,” Blackman-Stroud told lawmakers. “Moreover, in times of medical crisis, it is essential to have hospitals that are directly accountable to the Legislature and the people of New York. We question whether Brooklyn’s irreplaceable services — including its intensive care unit, three community health centers and a dialysis center — would survive privatization.”
— Donald Feldstein