Delhi union delegate Joe Greenfield prepares to drop his ballot in the box.

Running on a platform of change and unity, former statewide vice president for academics Phillip Smith of Upstate Medical University was elected as president of UUP in a special election held during the union’s 2008 Winter Delegate Assembly last month in Albany. This was the first mid-term election for president and the largest DA for attendance in UUP’s 35-year history.

The delegates had a choice between Smith and Frederick Floss of Buffalo State. Of the 340 valid ballots cast, Smith received 185 and Floss picked up 155.

Floss — who had served since Nov. 30 as acting president following the resignation of long-time president William Scheuerman — will stay on as statewide vice president for academics. He is up for re-election during the 2008 Spring DA, scheduled for May 2-3 in Albany.

Smith served as statewide vice president from 2000 to 2004, and as the union’s chief negotiator for the 2003-2007 bargaining agreement between UUP and New York state. He also served as president, vice president for academics and grievance officer for the Upstate Chapter.

In nominating Smith for the presidency, William Simons of Oneonta stressed Smith’s dedication to the union, noting that he earned UUP’s Nina Mitchell Award for Distinguished Service in 2005 and NYSUT’s Higher Education Member of the Year Award in 2006.

“No previous candidate for UUP president has ever had a stronger combination of chapter and statewide leadership and accomplishment,”

Simons said. “Phil will lead by example, affirmation, informed intelligence, wise judgment and hard work.”

“I am honored by the faith the delegates have placed in me to lead this great union,” Smith said. “I’m ready and eager to get to work on developing the skills of our new UUP leaders, strengthening our UUP chapters and continuing to advocate for the resources SUNY needs to be the greatest public university in the nation.”

“I congratulate Phil on a well-run campaign and wish him well as president,” Floss said.

Prior to the Saturday morning election, then Acting President Floss delivered the union’s traditional State of the Union address to delegates. In it, he stressed the need for political action, urging members to tell lawmakers in Albany and in their districts that SUNY is worth the investment.

“Eighty percent of all SUNY graduates live and work in New York,” Floss said. “For the privates, only 25 percent stay in the state. Public higher ed should be properly funded because it’s the biggest bang for the buck.”

Floss said the governor’s Executive Budget proposal to cut $34.2 million from SUNY’s operating budget is unacceptable, and pledged the union’s leadership will fight to have it restored.

“We need mandated costs funded; we need enrollment growth funded,” Floss stressed. “We want our $34 million back and we’re going to get it.”

“This is a process and we’re going to need your help,” he added. “We need you to share your stories with legislators about how we’re doing so much with so little, and how we at SUNY could use their help to do so much more for our students and the communities we serve.”

Close to 100 UUPers showed up for the Professional Delegates Meeting to discuss topics ranging from on-call/recall pay and shift differentials, to permanent appointment and the evaluation process.

Vice President for Professionals John Marino said the delegates in attendance strongly supported hosting a conference dedicated to professional issues, and they urged him to use the conference as a tool to reach out to newer members.

“Our members at the chapters are interested in serving their union, and that’s why we need to education them,” Marino said. “I plan to do more of this.”

Professional delegates discussed the creation of an educational video on the evaluation process that clearly outlines the dos and don’ts. Delegates also supported a call for early permanent appointment, perhaps after four years.

Marino said he will update the “Guide for Professionals at SUNY” to include the latest contract gains and the “issues of most concern to chapter vice presidents for professionals.”

The director of the Buffalo office of the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) offered some valuable advice to members of the union’s statewide Affirmative Action Committee.

“If you’re appealing a decision on tenure, you should not wait until the appeal process is completed before filing a complaint with the EEOC,” advised EEOC Director Elizabeth Cadle. “You run the risk of going past the 300-day statute of limitations.”

She explained the appeal process can drag on for some time. She said if an individual misses the 300-day window, his only avenue of appeal is to file suit in state Supreme Court, a process, she said, that could take years.

Cadle explained the EEOC is not there to point an accusing finger.

“We are neutral fact finders,” she said. “We’re going to hear from both sides and we’ll make a decision if the law was broken. We don’t decide who’s right or wrong.”

UUP honored two state legislators with its annual Friend of SUNY Award: Sen. Catharine Young (R-Jamestown) and Assemblyman Peter Rivera (D-Bronx).

In accepting her award, Young said she will remain a partner with UUP in the push to invest in more full-time faculty.

“I consider my family to be a SUNY family,” Young said. She went to SUNY Fredonia, and has children and a nephew attending the SUNY colleges at Geneseo and Brockport, and a daughter who graduated from Geneseo.

“You are challenging minds, inspiring hope and lifting spirits. You’re making a difference,” Young said. “I am very, very proud to be a part of it.”

Guillermo Martinez, Rivera’s director of legislation and communications, accepted the award for the assemblyman. “He wants me to tell you that he supports and respects your work,” Martinez said. “He finds it disturbing that we are falling behind other nations in matters of diversity.”

Pedro Caban, SUNY vice provost for diversity and educational equity, praised the commitment of UUP and Rivera in establishing the SUNY Office of Diversity and Educational Equity.

“Since the beginning, UUP has been behind our efforts to build an office that will have an impact on diversity at SUNY,” Caban said. “In today’s world, students need exposure to multiplicity … so when they graduate and work in a global environment, they’ll be prepared. … The union is aware of this and supports our efforts.”

In other business, delegates:

• adopted a resolution that directs the UUP president to urge lawmakers to add $4.5 million to the Executive Budget proposal for SUNY’s Office of Diversity and Educational Equity;

• OK’d a resolution urging UUP to show its support for the General Union of Oil Employees based in Basra, Iraq, to secure a free and independent labor union. The resolution points out that the anti-labor policies of Saddam Hussein remain in effect, and that existing public sector unions are without legal protections. UUP will communicate its demands to elected officials, and will call on NYSUT, AFT and the AFL-CIO to adopt similar resolutions;

• approved a resolution from the Solidarity Committee that calls on SUNY purchasing officers to implement the intent of New York’s sweatfree legislation by seeking contracts with sweatfree vendors. The resolution also calls on the union to advocate for the extension of sweatfree provisions to cover all state apparel contracts;

• adopted a resolution from the Committee on Active Retired Membership that urges UUP, its affiliates, the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA) and other appropriate organizations to coordinate their social service networks with Adult Protective Services. The goal: to be able to intervene and assist in potential investigations in elder abuse cases;

• approved a resolution encouraging UUP to insist that all charges and legal proceedings against SUNY Buffalo UUPer Steven Kurtz be dropped. The resolution stresses that Kurtz — an artist whose controversial work led to federal charges of bio-terrorism, later reduced to mail fraud punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison — is being persecuted for his criticism of Bush administration policies;

• expressed appreciation to delegate Paul Zarembka of SUNY Buffalo for establishing a leadership listserv to promote the free and open exchange of ideas. In a related matter, delegates asked the statewide Executive Board to investigate how the listserv was shutdown, and to establish safeguards to ensure that the moderator of the listserv be “the first point of contact in any and all matters affecting members of UUP;” and,

• donated nearly $600 to the UUP College Scholarship Trust Fund. Included as part of the Scholarship Development Committee’s fund-raising efforts was a drawing for a Donor Wall of Hope brick, valued at $100. Margaret Evans of Empire State College won the brick, which she will have engraved with the name of the late UUP president John M. Reilly.

For more on the 2008 Winter DA, go to www.uupinfo.org.

— Karen L. Mattison

(with staff reports)