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The UUP Spring Delegate Assembly is usually a hectic, productive business meeting.
This year’s event was all that and then some.
From rallying at the state Capitol against the Division of the Budget plan to freeze SUNY revenues, to approving UUP’s 2008-2009 budget, to electing statewide officers and Executive Board members, UUPers showed they were ready to take action and eager to make their voices heard.
Delegates came from near and far — and really far — to do so. Ezra Zubrow of SUNY Buffalo traveled from Australia to be at the DA. Robert Compton of Oneonta returned from Zimbabwe to attend.
The 2008 Spring DA took place May 2-3 in Albany, less than a month after the Division of the Budget announced it would withhold nearly $110 million in funds SUNY receives from students and families for tuition, fees for dormitories and other payments. Also included in that amount: dollars collected by SUNY’s three hospitals from patients and their private insurers.
That topic was on the minds of UUPers throughout the DA as they discussed and drafted resolutions, worked to set policy and planned for future union events,
during workshops and in small and large group sessions. Lillian Taiz, president of the California Faculty Association, was the event’s featured speaker, sharing her union’s solidarity success stories and organizing tips with close to 300 delegates.
Taiz didn’t need to do much to motivate members, who were fresh and still fired up from a noon rally on the steps of the state Capitol. (See related story, page 12.) UUP members were joined by members of NYSUT, NYPIRG and students from the University at Albany and SUNY Oneonta, wearing placards, carrying signs, shaking noisemakers and chanting slogans such as “Save SUNY now!”
UUP President Phillip Smith had strong words for legislators, demanding that SUNY rescind its freeze immediately.
“Unless we make all of the parts whole, SUNY won’t be able to keep functioning, and students, parents and the whole New York economy will suffer,” Smith said.
Matt Cedar, a 22-year-old SUNY Oneonta student, said he drove to Albany to be at the rally to show his support. “I’m a student in the SUNY system and I have a vested interest in this,” he said.
Taiz, NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan Lubin and state Sen. Neil Breslin (D-Delmar) also spoke at the rally.
During the May 2 plenary session, Smith urged members to send a letter to the governor, calling for him to rescind the fund freeze. Delegates responded by signing more than 250 letters.
Smith urged delegates to tell their members, families and friends about the threat to SUNY’s future, and encourage them to join in UUP’s efforts. (See how to send a fax to the governor, page 8.)
Smith said he was planning to meet with several newspaper editorial boards and was working on other “avenues of attack” to make the union’s voice heard.
Delegates re-elected three statewide officers and voted five new members onto the Executive Board. They also approved UUP’s $8.18 million annual operating budget and took action on nearly a dozen resolutions and briefly discussed
a constitutional amendment to create a Retiree Chapter.
Delegates also took part in academic and professional delegates meetings.
More than 50 members attended the professional delegates meeting, featuring panel discussions on performance programs and evaluations and promotions and salary increases.
Performance program panelists discussed the importance of having a working performance program and evaluations mechanism on campus. Performance programs can make a difference when it comes to getting promotions and pay raises, they said. “It is the pathway to pay increases and promotions,” said panelist David Ramsey of Cobleskill.
Panelists discussed the success of performance programs in place on their campuses, adding that engaging the campus’ human resources department in the process is key.
The Promotions and Salary Increases panel discussed how promotions and raises were handled on their campuses and the problems some members have faced
in getting them. The UUP contract states that professionals can request raises or promotions at any time, said panelist Raymond Gleason of Alfred.
Vice President for Professionals John Marino said he’s planning a series of regional panels on similar topics to be held during the academic year.
Meanwhile, academic delegates discussed the major role UUP played in helping to establish SUNY’s Office of Diversity and Educational Equity.
Raul Huerta of Morrisville said he enlisted the support of Assemblyman Peter Rivera (D-Bronx), who brought Huerta’s plan to meet the needs of Hispanic students on his campus to SUNY. UUP’s support and strength helped make the program meaningful.
Vice President for Academics Frederick Floss said the diversity drive gave UUP a unique opportunity to work with state lawmakers from the New York City delegation, among others.
“Their attention had not been centered on SUNY,” he said. “We told them we wanted to help students from their districts who attended SUNY schools, and that message produced results.”
Delegates also heard from Martha Livingston of Old Westbury, who led a discussion on the National Health Insurance Act, a bill proposed by U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan).
The legislation would provide a single-payer national health care program that Livingston urged members to support.
The late Katherine Carter, the wife of longtime SUNY Oswego professor Robert Carter, made a combined donation of $350,000 to the UUP College Scholarship Fund. Union leaders announced they would use $50,000 of that to create a scholarship fund for graduate students named for former UUP President William Scheuerman.
Delegates have long supported the scholarship fund, and kept up the giving spirit by donating and bidding on dozens of homemade gift baskets. The effort raised more than $2,100.
UUP President Phillip Smith praised Gertrude Butera of Alfred, a scholarship fund honorary trustee, as well as the Scholarship Development Committee for their fund-raising successes.
— Michael Lisi