Delegates also approved five special orders of business to:

• Establish a UUP task force charged with developing a policy that restores progressivity to the state’s income tax structure and to make this policy the union’s top legislative priority;

• Support President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus package and establish a UUP committee to ensure that a fair portion of the state’s stimulus money for higher education be used for personnel, classrooms, libraries and student services at SUNY;

• Urge New York House and Senate delegations to sponsor, support and vote for the federal Employee Free Choice Act;

• Congratulate and thank President Obama and New York’s Senate and House delegations for passing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act; and

• Oppose A./S.2020 flexibility legislation.

In other action, delegates:

• Backed three joint resolutions from the Affirmative Action Committee and Task Force on Pay Equity Based on Race to: seek lists of UUP bargaining unit members that include race and other ethnic identifiers; urge SUNY System Administration to use the U.S. Census Bureau classifications in all personnel records; and to ask chapter Affirmative Action committees to request that UUPers self-identify as to race and ethnicity.

• Referred to the Elections and Credentials Committee a resolution to change font style and size on ballots for affiliate, chapter and statewide elections. The resolution was submitted by the Disability Rights and Concerns Committee.

• Referred to the Membership Committee a resolution from the Part-time Concerns Committee recommending that part-timer members who are non-renewed be able to retain two-year memberships in the union.

• Adopted a resolution from the Veterans Affairs Committee calling on UUP to work with NYSUT and SUNY to ensure that employees leaving and returning from military service are subject to the same rights under the Uniformed Service Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). Delegates question if campuses uniformly apply USERRA standards regarding accrued time, promotions, salary increases, and permanent and continuing appointment tracts.

• Approved resolutions from the Women’s Rights and Concerns Committee. The first calls on UUP to initiate an investigation into possible gender, racial, disability, ethnic and age discrimination in awarding of both permanent and continuing appointments in the SUNY system. The second calls on UUP to urge lawmakers to back legislation that offers greater legal protection from abusive work environments. Passage of proposed Article 20-D to the New York State Labor Law would not limit legal redress to only individuals in protected classes.

• OK’d a resolution to encourage the use of Fair Trade products by members and chapters, and to ask SUNY to contract with food services that use Fair Trade products.

• OK’d a resolution from the LGBTQ Committee urging UUP to garner further union support and fight for passage of three bills before the state Legislature: Marriage and Same Sex Couples in New York; the Dignity for All Students Act; and the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act.

• Tabled a resolution from the Women’s Rights and Concerns Committee asking UUP to back legislation that requires all semiautomatic pistols made in or delivered to any licensed dealer in New York state be capable of microstamping ammunition to assist state lawmakers in solving gun-related crimes.

The full texts of the resolutions and special orders of business can be found on the UUP Web site at www.uupinfo.org. Click on DA/ Conferences.

— Karen L. Mattison