Delegates to the union’s 2007 Winter DA in Albany gave up a portion of their weekend to attend meetings, listen to committee reports, help the union raise money for its scholarship program, honor the annual Friend of SUNY Award recipient, adopt resolutions, and amend the union’s constitution and the supplemental 2006-2007 spending plan.

Delegate Jean Richardson of Buffalo State asks a question during a DA committee meeting.

UUP, Senate work together

Academic delegates heard from one of their own — longtime UUP member Carl Wiezalis of Upstate Medical University — during a one-hour discussion that was the main focus of the Academic Delegates Meeting.

As president of the SUNY Faculty Senate, Wiezalis said he has moved the Senate to work in closer cooperation with UUP.

“Ten years ago, some senators didn’t want to get involved with UUP,” Wiezalis recalled. “That has dramatically changed. UUP is well respected.” Wiezalis said one of the major benefits of this relationship to UUP is access, noting that he gets to meet monthly with the SUNY chancellor and provost to discuss faculty concerns. Another benefit is the fact that, effective July 1, he will become a non-voting member of the SUNY Board of Trustees, something Wiezalis said the Senate has pushed for years.

He said the Senate is looking for other ways it can work in partnership with UUP. Among the possibilities is the creation of a faculty service corps that could respond to places like New Orleans and other locales hit by disasters.

UUP Vice President for Academics Frederick Floss moderated the discussion.

Professionals’ voices heard

UUP’s professional faculty who work part time will be the focus of a special effort this year to make sure their concerns are getting the attention they deserve.

UUP Vice President for Professionals John Marino outlined that plan at the standing-room-only Professional Delegates Meeting.  

“I’m going to ask the vice presidents to go back to their committees and ask among their part-timers so the voice of the part-timer is heard,” Marino said, reflecting a continuing effort by UUP in the last two years to address part-timers’ concerns.

Marino also told the professional delegates that he is optimistic about the negotiations process, and confident that the proposals will reflect the best interests of the union membership as a whole.

“We go to a lot of trouble to find out what the members want, and they come up with the best proposal they can have,” Marino said. “So I think what we have to do is put our faith in the (Negotiations) Team and put our faith in the chief negotiator (Floss). The Team and the Committee have gone to great pains to come up with what we need.”

Making policy

Delegates adopted a revised constitutional amendment and two resolutions during the two-day convention.

The adopted constitutional amendment updates the charge of the union’s Part-time Concerns Committee. The change allows the committee to report on the treatment of part-time academic and professional faculty, as well as make recommendations on policies and programs. In addition, the committee got the go-ahead to draft proposals “to ensure fairness and equity of part-time academics and professionals throughout SUNY and in the activities and policies of UUP and its affiliates.”

A resolution submitted by the Women’s Rights and Concerns Committee calls on UUP to work with its affiliates, the Coalition of Labor Union Women and the National Organization for Women in continued support of the civil lawsuit filed against Wal-Mart. The suit alleges that Wal-Mart is guilty of systemic sex discrimination in its stores across the United States.

UUP in 2005 passed a resolution supporting the 1.5 million women for whom attorneys filed a motion for class certification in San Francisco District Court. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in February rejected Wal-Mart’s appeal of a federal judge’s ruling that the big box chain must stand trial. In its decision, the court wrote that there is “significant proof of a corporate policy of discrimination.”

The resolution also directs UUP to keep chapters apprised of the progress of the lawsuit and to offer suggestions for action.

Delegates backed a resolution submitted by the Human and Civil Rights Committee that seeks to safeguard the civil liberties, human rights and decent working conditions of employees involved in cultural exchanges, development agreements and other joint ventures in China.

The U.S. Embassy in China has reported that incidents involving intimidation, life-threatening violence and indecent working conditions affecting foreign teachers have increased eightfold since 2004, up to two a week on average as of August 2006.

The resolution calls on UUP to communicate to federal lawmakers and the U.S. departments of State and Labor the importance of U.S. consulates in China in assisting and protecting American citizens who live abroad.

Friend of SUNY named

UUP presented its 2007 Friend of SUNY Award to David Richter, a former SUNY vice chancellor and chief financial officer with more than three decades of budget experience under his belt.

Richter used his 35-plus years of finance experience to help create a higher education database for UUP and NYSUT. Armed with these data, UUP successfully convinced lawmakers to reverse the trend of underfunding SUNY.

The Friend of SUNY Award recognizes individuals and organizations that have lent exceptional support to the University.

“I may be the recipient of this award, but President Scheuerman and other UUP activists have earned it for me,” Richter told the delegates. “I am thoroughly convinced that the success that SUNY has had in the last few years is because of each and every one of you.”

Funds raised for scholarships

Dozens of books and various gifts were donated and money was raised during the DA to benefit the UUP College Scholarship Trust Fund, which honors SUNY undergraduates who demonstrate academic excellence and community service.

The Scholarship Development Committee, headed by honorary Fund Trustee Gertrude Butera of Alfred, again held a Book Fair and entered participants into a drawing for one of three prizes.

The committee also sold tickets for the union’s new Donor Wall of Hope. For a minimum donation of $100, contributors will receive a laser-engraved wooden brick of up to two lines to be permanently displayed at the UUP Administrative Office in Albany. More than a dozen bricks were sold.

Through the sale of books, bricks and raffles, more than $2,000 was raised for the scholarship fund.

UUP budget amended

Delegates backed the recommendation of the treasurer and Finance Committee to amend the union’s annual spending plan to provide the money necessary to fight the Berger Commission report.

The commission’s report, which went into effect Jan. 1, calls for the privatization of Upstate Medical University in Syracuse and the possible privatization of the SUNY-operated hospitals in Brooklyn and Stony Brook.

“Our job is to preserve the SUNY hospitals, no matter what it takes,” said UUP Treasurer Rowena Blackman-Stroud, who also serves as chapter president at Brooklyn HSC. “It is of the utmost importance to UUP to win this fight.”

— Karen L. Mattison

with staff reports