Welcome back, colleagues.

I hope you had a great summer, and not one anywhere near as, well … interesting as the New York state Senate had. 

In fact, there’s really only one way that the Senate’s summer of dysfunction could have been worse.

The whole thing could have been set to music.

You know, like a Broadway play. Call it “Dysfunction Junction.”

And every voter in New York who watched in wide-eyed amazement while this political nightmare wore on could close the show with a loud version of “Send in the Clowns.” 

But I digress. 

The Senate was in political deadlock from June 8 until July 9. Literally dozens of bills, many of them time-sensitive measures, were stalled or shelved while both parties bickered over who was in charge.

In one sense, the Senate’s political battle royale wasn’t such a bad thing from our perspective. It provided a temporary reprieve from the potential passage of the controversial A./S. 2020 bill and the proposed Tier V pension reclassification for new hires. The Senate had already approved A./S. 2020, but the Assembly hasn’t and that body isn’t slated to return to session until September.

The Assembly and Senate have not acted on Tier V, even though Gov. Paterson in June brokered a deal with CSEA and PEF to support Tier V in exchange for no layoffs for two years and a buy-out plan for certain workers who decide to retire.

But don’t be lulled into some false sense of security. We must remain vigilant where these two very controversial pieces of legislation are concerned.

A./S. 2020 and Tier V

Please remember just how damaging approval of A./S. 2020 would be. The bill, which would give the president of the University at Buffalo unilateral authority to raise tuition and set differential tuition rates, would dramatically reduce access and affordability for current and prospective students.

A./S. 2020, and other so-called “flex bills,” are little more than a collection of vague and onerous proposals which would unfairly allow administration at the University at Buffalo—and possibly at Stony Brook, Binghamton and UAlbany—to enter into contracts, set tuition rates, issue state debt, and to sell or lease state property without legislative approval.

This type of legislation affects you whether you work at a university center or not. These bills shake the very foundation of SUNY, which was formed to provide “the broadest possible affordable access” to New York’s students. They would cause serious harm on every SUNY campus.

As for Tier V, UUP has not been party to any negotiations between Gov. Paterson, CSEA and PEF, nor were we asked to participate in the talks. NYSUT, however, has been involved in those conversations. We have told NYSUT that we are not interested in dropping our opposition to Tier V unless UUP gets the same benefits and protections offered to CSEA and PEF.

It’s unlikely that SUNY will be able to offer those incentives if Tier V is approved. The Division of the Budget, in a July 30 memo regarding Tier V, states that retirement incentives offered to PEF and CSEA are available only to members who were threatened with being laid off earlier this year.

Here’s a positive: Tier V was supposed to go into effect July 1, but Gov. Paterson and his staff didn’t finish a new version of the legislation before the Assembly adjourned for the summer. Now, the Assembly won’t consider the bill until the fall. That gives us more time to better position UUP if and when this legislation comes to pass. 

Now that you’re back on campus, you’re probably beginning to see and feel the impact of last year’s budget cuts. That’s the theme of this issue of The Voice, and I’m sure you’ll find our story an interesting read.

Certainly, we understand the state’s dire financial situation as well or better than any other organization in New York. Rest assured that UUP will never stop fighting to protect you, our members. And we will continue to push legislators to properly fund SUNY and to enable the University to live up to its promise to provide qualified students an affordable, quality education.

That’s a win-win for everyone.

At the Spring Delegate Assembly, we passed a resolution calling on UUPers to become more educated about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. One way to put that resolution to work is by signing an online petition calling on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to speak out for labor rights in Iraq (see related story, page 18).

You can access the petition by entering this link—uslaboragainstwar.org/IraqLaborRightsCampaign—into your browser. You can also find out more about the petition and news about labor’s antiwar activities by going to the U.S. Labor Against the War Web site at www.uslaboragainstwar.org.

Again, welcome back colleagues.