Delegates wasted no time getting down to the business at hand.

By the end of the two-day policymaking convention, delegates took action on several resolutions, special orders of business and a constitutional amendment.

The delegates:

• Adopted by acclamation two special orders of business honoring two long-time unionists. The first celebrated the “life and achievements” of the late Morris Budin of Binghamton. The second praised UUP College Scholarship Fund Honorary Trustee Gertrude Butera of Alfred for her commitment to raising funds. Butera retired from the Scholarship Development Committee after two decades as chair.

• Referred to the Executive Board a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow delegates to vote on candidates for statewide office who are not in attendance during a Delegate Assembly.

• Adopted two resolutions related to health care reform. The first asserts that equal access to quality health care is a human right and urges UUP to “communicate this determination” to state and federal lawmakers. The second directs UUP to bring all possible pressure on United Health Care to cease its active lobbying against health care reform. Delegates also asked UUP to urge its affiliates to step up advocacy efforts for meaningful reform.

• Supported passage of the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as legislation to legalize same-sex marriage.

• Adopted two resolutions regarding the wars in the Middle East. The first asks UUP to have U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urge the Iraqi government to “live up to the terms of its constitution and international treaty obligations” as they pertain to unions. The resolutions asks that Iraqi leaders: respect workers rights; cease all repressions of Iraqi unions; end the harassment of union leaders and activists; release union funds and assets; direct management of public enterprises and government jurisdictions to bargain collectively; and adopt labor laws that protect these rights. The second urges the immediate “drawing down” of military forces and contractors in Afghanistan.

• Called on UUP to join other unions in seeking the removal of Michael J. Astrue as commissioner of the Social Security Administration. The resolution cites Astrue’s failure to provide sufficient and reliable service to the public.

• Supported legislation to microstamp semiautomatic pistols as a way to identify guns used in crimes.

• Adopted by acclamation a resolution “condemning all race-based invective on the part of … the media who seek to promote and capitalize on such actions.” The resolution points to members of the media who have “engaged in overt race-baiting” against President Obama and are now targeting Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

• OK’d two resolutions in support of hotel workers in Massachusetts and New York. The first calls on UUP to communicate its outrage via petition to the Hyatt Corporation, which fired workers at three hotels in Massachusetts. The second supports a boycott of the Holiday Inn Express in Latham and owner Jim Morrell’s other businesses after half of the workers were fired for trying to organize a union.

• Adopted a resolution to stand in solidarity with the University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE-CWA Local 9199) at the University of California (UC). The union called a one-day strike against UC’s unfair labor practices after 19 months of employee bargaining.

• Condemned assaults on academic freedom and called on the union’s affiliates to lend their voices to the restoration of academic integrity. The resolution was in response to Binghamton University’s nonrenewal of Sally Dear, an 11-year part-time professor who was replaced for speaking out against special treatment for athletes. As The Voice went to press, Dear was reinstated by the university.

• Urged UUP chapters to establish LGBTQ committees to review issues of concern and to advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning members.

• OK’d a resolution making it possible for UUP members who are involuntarily separated from SUNY?service to become associate members of NYSUT, provided they are members in good standing when the separation from employment occurs.

• Agreed to implement an e-mail campaign to educate alumni, parents and students about the threats to excellence and access at SUNY due to the current state budget crisis.

• Asked UUP to look into the possibility of posting printed materials, such as the union’s Leadership Directory, on the LeaderNet Web site as another way for UUP to be eco-friendly.

— Karen L. Mattison