UUP President Phil Smith is betting on Jamie Dangler’s knowledge and experience—as well as her deliberate, composed and tough-as-nails manner—to go a long way at the negotiations table. That’s why he named the Cortland UUPer as the union’s chief negotiator.

“Jamie did one heck of a job as a member of the Negotiations Team for the current contract,” Smith said. “Her unbridled enthusiasm, limitless energy and years of commitment to UUP members and their goals are just a few of the reasons I chose her to lead UUP in our contract talks with the state.”

In addition to her work on UUP’s 2006-2007 Negotiations Team, Dangler served as chief negotiator for UUP in 2009 contract deliberations with its CWA employees.

Smith chose Mike Smiles of Farmingdale to serve as associate chief negotiator.

“Mike brings valuable experience to UUP’s Negotiations Team,” Smith said. “This will be his fifth time at the bargaining table. He knows UUP’s history of contract talks firsthand, which will be a huge asset for the Team.”

UUP’s bargaining agreement expires July 1, 2011, and Smith is wasting no time putting together a team of academics and professionals—full time and part time from all campus types—to handle the difficult task of negotiating a successor agreement. The Negotiations Team met in August to begin preparations for the negotiations process.

“UUP’s Team is up to the very difficult challenge of hammering out the best deal possible,” Smith said.

And a challenge it will be.

UUP is heading into contract talks at a time when the state economy is in flux and taxpayers are being bombarded with rhetoric that public employee unions are to blame for the state’s budget problems. This well-orchestrated assault on public employees hit harder than ever, with calls for givebacks, furloughs and potential layoffs blanketing the media seemingly every day throughout the state budget process—a process that finally ended Aug. 3, more than four months past the April 1 deadline.

Smiles has a long perspective on the ways political and economic changes affect contract negotiations.

“What I have come to learn is that every round of negotiations is different,” he said. “In our current political climate, with the state in financial straits, it’s impossible to predict what will happen.”

By the time UUP sits down to hammer out a successor agreement, a new governor will be in place.

Dangler knows very well what she’s up against.

“I think our greatest challenges stem from the current economic and political context,” she said. “Conditions in the economy, a new governor who will undoubtedly make changes in the state apparatus we have to negotiate with, and ongoing efforts to transform SUNY in fundamental ways are part of the landscape we’re in.”

“To say these are unprecedented times is an understatement,” Smith said. “The fact that public employees have become the scapegoats for a failed economy is unconscionable—but not impossible to overcome. Our goal now is to demonstrate that UUP members are dedicated, hard-working public servants who deserve a fair and equitable contract.”