Negotiations update: UUP, state exchange contract proposals

A firm handshake and an upbeat mood marked the much-anticipated official start of contract negotiations for UUP, as representatives of the union met with members of the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations (GOER) and SUNY to exchange proposals Feb. 14.

UUP President William Scheuerman set the optimistic tone with allusions to baseball’s opening day as he prepared to go into the meeting. “Today’s like the first day of the season,” Scheuerman said. “Everybody’s hopeful. We haven’t won any, we haven’t lost any, but we want a good season.”

The union’s proposal is sound, just and reflective of the democratic process that developed it, Scheuerman said. The proposal’s firm commitment to SUNY’s academic and professional faculty is especially needed now, Scheuerman said.

“The things you have to look at are the positives,” he said.

Among those positives: New York residents are siding with UUP’s goals, Scheuerman noted. A survey commissioned by UUP found that New Yorkers continue to give SUNY high marks, that they are confident its graduates are well prepared for the workforce and that they realize, in overwhelming numbers, the importance of a SUNY campus to their local economy.

The Quinnipiac Polling Institute also recently conducted polls indicating that the public is supportive of a change in tax laws over massive cuts in education.

A Feb. 6 meeting of the UUP Negotiations Team and Negotiations Committee highlighted the democratic process within UUP that preceded the exchange, said UUP Vice President for Academics and Chief Negotiator Phillip Smith. That meeting also gave the Negotiations Committee a final chance to voice resounding approval of the UUP proposal before it went to the state.

“The Negotiations Team has worked very hard to listen to what the membership had to say,” Smith said. “That was done through surveys, through campus visits and through the efforts of the Negotiations Committee and the Ad-hoc Negotiations Committee, which compiled and presented the concerns of the membership, and then drew on those concerns to formulate proposals.”

The result, Smith added, is a proposal “that realistically meets the needs of our membership and takes in the financial considerations we’re all facing in New York state.”

During the exchange, GOER Director George Madison was accompanied by GOER Executive Deputy Director John Currier, GOER Assistant Director Chris Eatz, and SUNY Vice Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer Richard Miller, among other representatives of the state.

“The governor recognizes the great contribution all of you make, as do we,” Madison told the UUPers.

Miller encouraged everyone participating in the exchange to remember SUNY’s mission.

“No matter what takes place here, there’s going to be 400,000 students showing up on our campuses tomorrow, and they have to be taught,” Miller said. “At the end of the day, we want the same things that UUP wants because that works out the best for our students.”

With that, Smith and Eatz shook hands and exchanged proposals.

Both sides were set to meet again this month to begin to clarify and justify their proposals.

“The bottom line is, there’s a lot of public support for the University,” Scheuerman said. “We’re all proud to be a part of SUNY.”

— Darryl McGrath