Labor/management grants

The collective bargaining agreement between UUP and New York state is 111 pages of legalese, dollar figures and appendices. It’s about working conditions and salaries. It’s about benefits and travel allowances.

And it’s about Mary Kirby Diaz of SUNY Farmingdale, Peter Friesen of SUNY Plattsburgh and thousands of other UUPers who have been able to make a difference in their college communities and in their personal lives through the labor/management grant program funded through the contract.

For more than 20 years, UUP and the state have worked in partnership to address mutually identified issues affecting the quality, productivity and vitality of SUNY and its workforce. The 1999-2003 agreement has provided many members with grants for professional training, course and Web development, research and other projects that enhance their working lives.

The grants are awarded through five joint labor/management committees that focus on professional development; technology; safety and health; affirmative action and diversity; and employment. The contract earmarks about $2 million in grant money for the 2001-02 academic year.

The programs administered by the committees reflect the current needs of the University and its faculty, according to UUP President William Scheuerman. “The joint committees pay attention to what’s happening within SUNY and develop grant programs that address what’s important to our members.”

Lorna Arrington of SUNY Buffalo, chair of the joint labor/management employment committee, agreed, citing a new Enrollment Enhancement Program introduced this year that provides funding to campus departments or groups of departments with decreasing enrollments to recruit students.

“Perhaps faculty can offset retrenchment by building enrollment,” Arrington said. “It’s an innovative, proactive approach to declining enrollments in some academic programs.”

For more information about the state/UUP grants, see http://www.albany.net/~nysuup or call (518) 457-1198.

Meanwhile, what follows are some success stories that have resulted from the grants.

— Frank Maurizio