UUPers to lawmakers:

More for SUNY

After a joint session of the Legislature in which the governor and legislators condemned the horrific terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and funded state disaster relief efforts, lawmakers approved reappropriations for capital projects and nonprofit groups, but still failed to reach a consensus on a supplemental budget.

Before the national tragedy struck, negotiations between the governor and legislative leaders for an augmented spending plan were reportedly progressing. UUPers were raising their voices in volumes to express outrage with the $79.6 billion base line budget passed by the state Legislature in early August.

Responding to the call from union President William Scheuerman, thousands of members phoned, wrote letters and penned postcards urging lawmakers to pass a supplemental budget that addresses the needs of SUNY’s state-operated campuses.

“Our members rallied to action all over the state to make our position heard in Albany,” Scheuerman said. “The state must safeguard SUNY faculty, students and hospital patients with a sound budget that protects the academic programs and public missions of the University.”

Pending enactment of a supplemental budget, UUP volunteer lobbyists returned to the capital and Scheuerman met with top lawmakers to reiterate UUP’s legislative priority for a strong spending plan for SUNY.

Meanwhile, members of UUP’s Legislation and Political Action committees took time to set other union tasks in motion during their annual summer meeting in Lake Placid.

The Legislation Committee, chaired by Patricia Bentley of SUNY Plattsburgh, is charged with preparing the union’s annual legislative program. Members held preliminary discussions and their final proposal will go to the UUP Executive Board next month for approval.

UUP’s two main legislative issues — the continued restoration of full-time faculty lines lost at SUNY since 1995-96 and a solution to the long-standing deficit at its health science centers — are likely to remain priorities in 2002. If lawmakers do not resolve UUP’s other program points — such as fiscal support for unfunded University mandates, pension equity and inclusion of qualitative assessments into the University’s budgeting formula — they, too, will receive top union attention next year.

Under the leadership of Frederick Floss of Buffalo State, the Political Action Commit-tee began arranging for regional lobbying events this fall, including participation in NYSUT area meetings, to “build more of a community in our regions,” Floss said.

The committee is also working on coordinating its district lobbying efforts, which have been active in Western New York, Syracuse, Binghamton and Old Westbury.

— Lisa Feldman Reich