Team coming soon to a campus near you

UUPers across the state will soon have the opportunity at their chapters to talk with a member of the Negotiations Team, which was recently chosen to structure the salary, benefits and other proposals the union will present next spring to the state on behalf of its membership.

They can also share their comments about contractual issues with the team, in writing, by completing a survey that the union will mail this month to all members. Questionnaires are due back in Albany by Oct. 11. UUP’s current contract expires July 1, 2003.

Constitutionally, union President William Scheuerman is responsible for UUP’s negotiations. He appointed a 19-member Negotiations Team that will prepare the union’s contract proposals after a comprehensive, inclusive process that will take about six months to complete.

Phillip Smith, UUP’s statewide vice president for academics, will lead the team as chief negotiator.

“I chose Phil because he’s exceptionally bright and calm. He’s also been through the wars, so he knows how to reach a consensus,” Scheuerman said, noting that Smith has served UUP in various leadership positions at both the chapter and statewide levels. A professor of cell and developmental biology, Smith hails from the Upstate Medical University chapter in Syracuse.

The Negotiations Team is a diverse “melding of experienced and new people,” Scheuerman said. About half are seasoned members who served during the talks that resulted in the current contract — which is significant because UUP will enter negotiations in a tough economy, with the state facing the largest deficit in its history, he said.

At the same time, “we’re changing as a union and the new people reflect those changes,” Scheuerman said. “What’s magic here is not the team’s number, but that the team is representative of the entire membership.”

Throughout the process, the team will consult with a 35-member Negotiations Commit-tee, which Scheuerman was constitutionally charged to appoint with the approval of the union’s statewide Executive Board.

Comprised of people who are knowledgeable about their chapters, the Negotiations Committee includes one leader from each chapter in the proportional makeup of academics and professionals that reflects the membership, and two part-timers.

“The number of part-timers continues to grow at SUNY,” Scheuerman said. “Their working conditions are of great concern to UUP, and their voice is a very important part of this process.”

The union’s negotiators will gather information from a variety of sources. UUP committee chairs will make recommendations; members of an ad hoc Negotiations Committee, with a professional and academic representative from each chapter, will attend a meeting to bring concerns of their chapter’s membership to the team.

Peter Martineau, UUP/NYSUT manager for programs and services and UUP’s former lobbyist, will bring his extensive negotiating experience to the process.

Beyond salaries and benefits, the union anticipates its survey will show that members will want matters such as family leave — which includes elder care and other familial needs in addition to maternity leave — brought to the negotiations table.

A multiday retreat will allow the Negotiations Team and Negotiations Committee to review the survey results and information gathered at chapter visits and hearings (tentative dates above) and prepare the union’s bargaining proposal.

After the contract is finally negotiated and accepted by the Negotiations Team and Negotiations Committee, it will be presented to the entire membership for ratification. The American Arbitration Association (AAA) will conduct the vote.

“We exceed AAA’s standards and go beyond all the requirements,” Scheuerman said. “UUP’s negotiations process is the most open and democratic in the United States.”

— Lisa Feldman Reich