UUP Binghamton

The discretionary salary increases for 2011 are now available. The UUP Binghamton Chapter Executive Board has once again decided to provide this public salary information on its website. The DSI money was part of the UUP contract that expired July 1, 2011. No information is available about possible future DSI provisions in the contract that is currently being negotiated.

At its meeting of December 7, 2011, the Executive Board of UUP Binghamton endorsed the statewide Executive Board"s statement of support for the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) Movement. The statement draws parallels between issues raised by OWS and those raised by UUP regarding higher education.

United University Professions filed a complaint against the State on December 28, 2011. The complaint is on behalf of UUP retirees over an increase in health insurance premium share. The complaint was filed on behalf of UUP by the Legal Department of New York State United Teachers. The complaint follows a similar complaint filed November 30 by the Retired Public Employees Association.

In September of this year, Binghamton University petitioned the Civil Service Commission to restore leave credit for employees who were unable to report to work on March 7 because of flooding. Civil Service has now informed BU that the petition has been denied. Petitions were also denied for other state agencies in Broome, Chenango, Fulton, Otsego, Sullivan and Tioga counties.

UUP’s Negotiations Team met with state negotiators Dec. 1-2. UUP received additional proposals from
the state, as well as further clarification of the state’s previously presented proposals.

Discussion of health benefits as and UUP’s non-monetary items under a variety of contract articles and appendices also continued.

UUP’s negotiations are steadily moving beyond discussion at a general level and are now focused on hammering out the details of possible agreements on a variety of issues.

Two additional meetings are scheduled for December and plans for January meeting dates will be finalized this week.

UUP and the State continue to negotiate a new contract. The latest update from the Negotiations Team:

UUP’s Negotiations Team completed its schedule of October meetings with state negotiators during sessions on October 13, 14, and 26. Topics covered included compensation, health benefits, and other contract articles UUP has opened for discussion. Most sessions focused on detailing UUP member needs and identifying outdated contract provisions that hamper fair and effective working conditions at SUNY institutions.

United University Professions(UUP), Binghamton Chapter, and the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), local 648, today sent a joint letter to the Co-Chairs of the search committee for the new Binghamton University president requesting input into the remaining steps of the search process. UUP and CSEA, who together represent over 2500 BU employees, stated that

New York State and Binghamton University are highly unionized entities. It is vitally important that candidates for President meet with union representatives to obtain a clear picture of Labor-Management relations, so that they can make a more informed decision about whether to remain in the candidate pool.

The letter comes on the heels of a letter from the Binghamton University Faculty Senate requesting faculty input into the search process.

Read the entire UUP-CSEA letter.

Read the Faculty Senate letter.

The administration announced in the Labor-Management meeting of October 11 that $2.7 million of the new $7.2 million from new tuition and other revenues will go to hire new faculty and staff. An additional $1.4 million will be used for student support such as the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP). The remainder of the new revenue will go towards reducing the structural deficit built into the budgets of the past several years.

Read notes of the entire Labor-Management meeting.

UUP statewide has issued the following negotiations update:

UUP’s Negotiations Team completed preliminary discussions with the State’s negotiators in August and September and is now focused on the details of its contract proposals. UUP’s proposals cover a broad array of issues involving 25 contract articles and seven appendices. The State’s proposals involve compensation, health benefits, duration of a new contract, and furloughs.

A new Guide for Academics in the SUNY system has been produced by UUP statewide. The guide, in the form of questions and answers, provides a handy source of information concerning the many rules, regulations, and policies that apply to an academic's job. The guide can be found online at http://www.uupinfo.org/reports/guides/acadguide.pdf. A hard copy of the guide can be requested from the UUP office (7-4382; uup@binghamton.edu.