Negotiations Update
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.
Other NYS employee unions have been engaged in contract discussions as well. CSEA (Civil Service Employees Association), which represents 66,000 state employees, recently ratified a new contract. In a ratification vote announced on September 27, the members of PEF (Public Employee Federation), which represents 56,000 state employees, rejected a contract with compensation, health benefits, and furlough provisions similar to those accepted by CSEA.
The PBA of NYS (Police Benevolent Association), which recently replaced Council 82 as the collective bargaining unit for 1,100 Forest Rangers and University, Park, and Environmental Police, has begun contract talks. A tentative agreement accepted by the former Council 82 was voted down by the membership and a decertification vote led to the replacement of Council 82 with the new PBA. NYSCOPBA (New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association), which represents over 23,000 state employees, will also be negotiating a new contract.
It’s important for UUP members to keep in mind that no group of state employees is exactly alike and each union negotiates its own contract. As contract talks continue, please be wary of anything about the UUP contract that is presented in the press or discussed on campus. No one but UUP’s Negotiations Team and President Phil Smith knows what’s going on at the table. Details are not released to the public so anything you hear is purely speculation. Nothing is final until a tentative agreement on the entire contract is reached.
Periodic negotiations updates will be posted under “2011 Negotiations Information” on the home page of the UUP website (www.uupinfo.org). UUP’s full package of contract proposals is also available at that site.