United University Professions New Paltz Chapter

From UUP President Fred Kowal:

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce that UUP’s 2026-2031 contract has been overwhelmingly ratified!

The results of the ratification vote are truly historic, with nearly 98% of voting members approving the agreement. This represents an increase over the existing ratification vote record of 96% from our previous contract, reflecting the strong support of our membership and the confidence they have in the gains achieved through this round of negotiations.

Additional information will be shared soon regarding the implementation of the contract, including when members can expect to receive the negotiated salary increases, including the historic 4.5% raise for 2026.

We will also announce when the final version of the contract is available on the UUP website. In the meantime, members may review the redlined full contract language along with summaries of all negotiated changes in the Members Only section of UUP’s website. Labor Relations Specialists will work closely with each chapter to ensure that the new contract provisions are fully understood and implemented appropriately across our campuses.

I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to the Negotiations Team, whose members devoted countless hours away from their jobs and families to secure the transformative gains achieved in this agreement. I am especially grateful to UUP Chief Negotiator Bret Benjamin and NYSUT Staff Director for UUP Jeremy Ginsburg for their exceptional leadership, dedication, and tireless efforts on behalf of our members throughout the bargaining process.

The gains in this contract improve the lives of all UUP-represented employees and work to address the specific concerns identified by our diverse bargaining unit.  In addition to wide-reaching gains that meet the needs of full-time academics and professionals, the contract includes specific provisions that address the work-lives of adjunct and contingent faculty, hospital and health-care workers, including Residents and Fellows, as well as other constituencies in our unit.  These improvements were secured by the power of collective bargaining undertaking by a strong, unified union. We ask any of you who are not yet UUP members to please consider joining UUP today.  Your participation will strengthen our union as we continue advocating for the rights and interests of all UUP-represented employees.

In Solidarity,

Frederick E. Kowal, PhD

President 

All eligible members will receive an email with a unique code to submit their vote. Votes must be submitted by 5:00pm on July 27th 2026. 

This is a strong five-year agreement that provides across-the-board raises in each year of the contract, includes retention awards for eligible employees, protects exceptional health benefits, establishes AI provisions, and contains expanded job and due process protections.

We urge you to vote yes on this contract, which will serve our membership well for years to come. The full contract language of the tentative agreement between UUP and New York state (indicating all additions and deletions) can be viewed on UUP’s Members Only page on the UUP website.  Additionally, you can review a copy of the PowerPoint presentation used during the campus ratification visits, as well as an overview of all the negotiated changes.

Dear UUP Members-  Thank you to the 154 members who were able to attend (virtually + in-person) the Tentative Agreement Presentation by the Negotiations Committee on Wednesday morning.  If you missed the presentation on Wednesday June 10th and would like to join another statewide presentation in the future, here are the links for registration. Please note that these presentation are only open to current members.  June 25th at 9am:  https://aft.zoom.us/meeting/register/niHj8ZiJTICW6U6R8nGRNg#/registration June 26th at 10am:  https://aft.zoom.us/meeting/register/lc56NXhTSEKu2TSLIuvc6g#/registration July 6th at 1pm:  https://aft.zoom.us/meeting/register/9Dl9Z21cSaC8-9BYvYLhgA#/registration July 9th at 9am:  https://aft.zoom.us/meeting/register/mpVzFVgTTJqYzPrDBYAuZA#/registration If you don’t know what your UUP Member ID is and don’t have your UUP union card, its probably easiest to call statewide and ask for the benefits office and someone can give you your number. 1-800-342-4206 As per the presentation the committee has stated that they are hoping to have the ratification vote done in the end of July. It will be an electronic vote. Stand by for more details in the near future. See information below on upcoming opportunities.  In solidarity, Megan