Dear UUP Members,

UUP’s Negotiations Team will be at Binghamton University to present, explain, and answer questions about the new agreement, which state and union negotiators reached in June. The briefing is scheduled for July 20 from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm in LH 14. This briefing is for UUP members only. Seating is limited in LH 14, so please register HERE as soon as possible.
UUP will also host state-wide virtual briefing sessions so that all members will have an opportunity to learn about the proposed agreement. Forums are set for July 18 (4 p.m. to 6 p.m.); July 19 (3 p.m. to 5 p.m.) and July 26 (noon to 2 p.m.).

UUP members can click HERE to register for the forums.

The tentative agreement includes across-the-board raises (2% in 2022, 3% for 2023 through 2025); on-base retention awards for full-time employees at seven and 12 years of service; per-course minimum payment increases for contingents (to $5,500 or $6,000 per three-credit course depending on campus designation); and living wage expenses to raise minimum salaries for UUP’s lowest-paid academics and professionals.

UUP members will vote electronically to ratify the agreement. Voting opens Aug. 10 and ends Aug. 24. Full details about the contract and ratification vote are available on UUP’s Members Only page, HERE.

In Solidarity,
Brendan

Brendan McGovern
UUP President, Binghamton Chapter
UUP – United University Professions

Have the cold, gray days got you down?
United University Professions (UUP), Binghamton Chapter invites faculty and professional staff to

“Beat the Winter Blues”
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Mandela Room, University Union

Join us for hot hors d’oeuvres, mini pastries, cold beer, wine, soda, water, and good company. The Harpur Jazz Conspiracy Quartet will provide music.  There will be a short discussion of membership issues as part of the festivities.
 
This is a member-only event; membership cards will be available at the door to join UUP.

 For catering purposes, please RSVP  to Linda O’Branski, Chapter Assistant, by Wednesday, March 8, at 777-4382 or email uup@binghamton.edu. 

Article from Vol. 4 No 20, February 10, 2023, UUPconnect

Most people who had been invited to the State of the Union address and were about to have a private chat with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer might use that time to tout their accomplishments—especially if they were a Nobel Laureate.

Not M. Stanley Whittingham.

Whittingham—a Binghamton Chapter member, a distinguished professor of chemistry and materials science, and a 2019 Nobel Prize winner—said he planned to spend his precious time with Schumer touting Binghamton University and Broome County, where the campus is located.

“Anything we can do to get more, to get more traction to Binghamton, is good,” Whittingham said in a Feb. 7 Zoom interview from his hotel in Washington, D.C., as he prepared to attend the State of the Union address that evening as a guest of Schumer. “Clearly, one of our charges as a university is to help the state and help the region.”

As for Broome County? “It’s a great place to raise a family,” said the British-American Whittingham, who has spent most of his career at Binghamton. His wife, Georgina Whittingham, is also a UUP member at SUNY Oswego.

Whittingham won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his role in the development of lithium-ion batteries, which are now widely used in mobile devices such as cell phones and laptop computers, as well as most electric cars. A research building at Binghamton is named for him, and he’s been a leading voice in advocating for federal dollars to help fund innovations in battery technology and clean energy.

His meeting with Schumer before President Biden’s address to the nation was not the first time he’s spoken with the majority leader—who has also been a steady supporter of UUP and public higher education.

It was Schumer who backed Binghamton University’s successful proposal for the federal Build Back Better Regional Challenge Grant. Binghamton’s proposal, the New Energy New York project, has received more than $113 million in federal and state funding for this project, which will expand research and workforce development in emerging battery technologies.

Binghamton was one of 60 proposals nationwide selected out of 529 applicants as a winner for Phase I of the grant, which provided $500,000 of startup funding, and which qualified Binghamton to go on to be selected as a winner.

Whittingham was instrumental in the development of the winning proposal, which has the potential to be an economic windfall for the Southern Tier. The region needs help: Broome County has the third-highest poverty rate in the state at 8.54%, based on a report on poverty in New York published in July 2022 by the New York State Community Action Association.

As exciting as the prospect of the Build Back Better project is, Whittingham said that he would like to see better state funding for SUNY, and certainly for his home campus. Campus infrastructure has not kept pace with the growth of the Binghamton student body, he said; there were 11,000 students when he started at Binghamton in 1998, and now there are 18,000.

“We could always use more money,” he said. “We’re desperately short of lecture halls on campus; we’re desperately short of dorm rooms. We need new research buildings on campus. Research funding is going up, but we have to have the facilities to house the students.”

And he is grateful that he can use the attention his research has garnered to call attention to both the highlights and the needs of his campus.

Said Whittingham of his once-in-a-lifetime night at a national event: “It’s an honor for me, but it is also an honor for Binghamton.”

Linked below is the November 15, 2022, Weather-Related Absences memo sent by human resources. UUP recommends that employees should be safe during hazardous weather conditions. You should work with your supervisors to ensure time is charged appropriately or, when appropriate, work remotely. Click here for the memo.

The University-Wide Benefits Fair will be held from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17, in the UU-Mandela Room. Participants will include health insurance providers, retirement and financial planners, campus departments and retailers. This event will allow you the opportunity to speak directly with healthcare representatives who can answer your questions and concerns with upcoming enrollment. Door prizes will be offered. The fair is co-sponsored by United University Professions, CSEA and the Human Resources Office. For more information, contact Linda O’Branski at 607-777-4382 or uup@binghamton.edu.