Upstate UUP

There will be a Chapter General Membership Meeting on Wednesday, February 1, 2023 at 12 PM in Rm. 9295, 9^th floor auditorium of the Weiskotten Hall Addition (WHA). Lunch will be provided for pre-registered UUP Members only. You must register by Wednesday, January 25 to attend. This is an in-person meeting only. 

Register using the QR code below or at: https://bit.ly/UpstateElection by 3 PM January 25th.

The agenda will be: 

• Presentation of the 2023-24 UUP Chapter Budget and Vote; 
• Presentation of the Chapter Elections Process, Roles and Responsibilities, and Nomination Form Submissions. Bring your nomination forms with you to the meeting!
• We will be joining the Lunch & Learn (Chapter and Affiliate Election Process) online at 12:30 PM to hear UUP Statewide Secretary-Treasurer Jeri O’Bryan-Losee describe the UUP Elections Process to all of us.

You may also choose to attend the UUP Chapter & Affiliate Election Process Lunch and Learn Events on:

• Tuesday, January 24, 2023 – 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM – Register Here 
• Wednesday, February 1, 2023 – 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM – Register Here 
• Thursday, February 9, 2023 – 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM – Register Here 

Every two years, UUP holds Chapter Elections for the Officers and Academic and Professional Delegates for a two-year term beginning on June 1, 2023 and ending on May 31, 2025.  

The approved schedule for the 2023 chapter elections is: 

• January 18 & 19 – UUP Chapter and Affiliate (NYSUT, AFT) Nomination forms mailed to UUP members 
• February 17 – Chapter and Affiliate Convention nominations forms due at UUP HQ
• March 13 – 16 – Chapter Election Ballots will be mailed to chapter members
• April 21 – Chapter Election Ballots are due at UUP HQ
• April 24 – 28 – Chapter Election Ballots will be counted 

You must be a UUP Member on 1/13/2023 to run for Chapter Officers and Delegates and vote in the Chapter Elections. 

UUP Upstate Medical Chapter Officer and Delegate positions up for election include: 

• Chapter President (all chapter UUP members vote) 
• Chapter Vice President for Academics (only chapter academic UUP members vote) 
• Chapter Vice President for Professionals (only chapter professional UUP members vote) 
• Chapter Officer for Contingent Employees (all chapter UUP members vote) 
• Chapter Secretary (all chapter UUP members vote) 
• Chapter Treasurer (all chapter UUP members vote) 
• Chapter Officer for Retirees (all chapter UUP members vote) 
• Chapter Academic UUP Delegates (only chapter academic UUP members vote) 
• Chapter Professional UUP Delegates (only chapter professional UUP members vote) 
• Chapter Delegates to NYSUT and AFT Conventions (all chapter UUP members vote) 

Chapter Officers and Executive Board 

The definitions and responsibilities of the Chapter Officers can be found in Article 5 of the Chapter Bylaws.

You can find a copy of the Chapter Bylaws here. 

The definition and duties of a Chapter Executive Board Member can be found in Article 6 of the Chapter Bylaws. 

Chapter Academic and Professional UUP Delegates 

The Upstate Medical Chapter typically has 16-18 Academic and 40-50 Professional Delegate positions available. The exact number of UUP delegates awarded to each chapter will be determined on January 13, 2023 based on the number of Academic and Professional UUP Chapter members with one Delegate seat awarded for every 75 UUP members in each category.  An Academic/Professional Delegate is an elected representative of the Chapter who represents the chapter locally on the Executive Board and at Statewide Delegate Assemblies (two/year).

UUP Statewide Bylaws identify that a minimum of 5 votes are required to be a Chapter Delegate to the Statewide Delegate Assembly. The Upstate Medical Chapter Bylaws require 10 votes for a UUP Academic or Professional Delegate to become a voting member of the Chapter Executive Board. The definition and duties of a UUP Delegate are defined in Article 8 of the Chapter Bylaws. 

A full description of the Roles and Responsibilities of a UUP Delegate can be found here.

Register today for the UUP Upstate Medical Chapter General Membership Meeting to vote on the annual chapter budget and get involved by running for a Chapter or Affiliate Officer or Delegate position!

Once again, UUP has reached an agreement with the state to extend a telecommuting policy for SUNY employees through the end of June.

The agreement took effect Jan. 1 and is set to expire June 30. Both sides came to terms on the agreement in late December.

“With a rise in COVID cases across the state and country, and the advent of yet another new dominant strain of COVID, it is necessary and prudent to extend this agreement,” said UUP President Fred Kowal. “We will continue working closely with SUNY to implement this extension.”

The extension includes no new changes to the previous telecommuting program. UUP was one of the first unions in the U.S. to secure a telecommuting policy for its members; the initial program was signed March 13, 2020.

Under the policy, management will determine the number of days and which days employees are allowed to commute per pay period, based on operational need. Employees must submit applications to work remotely; employees can work remotely for up to five days per pay period.

According to the policy, the telecommuting program was put in place “to support implementation of telecommuting programs, where desired, establish guidelines designed to clearly articulate employee and campus expectations, and provide an additional vehicle for employee development while offering campus management the flexibility to operate a successful telecommuting program and plan for future workforce needs.”

Read the full agreement HERE

Need Help Managing Your Student Loan Debt?  

Over 12 million people in the United States are struggling to make their monthly student loan payments, and millions more see economic and personal opportunities pass as they prioritize paying down their debt. Does this sound like you or someone you know?  

Many of these people may qualify for free federal programs that can help reduce their monthly payments and eventually lead to student loan forgiveness, but these lifeline programs are significantly under-enrolled. In an effort to help our members get access to these programs, United University Professions and the American Federation of Teachers are proud to host a Student Debt Clinic which will provide information on how to enroll in Income-Driven Repayment plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness.   

 We will be offering virtual Members Only Student Debt Clinics on the following dates:    

• February 1, 2023 from 5:00 – 6:30 PM via Zoom
• February 15, 2023 from 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM via Zoom  

To attend one of the virtual Members Only Student Debt Clinics, you must pre-register here: http://go.aft.org/StudentDebtClinicRSVP.

From the “student debt clinic” drop down menu, please select the UUP clinic that you are interested in attending – they are labeled “UUP [Virtual Student Debt Clinic] [date] [time].” In the affiliate field, type in the full name of our local (United University Professions), and it will autofill after a few keystrokes.

Registration is first come, first serve, and we must cap attendance for a single clinic at 75 participants in order to ensure that we are able to provide maximum assistance to attendees. Registration will close 48 hours prior to the virtual clinic. Webinar login information will be provided prior to the clinic to all who register. [If you can’t make one of these virtual clinics, don’t worry – we’re planning on offering them every payday. If you want to help host a chapter-specific virtual clinic, please let us know!]  

Managing your student loan debt is the first step in taking on the inequities which plague our system of higher education, and we look forward to seeing you at the virtual Student Debt Clinic and working together to find a collective solution to the problems of student debt and college affordability!  

Register now!

Upcoming Dates

• January 25, 2023
• February 8, 2023
• February 22, 2023

The NYS Office of Employee Relations has again agreed to suspend the January 1 40-day vacation credit cap contained in Article 23.2(d) of the 2016-2022 State/UUP Agreement.   This agreement suspends the vacation cap for one more year, two similar prior agreements suspended the January 1, 2021 and January 1, 2022 40 day vacation caps, thus providing our members who earn vacation credits and are currently carrying more than 40 days of vacation an additional year to utilize excess vacation leave accrued during the pandemic. The text of our newest agreement reads as follows:  

This will confirm our agreement regarding expiration of vacation leave accruals. 

1. Vacation leave accruals subject to our last MOA dated October 22, 2021 (which extended the deadline to December 31, 2022), may now be carried by employees through December 31, 2023. 
2. Vacation leave accruals earned between January 1 and December 31, 2022, that would otherwise expire at close of business on December 31, 2022, may also be carried by employees through December 31, 2023. 
3. Employees shall be permitted to accrue vacation leave in excess of the contractual maximum until the close of business on December 31, 2023. Thereafter, forfeiture of vacation leave accruals shall be governed by the operative language from the applicable collective bargaining agreement between the parties. 

All other conditions set forth in our last MOA remain in effect.

You can find a copy of the 2021 agreement by clicking HERE.