Negotiations with Jamie Dangler: A Chapter Meeting
First published in November 2012 edition of The Bullhorn. The original publication can be found here.
Even though the rain tried to dampen the event, members of the New Paltz chapter of UUP turned out in overwhelming numbers to our Chapter Meeting on October 10th. The College Terrace was filled with close to a hundred members interested in hearing our guest speaker, Jamie Dangler, UUP’s Chief Contract Negotiator. Chapter President Peter Brown introduced two officers who “make working in the chapter a pleasure.” Jeff Miller (Political Science), VP for Academics, encouraged participation in an upcoming survey to accurately quantify weekly workload. Linda Smith (Academic Computing), VP for Professionals, announced the election results for the College Committee on Professional Evaluation, consisting exclusively of UUP members, and the College Review Panel, made up of administration and UUP members. The results for the elections are on page 8.
Brown introduced Jamie Dangler as a “close colleague, friend and invaluable mentor,” endowed with self-confidence but devoid of an oversized ego. A sociologist and former Chapter President at SUNY Cortland, she was elected earlier this year as statewide VP for Academics. Dangler began her presentation citing her close connection with SUNY New Paltz and the surrounding community. Not only did she grow up in nearby Newburgh, she has worked extensively with Donna Goodman, chair of the Community Outreach/Coalition Building Committee. She now works with Richard Kelder, former Chapter President, as part of the Negotiations Team. New Paltz also has Jeff Miller serving as the chapter’s representative and Ed Felton representing part-time professionals on the Negotiations Committee, a separate group that must recommend approval before a tentative contract goes to the membership for a ratification vote.
Dangler opened her presentation stating that she cannot reveal specifics that are on the table because of strict ground rules agreed to by UUP and the State. Negotiations include monetary as well as non-monetary items to benefit the unique, diverse needs of UUP members across the state. She understands some frustration about the length of the negotiations process, but emphasized the importance of reaching an agreement that is fair and equitable for all UUP members. She also emphasized the need to obtain a tentative contract that our members would ratify.
Aside from the ongoing contract negotiations, the SUNY budget is of major concern to all campuses in the system. Under some new budget allocation formulas which the Chancellor is considering, funding could well be shifted away from the smaller comprehensive colleges and technical campuses to the four University centers: Stony Brook, Buffalo, Binghamton and Albany. Deeming such a shift “disturbing” given the needs and importance of all SUNY campuses, Dangler encouraged members to meet with legislators in their home districts and to come to Albany to discuss the financial implications of any reallocation of resources.
Hospital centers in SUNY will be heavily affected by the budget and continuing efforts to privatize more and more of SUNY’s functions. Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn is a glaring example of privatization’s threat to public medical institutions. More than 80% of medical professionals educated at Downstate stay in the New York City area; without the educational opportunities and medical services provided by these state-supported institutions, Brooklyn’s population will suffer. In addition, job losses at Downstate will have a serious negative impact on families and Brooklyn’s local economy. More than 400 UUP members have been given notices of non-renewal and more job loss is expected. Dangler urged members to visit the UUP website (www.uupinfo.org) to send a fax to the Governor and legislators to save SUNY’s Downstate Medical Center and maintain the critical health services it provides to the Brooklyn community.
Dangler cited another issue affecting SUNY and our members: shared services. There are concerns about potential job loss and that combining services between colleges can severely disrupt college operations. At Morrisville our members are reporting the “snail’s pace of decision-making” as a result of sharing a president and other administrators with SUNY-IT in Utica. Delhi and Cobleskill similarly combined its presidents; Canton and Potsdam have other shared administrators.
Jamie Dangler called upon the union members to help and to make their voices heard on top-down decision-making in areas such as Teacher Education, where curriculum changes, new data collection requirements, and other directives are being imposed on campuses without adequate consultation and input. Once again, she recognized strong efforts on the SUNY New Paltz campus. Four SUNY New Paltz union members (Nancy Schniedewind, Julie Gorlewski, Susan Stern, Irene Watts-Politza) have been important contributors to UUP’s statewide Teacher Education Task Force.
Dangler then entertained questions from the audience, covering topics such as NYSUT’s candidate endorsement process and negotiations. Members asked about the duration of a new contract, UUP’s lack of a salary step system, comparisons between UUP’s potential contract and the contracts accepted by other state employee bargaining units, and representation of important UUP constituencies on the Negotiations Team. She thanked New Paltz member Richard Kelder for his dedicated work on the Negotiations Team. The team members sacrifice a huge amount of their personal time to pursue these negotiations.
Richard Kelder commended Jamie Dangler for her “outstanding job” fighting for the union’s rights in negotiations. He stated that the problem is educating SUNY and the state about exactly who is part of UUP and about the diverse needs of its members.
Brown introduced Jamie Dangler as a “close colleague, friend and invaluable mentor,” endowed with self-confidence but devoid of an oversized ego. A sociologist and former Chapter President at SUNY Cortland, she was elected earlier this year as statewide VP for Academics. Dangler began her presentation citing her close connection with SUNY New Paltz and the surrounding community. Not only did she grow up in nearby Newburgh, she has worked extensively with Donna Goodman, chair of the Community Outreach/Coalition Building Committee. She now works with Richard Kelder, former Chapter President, as part of the Negotiations Team. New Paltz also has Jeff Miller serving as the chapter’s representative and Ed Felton representing part-time professionals on the Negotiations Committee, a separate group that must recommend approval before a tentative contract goes to the membership for a ratification vote.
Dangler opened her presentation stating that she cannot reveal specifics that are on the table because of strict ground rules agreed to by UUP and the State. Negotiations include monetary as well as non-monetary items to benefit the unique, diverse needs of UUP members across the state. She understands some frustration about the length of the negotiations process, but emphasized the importance of reaching an agreement that is fair and equitable for all UUP members. She also emphasized the need to obtain a tentative contract that our members would ratify.
Aside from the ongoing contract negotiations, the SUNY budget is of major concern to all campuses in the system. Under some new budget allocation formulas which the Chancellor is considering, funding could well be shifted away from the smaller comprehensive colleges and technical campuses to the four University centers: Stony Brook, Buffalo, Binghamton and Albany. Deeming such a shift “disturbing” given the needs and importance of all SUNY campuses, Dangler encouraged members to meet with legislators in their home districts and to come to Albany to discuss the financial implications of any reallocation of resources.
Hospital centers in SUNY will be heavily affected by the budget and continuing efforts to privatize more and more of SUNY’s functions. Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn is a glaring example of privatization’s threat to public medical institutions. More than 80% of medical professionals educated at Downstate stay in the New York City area; without the educational opportunities and medical services provided by these state-supported institutions, Brooklyn’s population will suffer. In addition, job losses at Downstate will have a serious negative impact on families and Brooklyn’s local economy. More than 400 UUP members have been given notices of non-renewal and more job loss is expected. Dangler urged members to visit the UUP website (www.uupinfo.org) to send a fax to the Governor and legislators to save SUNY’s Downstate Medical Center and maintain the critical health services it provides to the Brooklyn community.
Dangler cited another issue affecting SUNY and our members: shared services. There are concerns about potential job loss and that combining services between colleges can severely disrupt college operations. At Morrisville our members are reporting the “snail’s pace of decision-making” as a result of sharing a president and other administrators with SUNY-IT in Utica. Delhi and Cobleskill similarly combined its presidents; Canton and Potsdam have other shared administrators.
Jamie Dangler called upon the union members to help and to make their voices heard on top-down decision-making in areas such as Teacher Education, where curriculum changes, new data collection requirements, and other directives are being imposed on campuses without adequate consultation and input. Once again, she recognized strong efforts on the SUNY New Paltz campus. Four SUNY New Paltz union members (Nancy Schniedewind, Julie Gorlewski, Susan Stern, Irene Watts-Politza) have been important contributors to UUP’s statewide Teacher Education Task Force.
Dangler then entertained questions from the audience, covering topics such as NYSUT’s candidate endorsement process and negotiations. Members asked about the duration of a new contract, UUP’s lack of a salary step system, comparisons between UUP’s potential contract and the contracts accepted by other state employee bargaining units, and representation of important UUP constituencies on the Negotiations Team. She thanked New Paltz member Richard Kelder for his dedicated work on the Negotiations Team. The team members sacrifice a huge amount of their personal time to pursue these negotiations.
Richard Kelder commended Jamie Dangler for her “outstanding job” fighting for the union’s rights in negotiations. He stated that the problem is educating SUNY and the state about exactly who is part of UUP and about the diverse needs of its members.
