News from United University Professions

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UUP members rally for economic relief

LATHAM, NY (10/30/2007; 1155)(readMedia)-- Saying downstate members need more money to live, members of United University Professions (UUP) rallied for economic justice during a noontime rally today in City Hall Park in Manhattan. They called for cost-of-living pay increases in the metropolitan New York City region.

“Our members urgently need a cost-of-living increase in their next contract that enables them to keep up with the steadily escalating costs of housing and other necessities,” said Fred Floss, UUP Vice President for Academics and the union’s chief negotiator in contract talks with New York state. Addressing the rally, Floss said, “If our members cannot afford to live downstate, the impact on SUNY facilities in the region like the Brooklyn and Stony Brook Health Science Centers would be devastating.” He warned the result could be a shortage of skilled labor.

Floss asked contract negotiators with the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations (GOER) to consider the cost-of-living issue in ongoing negotiations. UUP is in the midst of negotiations with GOER aimed at reaching a new labor agreement to replace the one that expired July 1, 2007.

UUP represents 33,000 academic and professional faculty on 29 New York State-operated campuses and is an affiliate of New York State United Teachers, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, and the AFL-CIO.

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