The Voice

Pet lovers need worry no more—there are two AFT+ Member Benefits programs that will help keep pets happy and healthy, and more money in members’ pockets. For as low as $11.95 a month, AFT+ pet insurance can protect members against large, unexpected veterinary expenses. Policies include older pets, accident-only coverage and more.

For more information, call (866) 473-7387.

AFT+ also offers a Pet Assure veterinary care benefit. Members can save 25 percent at participating veterinarians on preventative care, shots, lab work, surgery, X-rays, medications and more.

All pets are covered, including exotics and horses, and there are no exclusions for older pets.

For more details, call (888) 789-7387 and use Code UP2003.

Information on these and other AFT+ programs can be found on the AFT website at www.aft.org/benefits.

Are you planning a beach getaway or a cruise to an exotic location? Looking to plan an all-inclusive trip? Let NYSUT Member Benefits help.

Need a hotel or car rental? We’ve got you covered. Want that special book or magazine for some summer reading? We can help with that, too.

Being a UUP/NYSUT member brings with it many advantages and benefits— including the opportunity to take part in any of our endorsed discount programs.

NYSUT Member Benefits offers a variety of discount programs designed to make your life easier and put a smile on your face. The following is just a sampling of some of the discount programs available to you:

TripMark.travel
—Use this all-inclusive travel program when planning your next trip or use the group travel feature for a family reunion; book online or by using helpful travel agents.

Wyndham Hotels and Vacation Rentals
—Receive savings at nearly 7,000 participating hotels, resort condos, villas, homes and cottages.

Wherever they turn, lawmakers are seeing, hearing UUP’s message

Chanting “Fight! Fight! Fight! Education is a right!” UUPers lent their voices to a student/faculty march that brought together nearly 500 SUNY and CUNY students, faculty, unionists and other education supporters with a common goal: to urge lawmakers to invest in public higher education.

The March 15 rally kicked off the Student/Faculty Higher Education Action Day, sponsored by the SUNY Student Assembly, the CUNY University Senate, the New York Public Interest Research Group, NYSUT, UUP and Professional Staff Congress/CUNY.

UUP’s ad campaign asks public to tell lawmakers to end state cuts to SUNY

A young man stuffs books and clothing into plastic crates and duffel bags, packing up to head off to college.

But something’s not right. He wears a pained expression, not the eager look most college students sport as they ready to return to campus. Suddenly it becomes obvious: he’s not packing for college—he’s packing his dorm room to leave college.

Unable to get required classes to graduate in four years, the student must stay another year—which he and his parents can’t afford—or drop out. The cause: millions in state budget cuts to SUNY, resulting in canceled courses, crowded classes and fewer professors to teach more students.

“That’s a big problem,” the student says. “My folks, they didn’t count on paying for an extra year of college. And I didn’t count on leaving SUNY without a degree.”

An early February chill greeted nearly 400 unionists who came to rally at the Capitol in Albany, three days after a proposed state budget left them financially out in the cold. They came bearing a strong message designed to heat up the debate over the future of SUNY.

“Think ahead, invest in higher ed,” chanted members of UUP, NYSUT, students and other SUNY supporters at a Feb. 4 rally with a theme that matched the chant.

SUNY campuses already had their hands full coping with $562 million in budget cuts over the past two years. The last thing they needed was an additional reduction, yet that’s just what they got.

In late October, Gov. David Paterson imposed a midyear budget cut of $23.5 million on the University to help meet his budgetary target of $250 million in agency spending reductions in the 2010-11 state budget. This latest reduction brings SUNY’s share of the agency cuts to more than $175 million for the current fiscal year.

“Once again, SUNY is being forced to bear a disproportionate share of the burden, and it’s making a bad situation worse,” said UUP President Phil Smith. “The consequences of these reductions are hitting our campuses hard.”

CAMPUSES FEELING PAIN

The Legislature is not in session, but that doesn't mean UUP's outreach efforts are on hiatus.

UUP President Phil Smith said union activists must continue building coalitions with other labor and community groups to advance the union's legislative goals.

"Now more than ever, we have to reach out to labor and community groups and the faculty senates to educate them about the harm that's been done to SUNY from budget cuts," he told Outreach Committee members during a joint retreat with chapter presidents.

UUP is mounting an aggressive advocacy drive, prompted by indications that this will almost certainly be a difficult budget year.

Gov. David Paterson left that impression in his State of the State address Jan. 6, when he said, “This is a winter of reckoning for New York.” He blamed what he called “cultures of addiction to spending” for leading the state into its current fiscal crisis.

As The Voice went to press, the exact scope of the challenge facing UUP was not clear, since the governor had not yet introduced his Executive Budget. Given the suggestion from the governor that all areas of state spending faced the budget knife, significant reductions in state support for SUNY appeared more than likely.

The need for universal health care in America hit home recently for Cortland Chapter member Henry Steck.

Steck’s wife, Janet, was hospitalized, underwent testing and was released the next day. Everything turned out fine except for the whopping $10,000 hospital bill, which the hospital initially said Steck had to pay because coverage didn’t fall under Medicare or health insurance.

It turned out to be a hospital paperwork glitch, but Steck spent more than two hours on the phone with the insurance company to straighten it out.

The incident prompted Steck to pen a resolution supporting meaningful health care reform; the Cortland Chapter submitted it during the 2009 Fall Delegate Assembly, where it was approved unanimously by delegates.

“America is the only major industrialized country that doesn’t have a government-supported universal health care system,” Steck said. “Health care should be a right, not a transaction in a marketplace.”

The need for universal health care in America hit home recently for Cortland Chapter member Henry Steck.

Steck’s wife, Janet, was hospitalized, underwent testing and was released the next day. Everything turned out fine except for the whopping $10,000 hospital bill, which the hospital initially said Steck had to pay because coverage didn’t fall under Medicare or health insurance.

It turned out to be a hospital paperwork glitch, but Steck spent more than two hours on the phone with the insurance company to straighten it out.

The incident prompted Steck to pen a resolution supporting meaningful health care reform; the Cortland Chapter submitted it during the 2009 Fall Delegate Assembly, where it was approved unanimously by delegates.