The Voice

Wherever you are in your professional career at SUNY, it is important for you to keep track of the accruals you have earned. The old saying that “time is money” applies when it comes to your accruals.

Professional members of UUP earn vacation and sick accruals at a rate based on years of service, up to seven years. After seven years, you earn 1.75 days per month for vacation and 1.75 days per month for sick leave. Holiday compensatory time is earned after you actually work the holiday. For Thanksgiving and Christmas, you earn 1.5 days of comp time. For all other holidays, you earn one day of comp time. You must work the holiday to earn the comp time. Refer to Article 23–Leaves in the 2007-2011 Agreement Between the State of New York and United University Professions to see the rates at which you earn these accruals.

Compensatory time for those who are non-exempt (overtime eligible) under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is earned at 1.5 times your normal rate after you have worked 40 hours in a work week. This type of compensatory time (overtime) is accrued up to 240 hours.

This is the time of year that always reminds me that it is the beginning of the work year. The kids go back to school and summer vacations are over; it's a new beginning. It is also a good time to make sure that all of your documents are in place and accurate.

Here are a few things I recommend you consider as you start the new work year:

• Review your appointment letter to make sure it is accurate.

Of course, you should do this when you first receive it, but it's always a good idea to double check. Mistakes in job titles, appointment types and dates can—and do—happen, and may be missed the first time around. If you were promoted during the year, make sure the changes in title and salary level (SL) rank are correct.

If you have any questions about it, ask your UUP chapter for help.

• Make an appointment with Human Resources to review your personnel file.

This exercise is often overlooked by members, but it is important to check your file and make sure that you are comfortable with its contents.

I was at an event for my daughter a few weeks ago and had an opportunity to speak with another parent about what’s been going on in Albany. We agreed that the state is in a financial mess and that our government leaders do everything except lead. The conversation quickly turned sour when he said the biggest problem is public employees. I was told that we are overpaid and underworked, our benefits and our pensions are too generous, and we have it better than our private-sector counterparts. Then he attacked our unions: Unions aren’t sacrificing like everyone else and they protect bad employees.

I wish I had a camera when I told him I was an officer in a public employees union and a state worker. Priceless!

When it was my turn to respond, I said: First of all, we do work hard. Public workers teach our kids, take care of the sick, put out fires, protect our families and property, fix our roads, take us to the hospital, pull us from car wrecks, protect our environment, and so on.

A few weeks ago, a member asked me why I got involved in the union. I gave a pretty quick answer: Because it was important to me. We had a long conversation after that, and I’d like to share it with you.

Before I came to SUNY, I worked in a non-union hospital on Long Island. I did my job well and got promoted along the way. Every year, my colleagues and I would wonder what kind of cost-of-living increase we would get. It was anyone’s guess, since the decision was entirely up to management.

One year, our director called a meeting to let us know how much of an increase we were going to get. He proudly announced that we would see a raise of between zero and 1 percent. Me being me, I responded by saying: “Are you kidding? There isn’t much between zero and 1 percent!”

Were you ever confronted by a bully in school? Have your children ever come home from school crying because of the taunting they received at the hands of a bully? I’ve had experience with both. When I was in school, a bully slugged me in the face. I got over being hit pretty quick, but I found the verbal abuse much more hurtful and lasting. I was absolutely heartbroken when my 6-year-old son was being picked on. I found myself confronting the bully’s father on the soccer field. Thankfully, the father was completely understanding and the boys became good friends.

Unfortunately, bullying is not confined to the schoolyard. It is a problem in the workplace as well. Finally, people are starting to talk about it, understand it and do something about it.

One issue that is facing our professional members is the need to have them provide services to the University after completion of their professional obligations; specifically, being on-call.

“On-call” is defined as being required to be available to return to work within a reasonable period of time after completing the professional obligation and having left the work station. A limited number of employees are assigned on-call status on a rotating basis. Their movements are restricted and they remain on-call and available for immediate recall. Carrying a pager, cell phone or any other communication device does not qualify as on-call, unless a member is obliged to respond and return to work. Carrying any of these devices during a normal professional obligation also does not fit the definition.

Taxes are always a hot button issue, and at UUP’s 2009 Winter Delegate Assembly, our delegates unanimously supported a progressive tax increase as the fairest way to share the pain of the current economic downturn. I was asked to take up the issue on behalf of the union.

I was happy to go around the state to make the case for a progressive tax system and the increased tax revenues it would yield to ensure the state’s stability. Of course, this is only half the battle. Now that the Fair Tax Act has been passed, we need to make sure we get our fair share. We must make sure the additional state revenues it will raise will help protect our students’ access to the high-quality public higher education that SUNY provides.