Collections : [New York State Modern Political Archive]

Paper records including programs from Delegate Assemblies, contract booklets, pocket calendars, universitas [scholarly journal type of publication], and various brochures, advertisements, bumper stickers, and publications. Non-paper records include lapel pins, delegate name badges, legislative giveaways, buttons, t-shirts, canvas bags, and other three-dimensional artifacts. Some of the paper records in this series, such as the Delegate Assembly programs and contract booklets, duplicate the materials found in the respective series within Subgroup IV, Office of the Secretary, and Subgroup VI, Labor Relations--Negotiations. There is also some overlap between the materials in this series and those in Series 3 of this Subgroup, "Publications". This series also includes oversized versions of some of the legislative ad campaigns in Subseries 3.1.

E-mail messages broadcast to chapters, chapters presidents, executive board members, and labor relations specialists keeping them informed about UUP position on and/or handling of various issues such as the SUNY budget, negotiations, activities of the SUNY Board of Trustees, and legislative developments. Messages also discuss chapter election results and upcoming meetings and workshops (both substantive and logistical aspects); forward AFT updates; and provide summaries of press reports of interest ("UUPdate") and information regarding upcoming Delegate Assemblies.

On occasion UUP has created exhibits for its Delegate Assemblies. In addition to including mounted documents and three-dimensional artifacts, the displays have relied heavily on photographs. The mounted documents and photographs used in these exhibits make up this "Exhibits and Displays" series. The artifacts are included with the memorabilia in Series 9 of this Subgroup.

UUP's Research Department conducts research on a variety of topics to assist UUP's leadership, committees, negotiators, and other UUP constituencies. One method of research is surveys sent to all or portions of UUP's membership. The completed survey forms (for the most part anonymous) often contain handwritten comments from members, documenting not only their thoughts and concerns regarding the subject of the survey, but occasionally broadly sweeping criticism of or praise for UUP in general. The surveys distributed to gather member input on negotiations are included in Series 3 of Subgroup VI, Labor Relations-Negotiations. Included in this series are the completed forms from other surveys conducted by the Research Department.

This series contains the compiled results of membership surveys conducted by UUP in 1988, 1990, and 1994, as part of its preparations for upcoming contract negotiations. It also includes those survey forms with additional handwritten comments from the member completing the survey. Although for the most part anonymous, these comments document the concerns of UUP members in their own words. Because the information from uncommented forms was already captured in the compiled results, they were not retained as part of this collection.

A single page, two-sided newsletter for chapter leaders, chapter newsletter editors, delegates, Executive Board members, and committee members, printed approximately monthly on an academic year basis (i.e., September to June). As of the late 1990s, the circulation of The Connection was approximately one thousand, but chapter newsletter editors are permitted and explicitly encouraged to reprint any materials. Topics receiving regular attention include negotiations updates; member benefits information; SUNY system issues, including the SUNY budget; information on upcoming meetings and Delegate Assemblies; reports on campus specific issues of interest and/or concern to all; reports on political activism and lobbying activities; information on advertising campaigns; upcoming NYSUT and AFT conventions; and information on grant opportunities.

The directories in this series contain the names, addresses, and phone numbers for chapter officers, chapter delegates, and chapter members belonging to statewide committees. Also included are the charges of each committee and lists of committee members; lists of Executive Board members and UUP members who are liaisons to NYSUT committees; contact information for labor relations specialists; and contact information for statewide officers and the staff at UUP's Administrative Office in Albany. A directory with the names and addresses of UUP's retired members in 1990 is also included in this series.

Between December 1987 and May 1996, UUP employed a Safety and Health Specialist who reported to the Vice President for Professionals. The activities of the Safety and Health Specialist included conducting campus visits, reporting potential safety and health problems, and making recommendations on addressing them to UUP chapter leadership; responding to requests from chapter leadership to address specific safety and health concerns on individual campuses; conducting training for campus representatives on safety and health issues; attending health and safety committee meetings on behalf of UUP; attending professional seminars and conferences; and reviewing and interpreting reports dealing with safety and health matters received by UUP and its chapters.

The 1982-1985 contract between the state and UUP provided for a study of the promotional opportunities for professional employees of the State University of New York. After the commissioned study was issued by consulting firm Arthur Young in May 1986, steps were taken to implement its recommendations. A Management Advisory Committee on Classification and Compensation (MACCC) was established by the State University and given the responsibility of adopting a structure of professional titles that would provide promotional opportunities for professional employees. UUP participated in a joint labor/management committee of the same name formed to provide input to the larger SUNY MACCC (which was made up of just SUNY representatives). The joint labor/management MACCC acted in an advisory capacity only.

During the 1980s and early 1990s UUP worked to correct salary disparities on behalf of its bargaining unit using a fund established in its contracts with the state. The contracts specifically prohibited the use of the fund for across-the-board salary increases and left the determination of the exact allocation of the disparity funds to a joint state/UUP committee. The primary intent of the disparity project was to identify specific categories of employees whose salaries were below national standards, not to address individual salary disparities. This did not prevent many bargaining unit members, however, from writing to UUP to make a case as to why their individual salary was unfair and should be corrected. For the most part, particularly for the latter disparity funds, materials submitted by individual applicants were not retained.

Verbatim transcripts of the Delegate Assembly proceedings. This series includes only one Delegate Assembly for 1979 and two for 1980, however for the remaining years the transcripts cover all three Delegate Assemblies for each year. Each transcript is divided into two sessions, each covering one day of the Delegate Assembly. Some early transcripts include a list of officers, Executive Board members, committee chairs, and chapter delegates. About half of the transcripts have a table of contents. The transcripts for 1984 include a program for the fall Delegate Assembly. See Subgroup IV Secretary, Series 2 - Delegate Assemblies for the packets containing officer and committee chairperson reports, finiancial information, delegate listings, schedules and programs, and related materials for Delegate Assemblies.

Correspondence, reports, meeting agendas and minutes, and other distributed materials regarding various UUP committees that the president was a member of, or kept informed of the activities of; correspondence, reports, and materials distributed regarding projects (one-time and continuing) that UUP was involved in (such as the committees of UUP's AFT and NYSUT affiliates that UUP was represented on, conferences that UUP's president attended, and testimony given by UUP's president before various State Senate and Assembly committees); and correspondence, reports, and reference materials on topics in which UUP had a continuing interest (such as the proportion of the annual New York State budget allocated to SUNY, retirement benefits for SUNY employees, proposed legislation affecting SUNY and UUP's lobbying efforts, and the Public Employees Benefit Fund which provided benefits to members of UUP, NYSUT, and PEF [the Public Employees Federation]). There are numerous handwritten notes made by the president on various documents included in this series. Some of those notations, along with notes of his secretary, are purely administrative, i.e., confirming his attendance at a conference or meeting. However, some are more substantive, such as his notes from a particular meeting, his questions or thoughts noted on a report, his handwritten inquires to others involved in a project asking for elaboration on a particular issue or point, notes on meeting agendas regarding the actions taken, and draft correspondence.

The records in this series document, to varying degrees, the activities of UUP's standing committees, ad hoc committees, joint labor-management committees, task forces, and working groups. Included for most committees are the administrative correspondence created at UUP's administrative office setting up meetings, obtaining approval from the Governor's Office of Employee Relations for organizational leave time for meeting attendees, and confirming committee appointments. Lists of committee members are also frequently included.

In the late 1970s UUP faced the most serious challenge to its position as bargaining agent from the New York Educators Association, an affiliate of the National Education Association. UUP disaffiliated itself from the NEA in 1976. The NEA/NYEA challenge culminated in an election for bargaining agent conducted by the New York State Public Employment Relations Board in December 1978. Through much of 1978, UUP campaigned for its continuation as bargaining agent for SUNY faculty and non-teaching professionals, with the assistance of professional organizers from the AFT and NYSUT field representatives.

Primarily subject files containing incoming and outgoing correspondence, third-party reports, SUNY correspondence and SUNY-produced materials, materials distributed by various higher education organizations, copies of legislation, SUNY budgets, and other materials relating to each topic. The primary correspondent is UUP President Nuala Drescher, and for the files that date back to the prior administration, UUP President Samuel Wakshull and his Director of Staff Evelyn Hartman. Correspondence recipients include chapter leadership; Executive Board members; individual UUP members; the governor of New York State and state legislators; and staff members of NYSUT, particularly its higher education lobbyist, legal counsel, and president, informing them about UUP's position on an issue or seeking NYSUT input regarding a matter.

Press releases distributed by UUP. Topics include upcoming Delegate Assemblies; resolutions adopted at Delegate Assemblies; election results for UUP statewide officers; awards given by UUP, such as the Link Scholarship, Friend of SUNY Award, and Nina Mitchell Award; commencement and completion of contract negotiations as well as delays in negotiations and critical issues in negotiations; commentary of UUP regarding SUNY and State of New York actions (for example, the state budget or the appointment of a new Chancellor) that impact SUNY; UUP-sponsored conferences and events; and other issues that UUP wished to make its position clear on. See Subgroup II UUP Predecessors and Early UUP Years, Series 2 SPA/UUP Administrative Office General Office Files for news releases prior to 1977.

Programs for Delegate Assemblies ("DAs") (containing schedules, lists of delegates and committees, membership reports, and agendas); minutes for current DA and immediately preceding DA; reports of officers and standing committee chairpersons, including a treasurer's report usually presented at the Spring DA with budget proposals and financial statements; reports on the implementation of pending business approved by past DAs; correspondence to delegates prior to DAs regarding schedule, agenda, and UUP-wide membership report (used to determine the number of delegates for each chapter); other correspondence relating to DAs including setting up committee meetings and meeting space for political caucuses; resolutions proposed by chapters and committees for consideration at DA; and news articles, third party reports and correspondence, UUP-created reports, and other materials distributed to delegates regarding issues under consideration. Attendance and rooming forms on which chapters reported the names of their delegates and their elected term are also included for some of the DAs prior to 1986.

Award certificates, judges' reports and commentary, correspondence, and articles written by UUP staff, for journalism awards won by The Voice and The Connection in contests sponsored by union organizations. The certificates themselves report only the category of the award, not the specific item to which it related. Although not available for all awards, judges' comments, to some extent, and the articles produced by UUP, in particular, identify the exact article, editorial, photograph, or artwork which won the award.

UUP is affiliated with New York State United Teachers, the American Federation of Teachers, and the AFL-CIO. UUP's President has at times been a vice president of the AFT and served on its Executive Council, as well as on the Board of Directors of NYSUT. In addition, UUP sends representatives to the annual NYSUT Representative Assembly, the biennial AFT convention, and the biennial New York State AFL-CIO convention. Only a few officers attend the AFL-CIO conventions, while a substantial number of delegates are elected to attend the RAs and AFT conventions as representatives of UUP.