BRIDGES

STONY BROOK/HSC CHAPTER
DIGITAL NEWSLETTER
NOVEMBER 2020
NOMINATIONS FOR:
CHAPTER OFFICERS

President and Delegate
Kube, Carolyn S. (P)
 
Vice President for Academics and Delegate
Walker, Stephen G. (A)
 
Vice President for Professionals and Delegate
Kube, Bruce T. (P)
 
Secretary
Manning, Tina Maria E. (P)
 
Treasurer
King, Christopher K. (P)
 
Membership Development Officer
Lazauskas, Christopher T. (P)
 
Officer for Contingents
Battaglia, Sarah A. ( P)
O'Connell, Geoffrey T. (P)

Carolyn Kube
Position: Chapter President
Department: Tissue Typing (Clinical Lab)
 
I am running to be elected to the Stony Brook HSC Chapter President. After 2 terms as your union president, I have demonstrated the skills and passion to do the job. With our dedicated membership and my strong chapter officer core and dedicated union leaders we have invigorated and engaged our chapter. Although the past year has been tough because of the COVID pandemic, leaving all of us with a deep need to reconnect. I will work on that reconnection with the membership and reestablish that true sense of union amongst us.
 
Strong communication is vital to our work together; I strive to keep you informed throughout the myriad of changes that occur in the Hospital, HSC, SOM,SON,SDM,SHTM,SSW and the LISVH. I have reached out to you, the members, on many different platforms such as Chapter e-newsletters, Facebook, and Twitter. I am accessible and act on the issues brought forward to me.  Under my leadership, our chapter executive board has been and will continue to be transparent and inclusive. We will continue to engage and organize the members in the work necessary for a vibrant, strong, and unified chapter.
 
My leadership skills have been sharpened over my 30 years of union activism. I have served the chapter as the President, Vice President of Professionals, Officer for Contingents, delegate and department representative. I have served on 3 negotiation teams and served as a senator on the University Faculty Senate for 3 terms. I have chaired and served on numerous chapter and statewide committees. All of these experiences have given me the big picture view and a pragmatic solution-driven approach to issues. As chapter president, I was able to negotiate extra service pay for members who were redeployed and willingly took on extra shifts in COVID units. I enforced the contract when the administration capped holiday pay and accruals at 8 hours. The administration will be paying and adjusting accruals accordingly for members who work extended shifts (i.e. 13.5) on the designated holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year).   All necessary holiday adjustments will be corrected retrospectively. I have brought issues forward to management that have resulted in departmental market analysis and market value raises. I have joined with my fellow PEF, CSEA, SEIU leaders to press on for hazard pay for our frontline members. This fight is not over! On my recommendation, the UUP has taken on Hazard Pay as part of their comprehensive legislative agenda HEALS. 
 
It has been my pleasure to serve you as president for the last four years. I have met so many of you and hope to meet and work with even more of my members. Remember that you are a vital part of the chapter; without your input, participation, and counsel our chapter would not be strong. Thank you for all you have done for me to enable me to serve you effectively! I ask for your vote, so I can continue to work together with you all for a better stronger chapter and union.

Bruce Kube
Position: Vice President for Professionals
Candidate Department: Hematology Laboratory (Department of Pathology)
 
I have been Vice President for Professionals for 2 terms and, again, am asking for your support. Many of you may have met me in your new employee orientation or around the institution. Over my time as an officer, I have tackled many issues and sponsored many educational workshops for the membership.  However, in the last year, things became vastly different. We had a whole new set of challenges to face with the onset of the pandemic. First, I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to those who served and are still serving on the front lines. It has not been easy. Hopefully, the pandemic will soon be in the rearview mirror and we can shift our focus back to giving the members the tools they need to be successful and be aware of all their rights under our contract. After all, knowledge is power. Probably my most important goal is to educate the professional members about the nature and importance of the performance program. It is my belief that all professionals should be acknowledged for the jobs they do, that tasks performed are properly documented and they are fully aware of what they are evaluated on. This is paramount to the success of the professional membership and demonstration of increased complexity and scope. These are needed to achieve career growth. Once the workplace returns to normal, I will again organize workshops and educational opportunities for our members. In the meantime, please reach out to me with any questions or concerns you might have, and I will address them through all channels available to the union.
 
A little about me. I have been at University Hospital for 30 years and have a broad sense of the issues that face all of us as hospital and campus professionals. I have been involved with UUP, since 1990, and believe I possess the tools to help our professionals. I feel that the roles which I have filled in the chapter supply me with a great amount of knowledge to draw from to help the professional membership. I am well aware of the issues and have brought many forward. I am asking the Stony Brook HSC UUP Professional members to again support my candidacy for Chapter Vice President for Professionals. I am running for this office because I feel that I can make a difference. I believe that the union is for everyone and would encourage and foster the involvement of anyone interested in being involved. I have worked hard for this chapter in the past and intend to keep working to make this the best UUP chapter in the state. I thank you for your support.
 
Chris Lazaukas

Position: Membership Development Officer
Department: Information Technology

Hello, my name is Christopher Lazauskas I am running for a second term as your UUP HSC chapter membership development officer. It has been a privilege to do so thus far and I am very proud of the work we have been able to accomplish together.

As MDO with chapter support, I have championed several new initiatives such as additional parking for our working staff, expansion of department representatives, better wages and the Heroes Don’t Get Zeroes campaign. 
All of these initiatives have been brought to light by you, the membership and the chapter is stronger when we work together to reach these goals. 
As MDO I work hard to increase membership engagement and participation in the chapter.

Examples of this have been fighting for our members working conditions and overall safety, enforcing the contract to ensure accurate interpretation and application, providing workshops about performance programs to outline accurate duties that match the job expectations. 
I have always put the concerns and expectations of our chapter first.
I am excited by the strides we have made together to increase our membership in these past few years and I welcome the challenge to build on the gains we have already made. 
 The best is yet to come.

Thank You

Stephan Walker
Position: Vice President for
Academics
Candidate Department:
Department of Oral
Biology and Pathology
Dear Academic Members,
I’ve been an elected delegate of the Stony Brook Health Sciences Center Chapter of the UUP for the past 10 years and have represented our chapter at all statewide delegate assemblies. During the past 4 years as your VP for Academics, I have learned how the UUP protects members by ensuring that the contract between the UUP and the State of New York is upheld. Very often, academic members who come to the union for assistance state they never thought they would need the union’s help with a work-related problem. If their rights under the contract were infringed, the local and State-wide officers work diligently to ensure their contractual rights are honored.
Over the past year, the pandemic has caused unprecedented disruption to our lives. Since the pandemic began, the UUP’s main focus has been to ensure the safety of our members. The UUP’s telecommuting agreement with New York State has allowed many of us to work from home to reduce the transmission of this virus at the workplace. The UUP has also donated much-needed personal protective equipment to the clinical sites where our heroic health care members work. For example, the School of Dental Medicine has received approximately $300,000 in PPE from the union. Your union will continue to work to ensure the safest possible workplace.
I am asking for your vote to be reelected as your VP for Academics and if elected, I will continue to ensure that your rights under the contract are upheld. However, if I am not elected, I will continue to serve as a delegate and work with our elected chapter officers for the good of our chapter. I would also like to use this opportunity to encourage more academic members to become involved in the union. There is much work to be done but if many contribute, each of us will not need to take much time out of our busy lives to ensure our SBU HSC Chapter remains strong.
In Solidarity,
Stephen G. Walker, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Christopher King
Position: Treasurer
Candidate Department: Core Lab
(Clin Lab)

To My Fellow Union Members,
        First, I would like to thank you for allowing me to represent the Stony Brook HSC Chapter as the Treasurer and Delegate over the past four years. In those years, I also had the opportunity to represent you on the State Finance Committee, State Finance Sub Committee, Negotiations Committee, Labor Management Committee, and the Sub Committee on Hospital Staffing and Scheduling. As treasurer I have developed four fiscally responsible chapter budgets. During this time our chapter also had 4 incident free financial audits.
       As members of this Organization, we are afforded the great opportunity to make changes and voice our issues for the betterment of the workplace. With the support ,guidance and efforts on our behalf by our union. Our chapter is in great position to make changes by assessing the scope of our future and strengthening our union. By creating goals and engaging our membership in order to build power. Over this time I have served our Union, I have seen our chapter deal successfully with the contract violations, the Janus Supreme Court Decision, and a Global pandemic. Not only have we overcome these situations, we have thrived. Since I first started at Stony Brook over twenty years ago, I have had the privilege of meeting so many people. I hope to continue to serve the membership with the issues that affect us in the future. I am excited about our chapter`s potential and me moving forward. I ask for your support and vote for chapter treasurer.
                          In Solidarity,
                                         Christopher King

Maria Manning

Position: Secretary & Delegate
Department: Office of the Vice President Health Sciences Workforce Diversity for Faculty, Staff & Students

I am seeking re-election for chapter secretary of the Health Sciences Center chapter of UUP at Stony Brook. I have once again been nominated to run. I look forward to the daily challenges that my fellow union members may encounter, and need my help in resolving. My goal is to help people and make them more aware and knowledgeable of their rights as it pertains to the union contract and workplace. As an experienced union delegate I am sensitive to the needs of the members and a strong supporter for change. Getting the correct information and answers to member requests in a judicious manner is very important. I look forward to working together in building a stronger union. In my new position as Health Science Center Coordinator for Workforce Diversity for Faculty, Staff, & Students and Administrative Assistant, I get to meet UUP Members on a different playing field and help them or lead them in the right direction for help. Also through our Diversity Dining & Cultural Competency Conversations I get to learn more about the members on a more personal level. It is for these reasons that I feel I am the perfect candidate for secretary, and ask for your continued support. Thank you.

Department: Coordinator for Health Sciences Office of Workforce Diversity for Faculty, Staff & Students 2017-Present
Department: Media Services Photography 1982-2017
Member of UUP 39 years
Professional Delegate since 1994
Chapter secretary since 1997
BFSA Secretary
BFSA Co-Treasurer
Member of Professional Evaluation and Review Committee Stony Brook HSC
Member of statewide Women’s Rights and Concerns Committee
Member of statewide Affirmative Action Committee
Member of Statewide Black & Latino Faculty/Staff Concerns Committee
Member of Affirmative Action Committee Stony Brook HSC
Member of CLUW Stony Brook HSC
 Elected delegate to the NYSUT (RA) Representative Assembly
Elected delegate to the AFT (American Federation of Teachers) Convention
Liaison for the Coalition of Labor Union Women & The Statewide Women’s Rights & Concerns Committee
Cornell Leadership Institute training
AFT, Civil, Human & Women’s Rights Activist
Sarah Battaglia

Position: Officer for Contingents
Department: Occupational Therapy

Dear UUP members,
 I hope you will support me in my run for Officer for Contingents and professional delegate of the HSC chapter.
 
In this precarious environment of a pandemic and subsequent budgetary challenges, I will make your voice heard locally and statewide on important issues affecting you and your families, particularly those of our many full- and part-time contingent employees. Hundreds of our adjuncts and one-year term employees require the security of knowing they are safe in their jobs while being the most vulnerable. When SBU has budgetary issues we have seen many contingent employees non-renewed with short notice. I will fight for this to change as well as having equitable benefits and salary commensurate with your position. I will be your advocate, with the first item on the agenda to form a committee to explore the working conditions and concerns of our contingent employees.
 
I am not new to UUP. I've been an HSC delegate for the past five years and West Campus delegate for six years. I have represented the chapter at the state and local level, attending delegate assemblies, retreats and advocacy training. I coordinated and recruited members for political participation in many events including marches on Albany, Stony Brook Day and Advocacy Day, sitting one-on-one with our state senators and legislators. I am UUP's newsletter editor, a member of UUP's membership committee, and member of the College Committee on Professional Evaluation. On campus I am on the Senate's Environmental Committee and am an officer on both the Professional Employee Governance Board and SHTM Assembly. I also finished my term on the Graduate Council and Graduate Appeals Committee. 
 
As an Officer for Contingents and delegate, I will continue to promote our union and advocate for issues important to you.
 
I don’t just talk, I listen. Allow me to make your voice heard!