Our philosophy

MOU’s Philosophy:

This is a time when everyone’s work environment will be changing. We need the right team of candidates that have the experience, history and dedication to our members in order to ensure all members are safe and protected. This is our team’s philosophy and pledge to you, our members:

• Support ALL UUP Members: by providing a positive, cooperative and consistent experience for all our members. We must allow for all points of views to be expressed without judgement to encourage safe and free conversations around the issues our members face on a daily basis. Only by creating such a space can we truly address what members’ issues are instead of defining the issues for them.

• Support Higher Education: and Stony Brook University's faculty, professional staff & students. Students are the core to the mission of Stony Brook, as faculty and professionals we put their needs over ours. As we look to ensure our members are represented, we know that the core mission is important as we advocate for our members' priorities. We also know that we are part of a wide community and must continue to advocate our needs to UUP in Albany, SUNY and the New York State Legislature.

• Stand for Union Democracy: Democracy is hearing about all sides of an issue and then looking for areas where we can find an agreement that is acceptable to all. This is something that we all believe in and we never stand for bullying. Democracy is also about voting. Through voting, our members will be able to decide the direction of our chapter and our union. We are a representative organization and as elected leaders it is our responsibility to represent how our members voted in an election or meeting.

• Stand for Inclusiveness: Inclusiveness is of the utmost importance in our chapter and union. We have a very diverse membership. We come from all walks of life and we are diverse in our backgrounds, ethnicity, gender identification, cultures, jobs, political views, and economic status. In order to advocate for our members, we must consider the richness of diversity in our union. In order to address injustices, we must reach out to our members.

• Stand for Solidarity: Solidarity is not just a word; it is a lifestyle. It is about standing shoulder to shoulder with others to create change. It crosses over into our communities and to people throughout the world, because what we do here has an effect on others. It is about building a better society for everyone that allows people to earn a decent living. It is about doing the “right thing,” for an injury to one is an injury to all.

  • • • “It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." ~Robert F. Kennedy

• Stand for Unity: Unity is what gives our union strength. We need to be supportive of each other and not allow our personal differences tear us apart but rather use them to build our strength. Through unity, we can truly improve the lives of our members and our communities. Working together we can strongly address the challenges ahead of us.

• Stand for Integrity: Integrity is an important core value for all we do in the union and our daily life. It is a value that needs to be built and constantly nurtured in order for it to have any value. It is a value that needs to be earned through our actions and words. It is based on doing what’s right and not necessarily what's popular or the “flavor of the month.” It has to be based in facts. Integrity is both individual and organizational. We must build both for our union to be credible and strong to meet the many challenges ahead.

• Stand for Member Empowerment: Empowering our members adds strength to our union. It is those individual voices we need to encourage and listen to in order to empower our members. We must create various and diverse avenues for our members to contribute to our causes. By empowering our members we not only strengthen our union but we amplify a member’s voice. Listening is only the beginning of building strength, it needs to be followed up with actions that produce results for our members and our union. These are the essential building blocks needed to sustain our union.

• Defend Employee Rights: As union leaders, we must advocate and defend our members' rights as agreed to in our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). We can do this by ensuring the rights for our members that our union has fought for over the past decades are enforced through our actions and though advocating. We must also be vigilant that laws and safety regulations which pertain to the workplace are adhered to so all workers are afforded these rights and protections. As union leaders, it is important for us to make sure that our members are afforded due process under our CBA and the laws. We do this to ensure decisions about the workplace and employment are not done in a capricious or arbitrary way by management. We must also educate our members of their rights under our CBA. Having an informed membership will better help us advocate and defend members’ rights.

• Defend our Contract: Our contract provides for many benefits and protections for our members. Some of those include: annual salary increases, accrual of vacation and sick time, permanent and continuing appointment, monies for professional development, parental leave and health insurance. We also have a Labor/Management structure that allows us to bring forward issues both locally and statewide. Working together with UUP statewide we must ensure that all of our contract rights are enforced and defended every day. In order for us to effectively stand up for our members’ rights, we must educate our members about their contractual protections.

• Protect Rights to Organize: To organize is a right of every worker in order to have a say about their workplace and have their voice listened to by others. By organizing each individual can have a louder and more effective say about their workplace. We must stand up for this right within our own union so others can have the opportunity to organize. We can do this by participating in organizing drives whether it is to form a new union, recruit new activists or support a cause. We must use and develop organizing tools to preserve this right for future workers and generations, just as generations have done before us. This basic right must not be taken away by management, companies, politicians or governments.

• Protect Members' Health: Through our contract we are afforded many health benefits which allow our members to access excellent healthcare and providers. As we have seen with this pandemic, protecting our members’ health goes beyond the benefits provided in the contract. We have advocated for safe work environments and must continue to do so. We must continuously strive to enhance non-contractual items such as the free testing for COVID-19 for our members in order to safeguard their health while on campus.

• Protect Members' Wellbeing: This has been paramount for UUP over the past year. We must continue to work locally and statewide to provide the support our members need in order to effectively do their work, research and teaching. In order for members to be able to accomplish this they must feel safe at the workplace but also safe in their community. We must continue to build a sense of community on campus, one which we can support each other in our everyday lives. We must invest in programs which will expand the support our members can access in order to stay healthy both mentally and physically.