Check out the new website

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1 Union of Clerical, Administrative & Technical Staff at NYU, Local 3882, NYSUT, AFT, AFL-CIO Volume Issue 1 Check out the new website ELECTION NOTICE page 4 SURPRISE MEDICAL BILL LAW page 5 BOBST TRIAL UCATS IN ACTION CONCLUDES page 6 page 11

2 president's letter Time for change Stephen Rechner, Law School has a new website. Hard to UCATS believe it was 1995 when our retired website first went live, but websites, like hotel rooms, should be renovated at least every 20 years. Ok, probably every 5 years, but better late than never. On our new website you can sign up to receive updates (and subsequently unsubscribe yourself too), you can now follow us on Twitter, and you can find links to union member benefits available from our state and national federations (NYSUT, AFT, NEA, AFL-CIO). There is also information about upcoming events, political action(s) you can take, our leadership team, links to recent issues of our newsletter and the collective bargaining agreement, and the most up-to-date Appendix D courses. How we do it Updating our website, taking advantage of new social media opportunities, publishing our awardwinning newsletter Momentum, getting timely and accurate information to our members this is just some of the work done for you by the UCATS Executive Council. Council members are your elected representatives. We meet monthly to brainstorm about issues that members have brought to our attention, to allocate resources, and to update our strategic plans. Recently, we sent you information about the upcoming elections for a new UCATS Executive Council. The Landgrum-Griffin Law requires unions to hold elections every three years, but the UCATS constitution requires that we hold elections every two years. Periodic elections ensure that your union is run democratically. We are fortunate that many of the same people have been serving on the council for multiple terms, and prior experience is a good thing, but new people with no prior experience are also important, as they bring a fresh perspective to our work as a union. The work is not hard, or even time consuming, but it is essential. Many of the council members we elect this year will also be the people who will serve on the negotiating team for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) in 2017, when our current CBA expires. The upcoming two-year term (May 1, 2015-April 30, 2017) will be an important time for us to educate a new generation of leaders about our CBA, both its potential and its shortcomings. While the prospect of stepping out of your comfort zone into a union leadership position may be daunting, the downsides of not having a strong union are even more daunting and in evidence all around. We all know someone who has been downsized, had their hours cut, hasn t had a raise in several years, has lost their health insurance, or had their employer change from a generous health insurance plan to a stingy one without any say in the matter. The only reason these things don t happen this way at NYU is because of UCATS and our active (Continued on next page) 636 Broadway, Room 606 New York, NY Momentum is published quarterly by and for the members of the Union of Clerical, Administrative, & Technical Staff (UCATS), at NYU, Local 3882, New York State United Teachers, AFT, AFL-CIO. Local 3882 Office: (646) address: ucats@erols.com President Stephen Rechner Vice Presidents Diana Corzen Christopher Crowe Treasurer Shermaine Griffin Secretary Rob Lesko Organizers Corey Edmonds, Linda Wambaugh Newsletter Denise Shavers 2 Momentum Union of Clerical, Administrative & Technical Staff at NYU, Local 3882

3 (Continued from page 2) leadership team. Without that, NYU would be just another employer running roughshod over their employees to maximize profit. Union begins with YOU Our union has achieved much over the last 36 years. We can continue that momentum as long as members step up to leadership positions on the executive council. An effective union doesn t just happen; members have to make it happen. Currently, there are 13 members serving on the council there are supposed to be 27. What do you need me for? Too many districts currently have no one serving on the council to represent them. Is yours one of them? It is incumbent upon those who work in unrepresented areas to elect people to fill those vacancies. That s not something the current leadership team can do for you. Why do members have to serve on the council? Don t my union dues pay someone to do that for me? In a word, NO. Union dues pays the rent on our office, keeps the lights on, and pays our organizers to handle the day-to-day business of our union, but the strength of the A note of thanks Please join me in thanking the current leadership team for their service over the last two years. It has been a pleasure to work with each of them. President: Stephen Rechner Vice President: Diana Corzen Christopher Crowe Treasurer: Sharmaine Griffin Secretary: Rob Lesko Stewards: Bobst: Jasmin Smith Courant: Joan Randolph Gallatin: Kate Conroy Health Services: Patricia Forry Johanna Tyson Barbara Bova Law: Ian Brown SCPS: Tyshawn Staton union is our members you. No one can better communicate our needs to management than the members who work for NYU every day. Only we have the knowledge of what is going on and how we experience it. Our monthly council meetings are where we share our experiences and weave them into an improvement plan. What s in it for me? To begin with, there are fewer grievances in areas where we have stewards and officers. When there are fewer grievances, that means there are fewer contract violations being perpetrated by management, which means everyone working in those areas is having a more positive experience. Members elected to the council serve a two-year term. On page 4 of this issue you will find the roles and responsibilities for stewards and officers that are articulated in the UCATS constitution. All new members of the council will be mentored by seasoned members of the council and our professional organizers. Nominations for steward and officer positions will be made at our spring 2015 membership meeting, Wednesday, March 11, 2015, Furman Hall, room 334. Council members are not chosen by the current leadership team, by me or by our organizing staff. By law, they can only be chosen by our members through the election process. Over the coming weeks you should be having discussions among yourselves and deciding who you will nominate to represent you for the next two years. The next Executive Council can only be chosen by YOU. Momentum Volume Issue 1 3

4 Roles and responsibilities of stewards and officers President The President shall be the chief executive officer of the Union. He/she shall preside at the meetings of the Executive Council and general membership. He/she shall report to the membership on the action of the Executive Council. He/she shall administer policy established by the Executive Council and the general membership. The President shall propose a budget to the Executive Council and submit a budget report at the close of his/her term. The President will be spokesperson for the Union. Vice President (2 positions) In the absence of the President, the Executive Council shall designate which Vice President shall assume the duties and responsibilities of the President. The Vice Presidents shall perform such other duties as the President may designate. The Vice Presidents shall supervise and coordinate the activities of the temporary and permanent committees. The division of work between the two Vice Presidents shall be recommended and approved by the Executive Council once they have been elected. Treasurer The Treasurer shall be responsible for the accurate keeping of financial records, the payment of all bills, and all other duties as usual to that office. Secretary The Secretary shall be responsible for the minutes of the Executive Council and the general membership meetings. The Secretary shall supervise the dissemination of information to the membership, conduct the correspondence of the Union, and supervise files and non-financial records and other duties as usual to the office. Stewards Stewards handle step one and two grievances (with assistance and training), keep members informed of union activities, and attend monthly council meetings. Stewards also have the opportunity to write for the newsletter, attend conferences and conventions, plan and coordinate union activities, and participate in the strategic decision making of the union. UCATS Membership Meeting/Election Announcement Nominations for Executive Council Term May 1, 2015-April 30, 2017 When: Wednesday, March 11, 2015, 5:30 p.m. Where: Furman Hall, 245 Sullivan St., Room 334 The terms of all stewards and officers of the UCATS Executive Council expire on April 30, Council elections ensure that your union is run democratically. This election is your opportunity to choose your UCATS representatives for the next two years and, if you wish, to become part of the decision-making body of your union. Prior experience is not required to become a shop steward, only a desire to participate on the leadership team by helping to educate and inform your coworkers, and a willingness to attend one council meeting each month (for which you will receive up to two hours of paid release time from your job). Training will be provided. Council meetings begin at 4:30 p.m. on a day selected by the council at the beginning of the term; release time begins at 4 p.m. to allow for travel to the meeting location. 4 Momentum Union of Clerical, Administrative & Technical Staff at NYU, Local 3882

5 War on health insurance continues Stephen Rechner, Law School Last year, the Republicancontrolled House of Representatives passed the Forty Hours is Full-Time Act, which would allow employers to deny health insurance benefits to employees who work less than 40 hours. Fortunately, the then Democrat-controlled Senate ignored the bill. If this had become law, employees who work 39 hours per week or less for an employer with 50 or more employees could be denied health insurance by their employers without penalty under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Just one week into the 2015 legislative session the Republican-controlled House of Representatives reintroduced and passed the same bill; an identical bill is before the Senate but with a different titlethe Save American Jobs Act (Who wouldn t support that if they had not read it?) The intent of this proposed legislation is to render the ACA toothless and let employers off the hook for providing health insurance to their employees. Currently, employers with more than 50 employees must offer health insurance to their employees who work an average of 30 or more hours per week or face a $2,000 per employee penalty. Many employers have already cut back the hours of their part-time workers to 29 hours for the sole purpose of skirting the ACA requirement to offer health insurance. Increasing the threshold to 40 hours would carve out another huge swath of workers that employers could define as unworthy of health insurance. What rational employer would not cut the hours of all their employees to 39 hours if they could save the cost of providing health insurance? When employees stop receiving health insurance from their employers they are then confronted with the ACA mandate of purchasing their own health insurance and paying full freight. That amounts to an enormous loss of disposable income which will act as a drag on the economic growth of the entire country. Single-payer solution While it is tempting to blame the ACA and President Obama for the cynical actions of employers who structure their employment policies to avoid providing health insurance to the workers upon whose back they earn their profits, I believe/hope that this is just a growing pain on the way to single-payer national health insurance. The current system is simply unsustainable. There are too many parasites sucking mindboggling amounts of profit from the healthcare system money that is not spent on anyone s health care. Single-payer national health insurance would, hopefully, be based on a percentage of a person s income, and be automatically deducted from a paycheck like income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes. Some good news Fortunately, for now, health insurance is regulated by each state. While the United States Congress is working hard to sell the American public down the river on health insurance, the New York state legislature recently passed, and Governor Cuomo signed, the Emergency Medical Services and Surprise Bills law, which will go into effect on March 31, Too many hospitals and healthcare providers have been getting around the discounted reimbursement rates they have negotiated with health insurance companies by tricking consumers into using out-ofnetwork providers. Here s how a typical scam works: you need an operation; your in-network primary care physician makes all the arrangements with the in-network hospital, surgeon, anesthesiologist, etc.; you go to the hospital at the appointed hour, get prepped, and then you are wheeled into the operating room and your in-network surgeon says, By the way, today I will be ably assisted by Doctor X. Your in-network surgeon doesn t tell you that Doctor X is out-of-network, and then you get a huge bill because Doctor X s fee is $10,000, but your insurance company only pays out-of-network providers 80% or the area reasonable and customary fee for the procedure you had done, and the reasonable and customary fee, as determined by your insurance company, is only $6,000, of which 80% is only $4,800, and the hospital expects you to pay the balance of $5,200. WOW! Not only did you not get an opportunity to decline the services of Doctor X, you have no way of chal- (Continued on page 9) Momentum Volume Issue 1 5

6 Bobst trial concludes Christopher Crowe, Bobst Library The staff at Bobst Library has been fighting for over a year against a radical reorganization of their jobs imposed on them by the University in the Fall of While this fight is ongoing and nowhere near finished, a major battle recently came to an end and, while the result is still in question, it seems to have gone well for us. Last Spring the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against NYU in response to an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charge that UCATS had filed on behalf of the UCATS members affected by the reorganization and NYU's refusal to bargain with us over its effects. A trial before an NLRB judge was then scheduled to begin on July 1st but, as is often the case, various delays and postponements put it off until December. It finally took place over three days in December and February. While the judge s decision is still pending we re confident that we made our case and reasonably hopeful that it will turn out to be successful for us legally; it has already been a resounding success for member en- Top l to r: Christopher Crowe, Stephen Rechner, Linda Wambaugh. Bottom l to r: A.J. Muhammad, Matthew Gutierrez, Jasmin Smith, Allyssa Brisset, Phoebe Walker. gagement and empowerment in Bobst Library. Background The history of this fight has been recounted in detail in issues 1 and 2 of momentum from 2014, which can be found on our newly redesigned website, www. ucats3882.org. In brief: in November, 2013, management announced that nearly everyone in Bobst s Access, Delivery, Resource Sharing Services (ADRSS) Department would be required to work in more than one unit for several hours a day, several days a week. So, for example, a Stacks Assistant might be sent to Circulation, or a Reserve Assistant might have to work in Interlibrary Loan. This is a problem because, while each unit is vital to the success of a major research library, they provide very different services and require much different skill sets from their staffs. Additionally, management announced that not only would everyone s performance be evaluated on how well they did the job for which they were originally hired but also on how well they did the new job suddenly thrust upon them. And need it be added? they would not be compensated in any way for the additional responsibilities they would be expected to take on. The staff, with union backing, immediately objected in the strongest possible terms. In January, 2014, after the University was unresponsive to our demands to cease and desist implementation of this reorganization we filed the ULP with the NLRB. Bobst shop steward Jasmin Smith and UCATS Organizer Linda Wambaugh swore out affidavits to the NLRB, detailing what had transpired. An NLRB agent was assigned to investigate our case and in April, 2014, she reported to her (Continued on next page) 6 Momentum Union of Clerical, Administrative & Technical Staff at NYU, Local 3882

7 (Continued from page 6) superiors her conclusion that the University had an obligation to bargain with us over the effects of the reorganization. (This could include, for example, changes in compensation for affected employees, or changes in the way their work performance would be evaluated.) The NLRB, as it usually does, encouraged our union and NYU to settle informally with each other and provided a framework for a possible informal agreement, which would have required, among other things, that NYU bargain with us. We were prepared to accept that and come to the table. Unfortunately, NYU was not and so it was necessary to proceed to the trial. While all this was going on, behind the scenes UCATS members at Bobst were getting active. In February, 2014, nearly every ADRSS member signed a petition demanding that NYU bargain with the union, which Jasmin Smith and I presented to key members of management, both at the library and at the University level. From the very beginning the affected employees have expressed their discontent with the reorganization repeatedly, politely but firmly, both verbally, to supervisors, and in writing. The trial At long last we finally got our day in court, starting on December 16th, It was very much like a trial one might see on TV or in the movies, with a judge, lawyers on each side, sworn witnesses, exhibits entered into evidence, etc. The only usual feature that was missing was a jury. As in any trial each side attempted to persuade the judge of the rightness of their case. As the charging party the burden of proof fell to us to prove our case through evidence, testimony, and solid legal argument. The first day of the trial was mostly taken up with Linda Wambaugh s testimony. She laid down a factual basis for our claims, detailing the history of the union s actions in regard to the reorganization. In addition, a number of documents were admitted into evidence, often despite objections from NYU. The second day of the trial was not until February 2nd and began with Jasmin Smith s testimony. She focused mostly on the effects that the reorganization has had on her personally and on the members of the ADRSS Department generally. Jasmin was cool, poised, and extremely well spoken, and in complete command of her facts a credit both to herself and to our union. Even when management s lawyer questioned her, and peppered her with occasional (almost certainly intentional) misstatements, she calmly and fully answered him, correcting him as necessary. A.J. Muhammad, an ADRSS member who was there as an observer, called it inspiring. Much of the afternoon was spent arguing over what documents should be admitted into evidence. The judge accepted most of those documents into evidence, often over the vociferous objection of NYU s lawyer. While not the most exciting part of the process it was nonetheless, extremely important since the documentary evidence will largely inform the judge s decision. There was a major surprise late in the day, though, when our lawyer unexpectedly called Enrique Yanez, the Assistant Dean for Human Resources at Bobst, to the stand to testify. It was a brilliant bit of lawyering Mr. Yanez seemed ill at ease and not entirely forthcoming. The contrast with Jasmin s testimony earlier in the day could not have been more striking. Mercifully for him he was called very late in the day and so it wasn t long before the judge adjourned the proceedings until the next day. The third day saw the conclusion of Mr. Yanez s testimony. A night s rest hadn t helped him much and he wasn t in command of certain basic facts. (For example, when asked how many staff members this reorganization affected he could only venture a guess of zero to fifty. ) After more arguments over admitting more documents mostly won by our side the trial ended. Briefs written summaries of legal arguments from each side, are due in early March. The judge will then review them as well as all the evidence and testimony, and then render her decision. While we cannot, of course, be sure what it will be, we are hopeful for a favorable ruling, which will probably be appealed by NYU, but that s a battle for the future. Member actions It s an unfortunate, but often unavoidable fact, that much of the action that the union, as an organization, takes on behalf of its members happens behind closed doors and not in public. Grievances, for example, are only conducted in the presence of the specific members concerned. Contract negotiations, with the exception of extraordinary events like the great membership speakout during the 2011 bargaining, happen between relatively small groups on each side. There are good reasons for this but it can limit the opportunity for many members to see our union in action. The great thing about the NLRB trial was that it was open to the public, and on two of the three days (Continued on page 10) Momentum Volume Issue 1 7

8 8 Momentum Union of Clerical, Administrative & Technical Staff at NYU, Local 3882

9 AFT supports LGBT Healthcare Bill of Rights Asher Huey, American Federation of Teachers Reprinted with permission The AFT has signed on as a proud partner of the LGBT Healthcare Bill of Rights, joining more than 80 LGBT and progressive organizations that support the initiative to raise awareness of LGBT rights and empower patients to demand high-quality care. Many LGBT people are unaware of the laws that protect them and guarantee equality in healthcare. As the second-largest nurses union in the country, the AFT believes that all people deserve access to good healthcare. Queer people often experience discrimination and denial of equal access to healthcare, and the AFT is committed to helping turn this around. Our work on LGBT issues spans all AFT constituencies and includes innovative work from our affiliates. The LGBT Healthcare Bill of Rights site includes downloadable wallet-sized cards and a fact sheet explaining LGBT healthcare rights, which include privacy, protections from discrimination, and affirmation of identity and respect, among others. The full site and bill of rights go into detail about where these rights come from and how to take action. War on health insurance (Continued from page 5) lenging the insurance company s determination that the area reasonable and customary fee for the procedure you had done is only $6,000. In New York State, if you have Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) coverage, you have been held harmless in the above scenario, and your insurance company has to either challenge the hospital over Doctor X s fee or pay up. Unfortunately, over the years, there have been new models of health insurance that look like HMO s, in that they require you to use in-network providers, but they have defined themselves as Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO) or Exclusive Provider Organizations (EPO) to avoid the hold harmless protections HMOs must provide to their members. PPOs and EPOs require the consumer to jump through all the same hoops as an HMO, but, until now, they have not offered the same protection against surprise medical bills. The new law will extend to PPO and EPO consumers the same hold harmless protections that HMO For many years, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have been denied hospital visitation for their partners and families. But because of action from the Obama administration, hospitals now are required to allow visits from anyone a patient chooses. The rules were written to be specifically inclusive of LGBT patients. Over the past few years, LGBT healthcare rights have expanded, but public understanding and often hospitals understanding of these protections and rights lag behind. For instance, under the Affordable Care Act, discrimination on the basis consumers currently have. The only caveat is that the consumer must have done everything they could to stay in-network. In other words, if the consumer has intentionally gone to an out-of-network provider, as some plans allow, they are not protected. An excellent summary of the Emergency Medical Services and Surprise Bills law can be found online at: If you experience any surprise medical bills, you now have the law on of sex is prohibited. If a medical provider refuses to recognize a person s gender identity, the patient can file a discrimination complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services. The AFT s many efforts to support equality include the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals efforts to achieve inclusive healthcare for transgender people in the state. The AFT has recently become a member of a coalition fighting for an employment nondiscrimination act; and AFT President Randi Weingarten has spoken out about counseling for LGBT youth. your side, but that doesn t mean that hospitals and health care providers won t keep trying. Fortunately, NYU provides employees with the Health Advocate benefit. If you get a surprise medical bill, a Health Advocate representative will review your bill(s) with you and, either explain them, or help you resolve them with your health care provider if they are incorrect. You can contact Health Advocate at www. HealthAdvocate.com/ members or call them at There is no charge to use Health Advocate Momentum Volume Issue 1 9

10 Bobst trial (Continued from page 7) ADRSS members were able to attend. Matthew Gutierrez and Phoebe Walker attended on December 16th. They were joined by Alyssa Brissett and A.J. Muhammad on February 2nd. I attended on that day as well, both in my capacity as UCATS Vice- President and as a member of the ADRSS Department. UCATS President Stephen Rechner also joined us. None of us were called to testify, but our presence spoke volumes. The attendance of so many members at the NLRB trial sent a powerful message to NYU that the consequences of their half-baked job sharing plan at Bobst Library were important issues that NYU should be willing to bargain over, said Steve. NYU s preference for spending tens of thousands of dollars in time and legal fees to avoid a few hours of negotiating with UCATS demonstrates the misplaced priorities of NYU management. Members respond Said Alyssa about her impressions of the day: It was great being surrounded by other members of the union and officers within the union and it made me feel closer to the matter at hand. I was especially grateful to meet Linda, Steve, and the lawyers who are representing us as it made the issue more real to me. Even though I am one of the affected employees, I thought that it was even more significant for me to see firsthand what was being said by NYU s team as well as the union s team. I also thought that it was eye-opening in terms of the overall effects that this change has had on my colleagues and the attitude that NYU management has towards the case and the issues at hand. A.J. had this to say: If library administration had collaborated with the staff and negotiated in good faith with UCATS, there could have been a way to roll this major change out in a way that was beneficial to all parties. I think that the staff in the bargaining unit are very talented and have excellent ideas about how to improve working conditions for staff and to improve service for library users. Unfortunately, neither the ADRSS staff nor UCATS were invited to the table to discuss them. I am grateful to UCATS and the National Labor Relations Board for their efforts to keep the university accountable. Not everyone could attend the trial we all have to work, after all but that doesn t mean that those who were back at the office were out of the fight. We wouldn t be where we are in the case if the staff hadn t stepped up in a major way to defend themselves. As has already been mentioned, staff had signed a petition demanding bargaining back in February, In the run-up to the opening of the trial in December we drafted another petition, expressing our disappointment that the University was forcing us to resort to the NLRB to defend our rights and renewing our demand for bargaining. Once again nearly every member of ADRSS signed it and on the day the trial opened we sent it to Kristina Rose, the Head of ADRSS, Lucinda Covert- Vale, the Director of Public Services at Bobst, the aforementioned Enrique Yanez, Carol Mandel, the Dean of Libraries, Sandi Dubin from the Office of Legal Council, Barbara Cardeli-Arroyo, the Assistant Vice President for Employee and Labor Relations, and Alison Leary, the Executive Vice President for Operations. On that same day ADRSS members, as well as other union members in other departments of the library, and even a few sympathetic administrators, wore red ribbons as a show of unity. A few days later, many of us wore our ribbons again at the Bobst holiday party. We were very noticeable. The bigger issues As Steve Rechner pointed out, NYU could easily have scheduled a few hours to bargain with us and none of this would have been necessary. That they wouldn t can only mean one thing: they didn t want to. They want to have a free hand with us, to do with us what they please and the last thing that they want is a precedent saying that they actually have to come to the table and negotiate with us; and as long as that s the case, it s not just a problem for those of us in ADRSS, it s a problem for every UCATS member in every NYU work site. Clearly, NYU thought they could push this through with no resistance; instead, they have found out to their great expense and annoyance that they were mistaken. In so doing, NYU has done a real bang-up job helping us organize, activate, and empower our members. When all is said and done, the only way to fight the University, with all its vast wealth and power, is with our unity, and the only way to win is to win together. 10 Momentum Union of Clerical, Administrative & Technical Staff at NYU, Local 3882

11 UCATS in action against NYU at the NLRB trial over an ill-conceived job sharing plan that has been implemented in Bobst Library. Earlier this year, the NLRB ruled that while NYU could implement the plan under the terms of our contract, they Graduate Student Organizing Committee November 21 UCATS isn t the only union with whom NYU doesn t think they have to bargain. GSOC The Graduate Student Organizing Committee has been trying to negotiate their first contract since December UCATS members joined the GSOC picket line on November 21, to protest NYU s foot-dragging. January 14 Steve Rechner, Diana Corzen and Christopher Crowe delivered our petition Financial Aid, Not Golden Parachutes, to President Sexton s office. Our petition asked President Sexton to decline a $2.5 MILLION bonus that the NYU Board of Trustees granted him; the petition garnered 483 signatures. Steve Rechner with NYC Council member Rosie Mendez. January 15 Stepping out of the UCATS box, Steve Rechner testified at a community hearing held in the auditorium of P.S. 20 against locating a Success Academy Charter School in District 1 (lower east side). Steve is on the board of directors of New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), our state federation. NYSUT has long opposed charter schools because they divert education funding away from public schools and they have ways of keeping out special needs children. The hearing was organized by City Council member Rosie Mendez. January 15 Hearing nothing from President Sexton or NYU Public Relations, it is our assumption that President Sexton accepted the $2.5 MILLION bonus while NYU students continue to graduate with the highest debt load in the nation. February 2 Shop Steward Jasmin Smith testified Jasmin Smith, Shop Steward, Bobst Library were still required to negotiate the effects of the plan with UCATS, the effects being our members ability to meet performance evaluation goals, chain of command issues, training, scheduling issues, etc. NYU refused to negotiate leaving the NLRB no choice but to sue them. February 9 UCATS new website goes LIVE! Check it out at org. Sign up for alerts for the latest about what s going on in your union. Momentum Volume Issue 1 11

12 cats Bulletin Board Defensive Driving Course Online Through NYSUT Member Benefits, UCATS members, agency fee payers, and their family members who reside in New York state can purchase the National Safety Council s Online Defensive Driving Courseware at the reduced price of $21.95 per person, a savings of almost $20 per course fee. When you have completed this course, in addition to learning valuable knowledge about how to become a more defensive driver, you may also qualify for a personal auto insurance discount. Please contact your auto insurance carrier to see if you qualify for a discount. You may also receive a reduction of up to 4 points on your driving record. Upon successful completion of this course, an official National Safety Council Certificate of Completion will be mailed to you the next business day. Your successful completion status will also be electronically transmitted to the NYS Department of Motor Vehicles. If you are eligible, the DMV will automatically apply the point reduction to your driving record. To access the course go to and click on the Member Benefits tab. You will need your NYSUT member ID, which can be obtained by calling , ext NYU Federal Credit Union Offers many services that can help you put your financial life in order. Free checking, debt consolidation loans, discounted CitiBike membership, home buyers assistance and mortgages are just some of the benefits available to credit union members. Membership in the NYU Federal Credit Union is a one-time payment of $10. While you must be an NYU employee to join the credit union, your membership and all the benefits that go with it continue, even if you leave NYU, for as long as you maintain an account with them. Check them out at AFT Robert G. Porter Scholars Program This program offers four 4-year, $8,000 post-secondary scholarships to students who are dependents of AFT members, as well as 10 one-time $1,000 grants to AFT members to assist with their continuing education. Applications for the 2015 Porter Scholars Program are now available through our new online system. The deadline for the AFT Robert G. Porter Scholars Program for high school students is March 31, The deadline for the Member Grants Program is March 31, As a member of UCATS, you are also a member of the AFT. To apply for this program go to and click on the Member Benefits tab.