April 16 , 2008

UUPers press lawmakers to unlock SUNY funds

UUP member Ivan Steen of UAlbany, right, urges Assembly Majority Leader Ron Canestrari to use his influence to stop the state’s order to SUNY to freeze nearly $110 million it collects from SUNY students and public hospital patients. Canestrari is accompanied by his aide Stephanie Sorrentino.

Steen was among over 30 UUP advocates in Albany who met with dozens of state lawmakers along with their brothers and sisters from NYSUT during the union’s Committee of 100 advocacy day on May 13.

Steen told Canestrari that blocking SUNY from spending the money makes no sense at all.

“It seems bizarre to cut an agency that makes money for the state,” he said.

UUP has mounted a massive public information campaign against the budgetary freeze that includes running ads in major newspapers statewide, conducting news media interviews, and generating faxes from union members and the public to the governor.