Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin

February 11, 2009

100 protesters greet governor with grievances

By Eric Reinagel ereinage@gannett.com

DICKINSON -- "You work for us. You work for us," was being chanted by a section of more than 100 people outside the Broome Community College gymnasium Wednesday before the start of Gov. David A. Paterson's town hall meeting.

Some in the group, standing behind a wooden parking barricade, held up a sign that read "Patter$on Friend of the Rich," misspelling the governor's name.

It wasn't the ideal situation to talk to the governor, but Monazir Khan and others were able to grab the governor's attention and spoke with him, one-on-one.

We need your support in order to mobilize union members at Stony Brook University for a just contract!

Please fill out this form if you are interested in becoming a paid steward for your department or work area.

I was contacted this morning by Stony Brook Labor Relations and informed that the permit for the GSEU press conference to launch the Research Assistants (RA) union was REVOKED.

Show your support for your sisters and brothers in the RA Union!

Support their first amendment rights to express their views on forming a union. Stony Brook allows neo-fascists like Ann Coulter to speak on campus, but denies our colleagues rights to discuss why they wish to form a union.

GSEU calls upon all sectors of the GSEU community to join our rally on Monday at 11:00 am at the Student Activities Center (SAC) building. The rally will go forward.

Come support the first amendment, and come support the RAs who want to join together for a voice at work.

Send a message to Stony Brook that union busting, intimidation, and violations of our first amendment will not be tolerated! Call President Kenny immediately at tel. (631) 632-6265 or email Shirley.Kenny@stonybrook.edu

WELCOME TO THE FALL SEMESTER... TAs, GAs, and RAs of SUNY UNITE!

For the latest info:

June 19, 2008

The Social Justice Alliance (SJA) started the Coca-Cola Campaign on Stony Brook Campus in Fall of 2005, where they began educating students on the corporation’s human rights abuses with SINALTRAINAL, a union in Colombia. They delivered letters to the Administration, informing them of the abuses and started holding panels and discussion forums to gain the support of the student body.

Within months, the Undergraduate Student Government passed a resolution that called on the University to remove Coca-Cola Products from campus; and before the end of the spring semester, several undergraduate and graduate clubs called on the university to do the same.

The next semester (Fall of 2006) began with members of the Social Justice Alliance greeting new students with locally-produced, pro-labor beverages and a promise to Administrators that they would not stop organizing until Coca-Cola was off campus. Soon after, members of the Graduate Student Organization unanimously passed a resolution to remove Coca-Cola from Campus.

TESTIMONY OF THE GRADUATE STUDENT EMPLOYEES UNION AT STONY BROOK TO THE NEW YORK STATE HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION

December 11, 2007

Delivered by Victor Rosado, Business Agent

“Excellence in higher education is a key to our state’s future. The state’s network of outstanding public and private colleges and universities are essential to producing the highly skilled work force that will be a major driver of New York’s Upstate economy. This new commission will help identify innovative, cutting edge ideas and necessary improvements that will help improve the quality of education we deliver and make New York’s higher educational system a world class institution.”
- Governor Eliot Spitzer

Good afternoon, Chairperson Rawlings and distinguished members of the committee. On behalf of the 1,000 graduate student teaching assistants (TAs) and graduate assistants (GAs) at SUNY Stony Brook, I thank you for the opportunity today to testify at this public hearing.

Graduate Student Organization Senate Bans Coca Cola Meetings
GSEU successfully lobbies GSO Senate to make the ethical beverage choice

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 (Stony Brook) – Members of the Graduate Student Employees Union (Stony Brook) successfully advocated for a motion of the Graduate Student Organization (GSO) Senate to ban Coca Cola from its meetings joining GSEU and United University Professionals, the faculty/staff union at Stony Brook, the GSO Senate as the third representative body to ban Coca Cola from their meetings at Stony Brook University.

Coca-Cola has been removed from approximately 50 universities worldwide due to accusations of complicity in the murders of Colombian unionists, environmental degradation in India and other crimes (see www.killercoke.org and www.indiaresource.org). Stony Brook’s exclusive contract with Coca Cola ends at the end of the 2007-2008 academic year and a renewal is being actively opposed by students.

The GSO Senate, which had previously passed a resolution that Coca Cola’s crimes should be publicly discussed within a committee in the University Senate, consists of at least one elected representative from each academic department at Stony Brook. The resolution passed at the March 2007 GSO Senate meeting is attached. No committee was formed. The motion passed will only affect GSO Senate meetings and do not bind the beverage choices of graduate student clubs, groups, lectures, or social and cultural events funded by the GSO.

To All Faculty, Staff and Students:

I am pleased to announce that stipends for TAs and GAs at Stony Brook University will be increased by $2,000 effective Fall Semester 2007. This is an important step both to compensate our graduate and teaching assistants as well as possible and to stay in step with the other AAU universities. The $2,000 increase will provide us parity with our peer institutions.

Our graduate students greatly enrich the intellectual quality of our University, through both their teaching and their research. It is with great satisfaction that we are able to increase the compensation for their services to the University.

Shirley Strum Kenny
President
Stony Brook University - SUNY

The CWA 1104/GSEU Soccer team “FC Internacional” Soccer Team finished second in this year’s Spring 2007 Outdoor Soccer Championship. After going undefeated in the regular season, Internacional lost to "Scrubs" in the finals in a penalty shootout.

As always, thanks for the support from the Local.

Here is the video and transcript of my testimony in Albany at the SUNY Board of Trustees Hearing.

GSEU Testimony to Board of Trustees on Tuesday March 20, 2007

Victor Rosado
Business Agent, Stony Brook GSEU/CWA 1104
Testimony at SUNY Board of Trustees Public Hearing
Albany, New York

Good Afternoon. My Name is Victor Rosado. I am the chief union representative of nearly 1,000 graduate student teaching assistants (TAs) and graduate assistants (GAs) at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. We are proudly affiliated with the Graduate Student Employees Union and the Communications Workers of America Local 1104.

I am here to testify on behalf of my members who are not only dedicated employees of the State of New York and SUNY, but are some of the best and brightest minds in the world researching and teaching at Stony Brook, the largest employer on Long Island.

The overwhelming majority of our members feel that the stipends they receive are substandard and terribly inadequate. As a resident of New York State, I am embarrassed that Stony Brook TAs and GAs earn some of the lowest stipends in the country.

During the National Jobs with Justice Student Labor Week of Action, over 50 GSEU members and allies came together on March 28, 2007 to rally in support of better stipends, healthcare, guaranteed fifth year funding, and no mandatory administrative fees.

After 150+ emails were sent to President Shirley Kenny, Governor Spitzer, the SUNY Board of Trustees, and the Chairs of the NYS Higher Education Committees, the GSEU at Stony Brook rallied and stormed the administration building to demand a meeting with the local university administration.

We were successful and have a historic meeting coming up with the Provost and Dean of the Graduate School.

Stony Brook Graduate Magazine and
The Village Times Herald did a great job covering our rally. Below are some pics.