United University Professions (UUP), the SUNY union which represents the 37,000 members of the university system’s professional and academic staff, as well as health care workers at all three SUNY hospitals, has cut a deal with the state on vaccines.

“Basically, the agreement says the mandate exists, it is fully enforced. People must be vaccinated by the end of business [Monday]. If they are not, they will be subject to suspension, but all of their rights as we have negotiated for them over many contracts will be maintained,” said UUP President Dr. Fred Kowal.

Those rights include disciplinary suspension rather than termination for employees who refuse to be vaccinated. Employees will also receive all the due process protections provided by their UUP contract.

Additionally, during the unpaid suspension, workers may elect to use their vacation time, called “available leave credits,” to continue on the payroll. And finally, health care coverage will continue for all members.

UUP represents a variety of positions at its three teaching hospitals, including nurse supervisors, pharmacists, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, surgeons and X-ray technicians.

According to UUP, over 90% of its members at hospitals are vaccinated.

According to Kowal, among those who are not vaccinated, there has been both acceptance and resistance.

UUP supports the mandate, and because of that, the union has been educating those members who have expressed vaccine hesitancy.

“Last week, on Wednesday and Friday, we had our own members, experts from the hospitals, provide a panel discussion for all those at the hospitals who wanted to find the most relevant, important information, accurate information about the vaccines,” Kowal said. “We ran those panels and we continue to run them.”

Kowal strongly believes that enabling long-trusted colleagues to share their knowledge with those who are vaccine hesitant is swelling the numbers of vaccinated employees.

“We have seen the numbers of unvaccinated members at hospitals falling significantly over the past two weeks, by as much 50% at Stonybrook alone,” Kowal stated. “Clearly there is an impact that is positive.”

When asked if there will be staffing shortages Tuesday at SUNY hospitals, Kowal said, “first and foremost, we hope not. But I believe that the governor does have in place a plan to deal with that. It is not the best-case scenario.”