Friday, March 26, 2004.

Delegates dove into the business of the RA, approving nine priority resolutions and a series of amendments to NYSUT's constitution and bylaws.

Debate and action on resolutions will continue Saturday.

Delegates overwhelmingly approved a resolution of support and a call for increased funding for the state's teacher centers. They also urged support of the American Labor Studies Center, a Troy-based organization that will provide curriculum materials to help teachers develop lessons about the labor movement.

Delegates urged NYSUT to create a standing committee dealing with the issues facing the union's many small locals, and called on NYSUT to "engage aggressively" in efforts to prevent further privatization of BOCES services.

In a series of health-related measures, delegates committed their statewide union to seek legislation banning mandatory overtime for home-care nurses, as well as for those who practice in hospitals and other facilities. They also called for a delay in the use of irradiated meat in school lunch programs until the long-term effects of its use can be studied.

A resolution calls on NYSUT to seek more rights for workers who suffer musculoskeletal injuries, such as repetitive stress injuries, and to work to promote standards for healthy working conditions that include ergonomically correct equipment.

In a related measure, delegates urged NYSUT to work with other organized labor advocates to shore up the state's unemployment insurance trust fund.

Delegates also endorsed the recommendations of NYSUT's Ad Hoc Task Force on School Finances, a panel created last spring to deal with issues such as No Child Left Behind and court-ordered changes in the way New York funds public education.

Among the series of procedural and technical changes to the constitution and bylaws, one amendment would assure that elections for delegates and alternates to the RA are consistent with the standards for elections under federal Landrum-Griffin labor-management act.