Friday, March 26, 2004.

Lou Stollar, left, and Ivan Tiger were among the marchers at Friday's rally.

Despite threats of state aid cutbacks, a sluggish economy and financial difficulties in districts small and large, NYSUT has held down expenses, held on to members and will finish the current fiscal year in better shape than anyone had anticipated a year ago, Secretary-Treasurer Ivan Tiger reported Friday.

Tiger reported that membership was stable and that "NYSUT expenses remain in check."

In fact, Tiger announced NYSUT has grown to the point where he has been asked by President Tom Hobart to head a task force to examine whether the RA - the cost of which has doubled in seven years - should continue to be held annually and if the union should consider moving it to locations such as Boston, Toronto or Atlantic City, which are better equipped to handle a delegation as large as NYSUT's.

"Our Representative Assembly has grown in size, as well as cost," Tiger said. "There are fewer and fewer locations in New York state that can comfortably accommodate NYSUT."

Saying there are no simple answers, Tiger encouraged delegates to take the issues back to their local members and Election Districts and let him know their feelings. A proposal is expected to be ready to present to delegates at next year's RA.

Tiger said the union has cut operating costs by increasing the use of videoconferencing and electronic distribution of documents and doing virtually all printing in-house. NYSUT's headquarters conference center, he pointed out, is being used for many meetings which previously had been held in Albany-area hotels.

Over the past year, NYSUT completed an initiative Tiger first discussed in 2003: a massive program to better serve members throughout the state by building new regional offices and refurbishing others.

Data collection

Speeding up the annual collection of membership rosters has eased the summer workload for local unions and increased the number of full-time equivalent members by putting them in proper dues categories, Tiger added. He said the data-collection program had an additional benefit in this election year.

"NYSUT will have more accurate data relating to new and past members in time for it to be useful in our efforts to support our endorsed candidates," he explained.

Tiger announced a dues increase to take effect Sept. 1 for about 7,000 associate NYSUT members, who sign up primarily to remain eligible for insurance and other benefits from the union's Member Benefits program.

Noting that net income from the current fee structure doesn't even cover the cost of collecting the dues from associate members, Tiger said dues will increase from $25 to $35 for annual membership, and from $40 to $60 for two-year membership. Associate members wishing to continue to receive the New York Teacher would pay $45 annually or $80 for two years.