The union representing SUNY Potsdam and Canton employees and the 4,000 retired professors and staff who worked at State University of New York schools who recently found out they will have to pay an extra 2 percent on their health-insurance premiums has filed suit late Wednesday to reverse the action.

United University Professions Union called the action arbitrary, capricious and unconstitutional.

Don Feldstein, media-relations specialist for UUP, says it poses a hardship on retirees.

"They're on fixed incomes. They also have to pay whatever premium increases there are handed down by the health-insurance carriers themselves."

The suit also alleges breach of contract.

The dispute comes as the union is in negotiations with the state on a new contract. The defendants include the Department of Civil Service, the state's employee health plan, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo's office had no immediate comment on the suit, and no explanation as to why the extra charge is showing up on retirees' bills.

Feldstien notes that UUP is not alone in its reaction to the increase.

"Other unions who have reached agreements, notably CSEA (the Civil Service Employees Association) and the Public Employees Federation, are also filing suit, so it's not just UUP. So, we hope this will not have any effect on our ongoing negotiations."

Feldstein says it's an unwarranted attack on the financial well-being of retirees who - like most others - have to deal with premium rate increases annually imposed by health insurance carriers.

"They may have had difficulty paying just their premium increases. Now this comes on top of this and makes a bad situation even worse."

Retirees had been paying 10 percent of the cost of their health-insurance premiums for individual coverage and a 25 percent share on family plans.