Why should I get involved and what can I do?

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Get involved in your chapter

The real power—and the life—of the union is in the chapters. Call your chapter chair, find out when the next meeting is and attend. Don’t hold back from offering your ideas or experience; volunteer for a task force or a committee. Taking an active role in your chapter introduces you to colleagues from other departments and allows you to influence policies that will make a difference in your own working life.

Some of the changes with the most immediate impact on our lives occur through campaigns waged by the chapters. Chapters have won assistance with childcare, computer lounges for adjuncts, increased released time for faculty, safety improvements in labs and classrooms, and other improvements in working conditions. Union chapters have also organized to change the culture on their campuses: they have held teach-ins about the history of CUNY funding, mounted exhibits about struggles for academic freedom, formed coalitions with students to challenge military recruiters on campus, and held forums on race and racism in higher education.

Get involved union-wide

Once you have become involved in your chapter, you might want to consider running for union office, becoming a delegate to the union’s central policy-making body, or joining a union-wide committee. The PSC constitution provides for several elected committees to recommend policy and take action on specific member needs; other committees spring from members’ interests and reflect the union’s commitment to changing the political and social conditions in which the PSC operates. The Women’s Committee, for instance, helped win the right for students on welfare to continue their CUNY education; the Academic Freedom Committee carried out a groundbreaking survey on the state of academic freedom at Hunter College.

Here are some specific campaigns that you can join:

• Winning the next contract: The PSC’s contract expires in October 2010. This is a tough time to negotiate, but, as always, we get the contract that we fight for. Are you willing to help win a good contract for the next negotiations by joining the Committee of 500? Click here to find out more -- and to join.

• Legislative action: Find out how to get involved in legislative campaigns at the city, state or federal levels -- particularly state and city budget campaigns to reverse several decade of underfunding of the university. Click here to find out more.

• Chapter activity: Some of the changes with the most immediate impact on our lives occur through campaigns waged by the chapters. Learn how to get involved in your chapter by clicking here.

• Committees: The PSC has many working committees -- some appointed; others open to general member participation. Many organize activities that call for member engagement. Find out how you can participate by clicking here.