PSC News
and Updates

The union has produced a series of six new brochures about some of the key issues at stake in this round of bargaining. Click image for more information and to see brochures.

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weekly calendar

PSC/CUNY Meetings and Events: 

Chapter Meetings: 

Hunter (Wednesday), NYC Tech (Thursday)

Go to calendar for more information on upcoming events.

The state has passed a budget.  Click here for an  analysis.  Meanwhile, Mayor Bloomberg has proposed $65 million in cuts to CUNY’s budget. We must act now to make sure those cuts are restored by the City Council and new funds added to meet critical needs at every CUNY campus. Click here to send faxes to your City Council Member, the Council Speaker and the Mayor.

City Council Members Join PSC Budget Effort to Stop CUNY Cuts. Fourteen City Council Members joined more than 150 City University of New York (CUNY) faculty, staff and students at a City Hall press conference on May 7th calling on the Mayor and the City Council to restore budget cuts to CUNY. The PSC also delivered 25,000 postcards signed by CUNY students, faculty and staff demanding budget  restorations. Details.

Click here for more information on this year's CUNY budget (both city and state) -- and the role you can play.
 

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The union is airing a hard-hitting 30-second ad that brings the crisis of uncompetitive salaries to the public’s attention.  Click here for details.
 

CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS

►BARGAINING NEWS & ANALYSIS -- For all the latest negotiations news, events and analysis, click here.

►DEMANDS:  Click here to view the demands presented by the PSC and management reflecting very different views of the university.

◄SALARY EROSION.  A key issues for PSC members in the present contract talks is salary erosion and the effect of the University’s reliance for half its teaching on underpaid part-timers. Click here for an analysis.

►PSC TELLS THE B.O.T. THAT CUNY NEEDS A RAISE at its April 28th meeting.  Details.

►OPEN LETTER TO THE CHANCELLOR.  As we reach the six-month mark without an economic offer from CUNY, PSC President Barbara Bowen has written an open letter to CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein demanding a financial offer large enough to begin restoration of CUNY salaries.  Click here for letter.

►PETITION SUPPORTING ADJUNCTS.  During the April 7-11 Contract Week, several chapters began circulating a petition to gather support from all PSC members for the needs of adjuncts in this round of bargaining. Now the union is taking the petition University-wide. Click here to add your name to support the demands for job security and healthcare coverage under the City’s health plan.  

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►PARENTAL LEAVE.   Family leave is a major item in contract negotiations.  Click here to learn more.  And help us to gather information on this issue by completing an online questionnaire.

►LOST FACULTY.  Do you know of colleagues who have left CUNY or have turned down a CUNY position because of salaries and workloads that are not nationally competitive?  Please help us by providing information about those colleagues by clicking here and then completing the online form.

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Part-Timer Unemployment Insurance:

By clicking here, send an Act Now letter to your state legislators supporting a bill that would enable adjuncts to receive unemployment insurance when they are unemployed and have no income.

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Robert Cermele, mathematics professor at the CUNY New York City College of Technology, received one of NYSUT's most prestigious statewide awards, "Higher Education Member of the Year," at the union's 36th annual Representative Assembly in New York City on April 12th.

Cermele was honored for his 36 years of professional excellence as a CUNY professor, his commitment to the college's students, his role in building a strong union chapter on his campus and his leadership in the CUNY-wide PSC.

"Bob Cermele embodies all the qualities of an education union leader: professionalism, advocacy and compassion," said NYSUT President Richard C. Iannuzzi. "He has built relationships that have benefited his students, his colleagues and their campus. Together with other PSC leaders, he has consistently fought for the needs of students and staff."  More.

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FREE SPEECH FIGHT AT LAGCC

The PSC has filed a federal lawsuit as well as  a grievance under the contract in response to the ban on union speech imposed by CUNY at LaGuardia Community College. A decree from LaGuardia in November prohibited faculty and staff from using the college’s e-mail system for union communications; communication about union business was the only subject of speech singled out for prohibition, which is an abrupt reversal of the college’s practice until now. Fighting back, PSC members at LAGCC have gathered signatures on a petition demanding that LaGuardia President Gail Mellow lift the ban. Besides the clear free speech violation, the college’s new policy also impedes the union’s ability to function and advocate for its members because e-mail has become the accepted way to communicate notices about meetings, updates on bargaining and grievances and information on contractual rights. The timing of the new ban, in the midst of the PSC’s contract negotiations with CUNY, is particularly troubling. The union is continuing to review its additional legal options.  Click here to read a fuller story in the January '08 Clarion.

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Governor Spitzer's Higher Education Commission issued its report (12/17/07) on public higher education in New York State.  In a statement, the PSC saw the report as an "first powerful step" in identifying the problem (chronic under funding), but expressed disappointment that it didn't call for major public investment in CUNY and SUNY.  Details.

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On Friday and Saturday, March 7-8, 100 PSC activists from across the University met for a leadership training conference. The main focus of the intense two-day event was a practical effort to discuss and link the issues that matter most to PSC members with the tools it takes to effectively communicate with and mobilize members. A series of participatory workshops helped activists plot concrete next steps in their efforts to organize their campuses. In addition, members heard from two guest speakers, Prof. Gary Rhoades, whose scholarship focuses on the effects of the commodification of higher education, and Prof. Lillian Taiz, the president of the California Faculty Association and a key leader in the CFA’s massive mobilization of members that last year led to the union’s best ever contract for the faculty of the California State University system.  Click here to see photo gallery.

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Intro 650 (Permits for Atmospheric, Biological, Chemical, and Radiological Detectors) is a City Council bill, introduced at the request of the Mayor, that would require police permits for possession and use of environmental air monitoring devices by public health groups, labor unions, environmentalists, community organizations, and university programs. If enacted, it would restrict, and could prevent altogether, independent environmental monitoring. Had this bill been law at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attack, the independent testing done by community-based organizations would have been prohibited and what we know about the contamination of Lower Manhattan would not be public information. For more information on the bill,visit the NYCOSH website. The PSC Environmental Watchdogs urge union members to write to the Mayor and to their City Council Member to voice their opposition to Intro 650; if you don’t know who your City Council Member is, Click here to find out.

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As the November/December '07 Clarion noted," Christmas came early for CUNY" management.  The Board of Trustees has awarded Vice-Chancellors and college presidents five-figure salary increases, but has yet to make a financial offer to the PSC in contract negotiations.  At its November meeting, the PSC Delegate Assembly passed a resolution calling "on Chancellor Goldstein and the top managers who were awarded salary increases this September and last September to decline those increases until instructional staff salaries are restored to nationally competitive levels."    Click here for DA resolution and here for Clarion article.  (For analysis of just how uncompetitive CUNY salaries are, click here.)

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For information and application materials for HEO-CLT grants and the new series of Adjunct/CET grants click here.
 

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Click image to go
to April '08 Clarion

Clarion Recognized for Excellence

For the third consecutive year, the International Labor Communications Association (ILCA) has named Clarion the best union newspaper of its size in North America.  In addition to the recognition from the ILCA, Clarion also received awards in 2007 from the American Federation of Teachers, New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) and the New York Metro Labor Communications Council.  Details.

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The minutes for the PSC Delegate Assembly, beginning with the 2006-2007 academic year, are now online (click here).

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PSC MODIFIES AGENCY FEE REBATE POLICY

On April 3, 2008, the PSC modified its agency fee rebate notice and procedure for consistency with existing rulings on the subject and a decision of the Second Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. Details.

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Join the My Five Network! 

The idea is simple: If we want a good contract, we need to organize, and one of the first steps in getting organized is talking to each other and having a way to communicate critical bargaining news to every PSC member. The My Five organizers will be the heart and soul of that effort, serving as a bridge between the union's bargaining team and the rest of the membership. Each My Fiver will keep in contact with five colleagues. We'll provide tips on how to do it, and later this spring we'll offer a training for My Five organizers.  Click here to sign-up.

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