News & Events

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Solidarity Greetings

A Message from the Incoming PSC Officers
June 4, 2021

Dear PSC members,

We are writing during our first week in office to say how excited we are to begin to take on the challenges of the moment. It would be hard to imagine a more tumultuous time for a transition in union leadership, with so much in flux for all of us who work at CUNY, our students and our city. We ran for office because each of us knows from experience that our surest path forward is in union. With you, we will collectively define, demand and create fulfilling and safe working conditions for ourselves and quality learning conditions for our students. We credit the work of all of us in the PSC for the best aspects of our careers at CUNY, and we are thrilled to begin our term in office at a moment when our work in the union, as members and leaders, is more critical than ever. If you’d like to know a bit more about us, here’s what we wrote for last month’s Clarion.

Online Town Hall on Safe Reopening

On May 20, the PSC hosted a town hall to get clarity on CUNY’s announcements and to review the PSC Standards for a Safe Reopening and the progress we’ve made pressing CUNY to adopt the standards. Health and Safety Watchdogs were there to outline the union’s systematic approach to ensuring the safety of our worksites, and members had the opportunity to ask questions and to join the PSC Health and Safety Watchdogs and to join the campaign to build our union's power.

Click here for a detailed table of the PSC Safety Standards.

Thank you, PSC members!

A Message from Outgoing PSC President Barbara Bowen
May 28, 2021

Dear PSC Members,

Today I step down from the PSC presidency and gratefully rejoin the rank and file of our union. Thank you for reading so many messages from me through the years! And thank you for entrusting me with the leadership of the union. It has been the privilege of a lifetime.

Protestors Rally at Brooklyn College, March to College President’s Home to Demand that CUNY #FreeTheFunds and Address Campus Racism

Brooklyn College Refuses To Release A Plan for its $58.6 Million in COVID Stimulus

Ranked Choice Voting 101

The PSC hosted a Ranked Choice Voting 101 Workshop Monday, May 24 that was led by Olivia Brady, a representative of NYC Votes and the Campaign Finance Board. If you missed it, you can watch this video of the presentation, which included voting simulations and a question and answer session.

Deadline to use annual leave extended

Dear Colleagues:

Good news about using your accrued annual leave! The PSC and CUNY have reached an agreement that the August 31 deadline to use your annual leave for the current annual leave year will be extended again this year to December 31. Here is the signed agreement.

PSC STANDARDS FOR SAFE OPENING AT CUNY

The standards presented below represent the PSC’s position on the measures that must be in place before the University reopens on a larger scale in the Fall 2021 semester.

CUNY students, faculty and staff are eager to resume working and learning together on campus after a year of isolation—but only if we can do so safely. We are intensely conscious of the value of in-person learning and interaction at CUNY, especially because the communities CUNY serves have been pummeled by deaths from COVID, loss of income, and the intensifying effects of systemic poverty and racism.

But there must be no return without a safe return. As the employer, CUNY has a legal and contractual responsibility to provide a workplace that is free of recognized hazards that could cause serious illness or death. To date, the CUNY administration has failed to provide unified guidance or enforcement of the standards that must be met in order for colleges to reopen more broadly. Instead, responsibility for developing reopening plans has been delegated to the individual colleges, with the result that the University community is faced with a patchwork of plans and uneven enforcement.

PSC March to #FreeTheFunds

Union Demands CUNY Use Federal Stimulus Funds to Help CUNY Recover, Reverse Cuts and Layoffs, Protect Health and Safety

New York—More than 200 faculty, staff and students marched through midtown Wednesday, April 28 with the Professional Staff Congress demanding that CUNY “Free The Funds!” and use the stimulus money Congress allocated to CUNY for pandemic relief.

CUNY colleges have been allocated more than $891 million in federal stimulus funds that can be used for institutional purposes related to the pandemic (see college-by-college allocations). The colleges received additional funds for direct aid to students, a provision the union vigorously supports.

“Congress allocated $891 million in institutional aid to the colleges—not to CUNY central. The CUNY administration must release plans for the colleges to put that money to work to protect the quality of a CUNY education, the health and safety of the CUNY community and the livelihood of CUNY workers during the pandemic. CUNY must reverse the cuts and layoffs of the last year,” said Barbara Bowen, president of the Professional Staff Congress. “With the federal funds addressing emergency needs, the City and State must urgently invest in baseline funding for CUNY. Whether New York generates an inclusive economic recovery depends in large part on whether it invests in CUNY.”

"We fought hard in the American Relief Plan to deliver billions of dollars in critical support for higher education in New York, including to CUNY, an institution I love, because it is a direct investment in a better future for millions of students -- and for America. It is vital that those funds are used to keep education affordable for students and to preserve the quality of education offered, including maintaining and restoring a full amount of the professors and instructors needed to deliver that education. When we were in the depths of the covid crisis, all entities had to tighten their belts, but now that we have delivered this much-deserved and generous aid package we should make every effort to restore operations to optimal levels," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

NYSUT Higher Education Members of the Year for 2020 and 2021

Barbara Bowen, Outgoing PSC President, Named NYSUT Higher Education Member of the Year for 2021

Mike Fabricant, Former PSC Principal Officer and Legislative Representative, Named Higher Education Member of the Year for 2020

Barbara Bowen, a fierce advocate for workers, students and progressive causes, is returning to teaching after more than two decades as president of the Professional Staff Congress representing faculty and academic staff at CUNY. She was honored recently as Higher Education Member of the Year by PSC’s statewide affiliate, NYSUT.

During her 21 years as PSC president, Barbara Bowen has become an influential voice within the labor movement and higher education nationally. She has been an outspoken advocate for a labor movement in service of the entire working class and in opposition to racist austerity.

PSC/CUNY Pre-Retirement Conference

PSC/CUNY Pre-Retirement Conference on Friday, May 21 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. This 3 ½ hour conference will be held as a Zoom webinar. Representatives from the CUNY Benefits Office, NYC Office of Labor Relations and the PSC/CUNY Welfare Fund will present on planning and filing for retirement, retiree health insurance and Welfare Fund benefits.

Please note: This webinar will not include workshops with the pension systems. Information will be provided about how to contact your pension system to learn about your prospective benefits and ensure your records are up to date.

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