From the January '08 Clarion

BMCC HOLDS SILENT PROTEST

Students, members offer support

By Peter Hogness

Picture credit: Lisa Quiñones

In what was billed as a “silent march,” PSC members at BMCC walked singlefile through nearly every department in the college, carrying signs and handing out leaflets about the union’s contract fight. The highly visible protest drew widespread support from students, as well as faculty and staff.   

“They deserve everything they can get,” said BMCC student Alton Pierce as the line of protesters came up an escalator and walked down the hall. “The State is being cheap. We need our good professors at CUNY – they don’t get paid as much as at private universities, and they should.” 

CUNY’S CONCESSIONS 

Held on December 12, the last day of classes, the demonstration grew to more than 50 people. With signs that said “Hands off salary steps!” and “Hands off department chairs!” the protest urged CUNY to take its demands for union concessions off the bargaining table. For example, management has called for eliminating the current system of annual salary steps, and using that money to fund discretionary raises that would be controlled by the college president. 

“That’s a terrible idea,” said student José Rosario after reading a leaflet and talking with one of the protesters. “It’s like a revival of the Bush administration – this idea that you should have one person in control of everything.” Instead of one-person rule, Rosario said, what we need is more democracy.” 

Management has also demanded that department chairs be barred from union membership – and seven department chairs and several deputy and former chairs joined the protest to express their opposition to this idea.  “I don’t believe department chairs should be taken out of the union,” said Everett Flannery, chair of the department of allied health sciences.  “Chairs have been union members since before came here in 1974, and I don’t think we should be taken out now.” 

“I don’t want to be management,” said English department Chair Joyce Harte. I love what I do, and I like the fact that I’m still part of the faculty, that I’m their representative.” Harte told Clarion that she is new in the job; she became chair of her department just this Fall.  “It’s great as a new chair to see this happening,” she said, gesturing at the protesters in line ahead of her. “It’s great to know that you have this support.” 

Each time the quiet “conga line” entered a new department, the protest drew curious stares – which turned into smiles, questions and cries of support as soon as people saw what it was all about. “I’m behind you all the way!” exclaimed one faculty member before he was pulled back into a meeting. Others dropped what they were doing and joined the protest on the spot.  The line got longer and longer as it moved from floor to floor.  

Students in class craned their necks to see what was going on, while those in the hallways took leaflets, asked questions and shouted support. 

PEOPLE JOINED IN 

While the procession remained a quiet one, silence was not strictly observed.  Marchers offered a sentence or two of explanation, invited colleagues to join them, and answered students’ questions.  

The last stop was at the college’s executive suite, where President Antonio Pérez surprised some protesters by warmly  welcoming them into his office.  Anne Friedman, a professor at BMCC and PSC vice president for community colleges, asked Pérez to urge top CUNY administrators to drop the demands on salary steps and department chairs.  

The protest “sent a strong, collective message to our administration, to CUNY management and to our colleagues across CUNY,” Friedman told Clarion. “We absolutely must get management’s regressive demands off the table, and that means we have to be serious and united in this contract struggle.” 

The idea for the protest came out of discussions within BMCC’s local contract campaign committee and chapter leadership.

“We wanted to do something new, something with a presence inside the building,” said Rebecca Hill, assistant professor of social science.  “We thought a lot about how to make sure it had the right tone.” 

Its success was based on careful organizing – weekly tabling, inviting department chairs to take part, and broad outreach by e-mail and telephone. “When we were tabling, we’d ask people to fill out a volunteer card and check off things that they’d be willing to do,” said Hill. “One of those things was ‘attend a demonstration,’ so we invited everyone who’d checked that box.” 

For many who took part, it was their first union action at BMCC, which Hill called a good sign for the future. The same was true for student reaction, she told Clarion. “To see the students gaping at us openmouthed as we went by was really fun,” she said. “We stepped out of our typical role – and they supported us.”

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