Political Power

Why I Give to PSC-CUNY COPE

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Ron Hayduk, PSC/CUNY COPE Coordinator
Decisions made in City Hall, Albany and Washington affect every aspect of our work life, and the progress we’ve made on improving our working conditions and quality of life can only continue if we increase our union’s political influence.

Read more to see how PSC members from across CUNY view COPE as a way to bolster our fight for quality education for CUNY students, better pay, job security, and protection of our pensions and benefits.

How can we shape public policy to increase Hispanic access to college and success in completing a college degree?

The Obama Administration, looking to bolster its deficit-cutting credentials and show its desire to take on what some label a “special interest” – organized labor – yesterday announced a two-year freeze on the wages of all federal workers. Tim Fernholz of The American Prospect points out that the pay freeze will reduce the deficit by just 0.1% over the next 10 years.

PSC-COPE Donations Pay Off

Contributing to PSC-COPE helps build the union’s political power to insure our collective future is a good one.

New York City

Public funding from New York City provides is more than a third of CUNY community colleges’ operating budget. Student tuition and state funding make up the balance. New York City has primary responsibility for the community colleges' capital budget, and the City Council provides important scholarship programs, university research and policy centers and special initiatives.

On January 6, the City Council restored $4 million to CUNY community colleges out of a $11.8 million mid-year cut proposed by Mayor Bloomberg. The bulk of the $4 million restoration will be directed to instruction.

Whereas, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that between April 1, 2009 and April 10, 2010 about 61 million Americans had become infected with the 2009 H1N1 strain of flu, of whom 274,000 had to be hospitalized and about 12,470 have died (Source: www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/estimates_2009_h1n1.htm ); and

Whereas, schools by their public nature put teachers, staff and students at elevated risk of flu exposure; and

Adjunct UI: Myth and Fact

MYTH: This legislation expands Unemployment Insurance benefit coverage to a new class of employees.

FACT: No. This legislation will not expand coverage for Unemployment Insurance benefits. Coverage portions of the law remain unchanged. This legislation is targeted to be part of the benefit eligibility section of Unemployment Insurance law. It only addresses those situations where there is a practice of issuing conditional offers of intent to rehire a professional part-time employee in colleges and universities.

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Resolutions

Resolutions passed by the Delegate Assembly and the Executive Council set policy for the union and are often submitted to our state and national affiliates to set policy at those levels as well.

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Political Power