Hands Off Our Democracy!
NYC Protest, Saturday, April 5, 1 PM
Sign up here to be part of the PSC contingent.

Government agents have disappeared and detained another immigrant student, this time for the “crime” of co authoring a student newspaper editorial. President Trump is attempting through yet another illegal executive order to eliminate collective bargaining rights for federal workers. Elon Musk has ordered the Social Security Administration to eliminate thousands of jobs and close hundreds of field offices. Higher education and academic freedom are under attack. The Far Right majorities in Congress are racing toward slashing our social safety net and services to pay for a massive tax giveaway for billionaires. The outrages are piling up, and we cannot rely on the courts alone to change this country’s direction. We need masses of people in the streets to compel legislators to act boldly, to uphold the rule of law and add force to judges’ rulings, to change what is politically possible.
New Yorkers will take the streets again Saturday, April 5th as part of a national Hands Off! Day of Action. More than 800 demonstrations are scheduled in cities big and small throughout the US. It’s shaping up to be the largest mobilization since Trump and Musk took power. In NYC, the plan is to gather at Bryant Park at 1 PM and march on 5th Ave to Madison Square Park.
RSVP: HANDS OFF, APRIL 5
TODAY, Monday, March 31, 6:30PM
Trans Day of Visibility Rally

The PSC’s Sexuality and Gender Working Group urges all PSC members to join them at the Trans Day of Visibility Rally TODAY, Monday, March 31 at 6:30pm in Madison Square Park. Click here to let the working group know you’ll be there. Meet in Madison Square Park at the flagpole near the entrance at 24th St. and 5th Ave (map).
Beginning on Day 1 of the new Trump administration, the MAGA movement has been assaulting LGBTQ+ communities, dismantling rights, undermining freedom, and attempting to reverse decades of progress. Our union is committed to protecting trans people and all who are now subject to discrimination, persecution and state violence.
City Budget Calls This Week
On Wednesdays PSC members call our elected officials to demand the investments we need at CUNY and the government and services all New Yorkers deserve. This week, on Wednesday, April 2, we’ll be calling our City Council members to urge their support for the PSC’s city budget platform–a $144.6 million program of investment. Watch your email, the union website and the PSC’s social media for the call to action with a sample script. You can call anytime during the day or join us of a 12:30 check-in on Zoom to review the script and make the calls collectively.
Zoom Briefing and Check-in
This week’s optional 12:30pm 30-minute check-in on What We Want Wednesday will feature a short briefing on the city budget campaign from our coalition partners at The People’s Plan. Register here for the 12:30 Wednesday Zoom to hear the briefing, review the script, and make your calls.
Resisting Attacks on Our Unions, Institutions and Communities
April Town Hall
Monday, April 28th, 6:30 PM
Register Here For the Zoom.
Mark your calendars for the next mass Zoom meeting for PSC members on Monday, April 28th at 6:30 PM. There will be updates on contract implementation, reports from the working groups on the union’s resistance to attacks coming out of Washington, and more. Click here to register.
Tell Albany to Expand Adjuncts’ Access to Unemployment Insurance
Send this Letter from the NYSUT Member Action Center.

Many adjunct faculty in New York are being denied the unemployment benefits they need during breaks between semesters. This happens when they are left without income or access to unemployment benefits due to a deeply flawed rule that keeps educators from receiving unemployment benefits in the intercession if they have “reasonable assurance” of work the following session.
The Senate and Assembly have included provisions in their one-house budget proposals that would require employers to do a better job of notifying their workers of the reasonable assurance standard, ensure that their offers are genuine, prohibit unreasonable contingencies for return to work, and specify that pay and other terms and conditions of employment are comparable to the previous position. Send a letter urging Albany to enact the provisions in the final budget to strengthen the reasonable assurance standard and increase adjuncts’ access to unemployment insurance.
SEND LETTER
CUNY Needs a $144.6 Million City Budget Increase
Hands Off Our Democracy! Protest this Saturday | CUNY Needs a $144.6M City Budget Increase
The PSC’s City Budget Platform calls for an increase of $144.6 million over the Preliminary Executive Budget to restore Mayor Adams’s cuts and end community college hiring freezes ($80M), to invest in CUNY Reconnect, academic advising, ACE and ASAP ($59.2M), and to expand students’ MetroCard access and capacity in CUNY’s…
Support RF Workers | Resist Trump’s Attempt to Eliminate the Department of Education
Send a letter supporting CUNY Research Foundation (RF) Field Unit workers in their struggle for a fair contract. Don’t let RF management use the chaos in Washington as an excuse to deny PSC members fair raises and a good contract. PSC members can also show solidarity online by sharing the…
CUNY deserves to get more funding
The Ticker: At the end of February, the Professional Staff Congress CUNY President Dr. James Davis gave a testimony at the joint Higher Education Executive Budget Hearing in Albany. During the testimony, PSC voiced its appreciation for Gov. Kathy Hochul’s cooperation in helping to fund CUNY in the wake of…
Thousands march in Manhattan against MAGA cuts
Workers World: From New York’s City Hall to Bowling Green, the march stretched from curb to curb in Manhattan on March 15, behind a lead banner that read “Stand with workers. Stop the cuts.” Among the thousands who marched, many held signs opposing Trump’s attacks on Medicaid, Medicare and Social…
March to Stop the Cuts, Sat, Mar 15 | Emergency Town Hall Tues, Mar 18
Half the staff of the Department of Education has just been fired or forced out. Elon Musk is dismantling the federal administrative state and calling Social Security a “Ponzi scheme.” Far Right majorities in the House and Senate are planning to fund a massive tax giveaway for corporations and the…
Eight Charts that Tell You Everything About Faculty Pay
NEA Today: Last year, faculty saw a 1 percent gain in purchasing power, according to the 2025 NEA Faculty Salary Report, released this week. The problem is that such a small gain still leaves faculty feeling poorer than they were five years ago. Between 2020 and 2023, as inflation soared,…
A higher education union’s response to Trump’s attacks
Workers World: Higher education — colleges and post-secondary education — has been a target of right-wing, reactionary attacks for decades, but the Musk-Trump-MAGA grouping has brought a new, vicious intensity to this campaign. The Department of Education has threatened schools with losing all federal funding if they have policies supporting…
Urging Albany to Fund CUNY | Protecting Academic Freedom
President James Davis called for a $198 million increase in state funding for CUNY over and above the Governor’s executive budget for Fiscal Year 2026 as he testified last Tuesday at a joint legislative budget hearing about funding for higher education. Click here for the PSC’s budget platform, which represents…
CUNY Faculty and Staff Win the Fight for a New Contract
The Knight News: After two years without a contract, the Professional Staff Congress CUNY (PSC-CUNY) was able to ratify a new contract on Jan. 14th with a 90% majority vote. The PSC is a coalition representing CUNY staff and faculty through advocacy for improved working conditions. The ratification of the…
Gov. Hochul facing pushback over removal of Palestinian Studies professor job listing at CUNY
NY Daily News: The faculty union at the City University of New York is objecting to Gov. Hochul’s order to interrupt the hiring process for a Palestinian Studies professor, saying the move is an overreach of the governor into academic affairs. The planned hiring of the professor at CUNY’s Hunter College on the…