Signing up new members
In April, PSC chapter leaders, organizers and campus action teams mobilized to systematically contact colleagues who have not yet joined the union.
Nonmembers can easily join the PSC at psc-cuny.org/join-psc.
We are less than one year out from the end of our contract. We have repeatedly achieved strong advances through bargaining and united struggle. (See the points highlighting some of these wins.) But these past two years have been among the most difficult years we have all faced in our time at CUNY. What must we fight for today? Only with strong membership and strong member participation can we build a strong bargaining agenda and the power to win our demands.
CHAPTER ACTION
Some chapters have already begun to host meetings to talk about our priorities for the next contract. Colleagues will be reaching out to one another by phone and in person, and the union will be sending out a member survey this spring about what members want to see in the next contract and what members are willing to do to succeed. We are a powerful force in the face of management when everyone we represent is in our union together and when we move in solidarity with one voice to advance our interests and demands collectively. Join here at psc-cuny.org/join-psc.
The New York State budget was recently finalized, and it is the strongest year-over-year budget CUNY has seen in decades, but it is still not enough to make the transformative changes we need to undo decades of underfunding. Our organizing was critical in pushing Governor Kathy Hochul to reverse course from her predecessor and make new investments in CUNY. Our organizing secured millions beyond her proposed budget and we built broad and deep alliances across the state. We have been successful in this work and in our coalitions, because thousands of our members have constantly participated through their voices and actions.
We are stronger in all of these fights. We will make them stronger in the future when we are all union members.
Listed here are some of our many collective victories over the years. To expand on them, to dream bigger and reach farther, everyone should sign up to be a part of the union!
MOST RECENT CONTRACT WINS
- Salary increases of more than 10%
- Two retroactive pay increases
- Pay for teaching adjuncts restructured: minimums for a three-credit course increased by the end of the contract to $5,500 (an increase of 71%) and a four-credit course to $6,875
- Additional salary increases for equity for all full-time CLT titles, all Lecturer titles and Assistants to HEO
- Travel funds under the contract doubled
- Research support for department chairs
OTHER SALARY VICTORIES
- Salary steps
- Sabbaticals at 80% pay
- Paid adjunct office hours
- Broader opportunities for HEO advancement
- Raises for CLTs and HEOs with advanced degrees
- Paid release time for untenured faculty
SECURED BENEFITS
- No-premium NYC health insurance
- Secure pensions
- Adjunct health insurance
- Graduate employee health insurance
- Paid sick days and sick leave bank
- Prescription drug coverage
- Dental coverage
- Strong vision and hearing aid plans
- Paid parental leave
- Paid family leave
PROTECTED RIGHTS AT WORK
- Tenure
- Academic freedom
- Due process
- 13.3.b for HEOs
- Secure three-year adjunct appointments
- Graduate employment counted toward adjunct benefit eligibility
- Contract enforcement staff and grievance counselors
- Right to union representation
- Union rights for department chairs
- Health and safety campaigns
- Pension counseling
- Legal action against abuse of overtime
SCHOLARSHIP SUPPORT
- Reduction in contractual teaching load
- Defense of faculty curricular rights
- PSC-CUNY research grants
- Increased funding for CUNY programs
- Professional development grants for HEOs, CLTs, adjuncts and graduate employees
