A victory, but not a final one
In the Clarion article on the June 23 Delegate Assembly contract debate and vote (Summer 2016, p. 5) I am quoted accurately but incompletely. The result conveys a distorted idea of my argument. By calling the contract fight the greatest triumph in PSC history I did not mean to suggest an unqualified endorsement of the contract campaign or the terms of the final agreement. I was calling attention to our tentative first steps to take the issue of the right to quality public higher education to the rest of the labor movement and to the community. We put the issue on the table for working-class New York for the first time. This was our triumph. It is an initiative that needs to be sustained and expanded. It needs to be a permanent campaign.
Jim Perlstein,
Co-Chair
PSC Solidarity Committee
A note to our readers
It’s an honor and a privilege to come aboard as the new editor of Clarion and to join the staff of the PSC, a union I’ve admired in my many years as a labor journalist in New York City.
In addition to being a contributing freelancer for these pages, I was, most recently, the editor of the Unionist,the monthly magazine of Local 371 of District Council 37, the social service employees union in New York City. Before that I was a beat reporter for the Chief-Leader and I have written for outlets such as The Nation, The Forward, Dissent, The Guardian, Jacobin, VICE News and many others.
I look forward to meeting members and covering all of PSC’s campaigns. And I certainly encourage members to call me with story ideas and send letters to the editor. This page has always been a forum for vigorous discussion and debate.
Ari Paul,
Editor
Clarion
