Brooklyn Chapters Demand ‘Treats, Not Tricks’ in the Next Contract and Full Funding of CUNY

On Wednesday, November 1, Professional Staff Congress members and CUNY students gathered with local allies, including Councilmember Lincoln Restler, for a Halloween | Day of the Dead themed rally outside Brooklyn Borough Hall calling for a strong and just union contract and increased funding for the University.

Led by the union chapters located in Brooklyn–City Tech, Brooklyn College, Kingsborough Community College and Medgar Evers– the rally was part of a series of campus and borough-wide actions  demonstrating broad support for the PSC’s Contract for #APeoplesCUNY campaign.

30,000 PSC-CUNY represented faculty and staff have been working without a contract since February.  6,600 PSC-represented workers live in Brooklyn, along with 65,000 CUNY students. 5,000 PSC-represented workers are employed at CUNY colleges and worksites in Brooklyn.

PSC CUNY President James Davis said: “We need a united voice and that’s what a union is. Individually, we can be divided, individually we are only this strong, but as a union we are massive. As a union we are powerful. We are going to need everyone to turn out in this contract campaign. We need a strong contract and we know that when we fight, we win!”

President James Davis at today’s Treats, Not Tricks contract rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall. As a union, we are powerful! #APeoplesCUNY pic.twitter.com/xFrDKGNDCT

— PSC_CUNY (@PSC_CUNY) November 1, 2023

“CUNY is the place where economic opportunity occurs, where people have a chance of actually achieving the middle class. It is because of the work that each of you do, each and every day, investing in our young people that we are achieving real change and you all deserve real investment…It is time to make a new deal for CUNY a reality,” said Councilmember Lincoln Restler.

Thank you, @LincolnRestler for showing up for PSC members and @CUNY students! pic.twitter.com/4AnHy1hyVH

— PSC_CUNY (@PSC_CUNY) November 1, 2023

The PSC contract expired last February, and 30,000 faculty and professional staff are working without a new contract.  The union wants more job stability and less precariousness, better wages and benefits, and a more just academic community.  CUNY management’s agenda would threaten educational quality, increase precarity and weaken due process protections.

###

 The Professional Staff Congress (NYSUT, AFT Local 2334), represents 30,000 faculty and professional staff at the City University of New York. 

Published: November 2, 2023