Earlier today (Thurs., April 2), President Bowen sent the message below to CUNY’s head of Labor Relations demanding immediate suspension of college-issued “guidelines” related to remote work. The PSC has the legal right to negotiate any changes in terms and conditions for work, hours, supervision and related issues. Also, two weeks ago the union made an explicit demand for reimbursement of expenses employees incurred at home doing required work that would not normally be conducted at home.
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Dear Vice Chancellor Silverblatt:
It has come to PSC’s attention that several CUNY colleges have unilaterally issued communications to employees purporting to set policies regarding remote working arrangements. The guidelines and forms distributed include instructions about mandatorily negotiable subjects as well as modifications to contractual terms in the PSC-CUNY collective bargaining agreement. I am attaching the Graduate Center’s Telecommuting Plan, Guidelines and “Workplace Self-Certification” as an example. Although the union understands that the current situation has required creativity from CUNY management and staff, the governor’s “Pause Order” was issued twelve days ago and there has been no attempt to negotiate the telecommuting policies with the PSC. We demand that CUNY suspend implementation of these policies until the parties have had an opportunity to bargain over them.
I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Barbara Bowen
