PSC protestors deserve to have their needs met
Providing City University of New York employees with adequate wages and care is essential to improving the entire school system’s conditions. If the state is committed to reversing disinvestment in CUNY and creating campuses worth attending, then an important step is assuring that faculty and staff are well-compensated.
CUNY Union Chapter Unanimously Passes Resolution in Support of Trans Rights
The Graduate Center chapter of PSC-CUNY, the faculty, staff, and graduate worker union of the City University of New York, passed a resolution pledging support to all workers fighting the anti-trans bills nationwide. In a March 10 chapter meeting, union members from the CUNY Graduate Center and the CUNY professional…
New York City Retirees Fight Their Own Unions to Stop Catastrophic Health Care Cuts
Defying two years of protests and lawsuits by union retirees, New York City’s Municipal Labor Committee voted March 9 to scrap some of the best retiree health care coverage in the country. The change would put 250,000 city retirees into a for-profit Medicare Advantage plan run by Aetna. Twenty-six unions…
NYSUT activists rally for New Deal for Higher Education, with broad support from voters
ALBANY, N.Y. March 9, 2023 — Declaring that New York’s public higher education institutions strengthen the state’s workforce and create opportunity so students can get ahead, more than 500 New York State United Teachers’ activists rallied today in support of a New Deal for Higher Education. “Our SUNY, CUNY and…
Unions, lawmakers urge billions more for SUNY and CUNY in budget
Labor unions and several lawmakers are insisting the state invest billions of more dollars in the upcoming budget to support SUNY and CUNY campuses and hospitals, pushing back against the proposed tuition hikes in Gov. Kathy Hochul's proposal. The state teacher's union, United University Professions and CUNY's union rallied with…
Who should bear the cost of upgrading SUNY and CUNY? Hochul says students are part of the answer
In recent years, New York’s public colleges, which educate some 600,000 New Yorkers, have suffered a slew of financial problems and declining enrollment, caused in part by the COVID-19 pandemic. Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed tuition hikes for SUNY and CUNY campuses as a way to mitigate the financial challenges,…
CUNY faculty demand raises, work flexibility
City University of New York employees are seeking a new contract with higher pay and more flexibility in their schedules, the president of the union that represents around 30,000 CUNY faculty and staff said Tuesday. As inflation and the cost of living in the city rise, employees are hoping to…
Baruch students protest proposed CUNY and SUNY tuition hike
Members of Baruch College’s Undergraduate Student Government organized a protest against Governor Hochul’s proposed 3% tuition increase for CUNY and SUNY schools on Feb. 21. Protestors also called for the passage of the New Deal For CUNY, a bill that would return CUNY’s tuition-free status — which lasted from its…
Opinion: New Deal for CUNY must pass this year
As two newly elected representatives of Queens in the New York State Assembly, one of our top legislative priorities was to sign on as cosponsors of the New Deal for CUNY as soon as we could. Why? Because the campuses of the community colleges and the senior colleges of the…
CUNY union demands raises, equity in new contract: Tight fiscal environment
As part of its previous contract, the Professional Staff Congress was able to raise the minimum pay for adjuncts at the City University of New York to $5,500 per course. With that 2019 labor agreement now expired, the union is seeking to build on that progress. The union’s president, James…
