Dear Teaching Adjunct,
I am writing to update you on the status of the multi-year appointment provision, a pilot provision that currently benefits more than 2,000 teaching adjuncts. When I last contacted you near the end of fall semester, it was to provide an FAQ about this issue. There are three concrete steps recommended at the end of this note. Taking them will help to ensure that multi-year appointments remain available beyond this academic year. A similar email is being sent to department chairs.
The CUNY administration issued misleading guidance to college officials on July 5, 2023, claiming to have unilaterally discontinued the program “effective immediately.” However, the contract makes clear that the pilot program (Appendix E of the PSC-CUNY contract) continues through the end of the 2023-24 academic year, and that adjuncts serving on a three-year appointment continue on their appointments beyond 2023-24 while the last three-year appointments made under this pilot were to begin in Fall 2023. Only in the absence of an agreement between the union and the CUNY administration would the terms of adjunct appointments revert back to the prior provision of only one-semester and one-year appointments. Maintaining job stability for long-serving teaching adjuncts with expanded multi-year appointments is a PSC priority in this round of negotiations.
We remain committed to securing an agreement with the administration in time for a new round of Fall 2024 multi-year appointments. We hope you will join and support these efforts, including our public campaign highlighting the importance of adjunct job stability and the costs of radical contingency to both instructors and students. While the administration seeks to move the university backward, the PSC made a proposal at the October 5 contract negotiation to strengthen the provisions. The entire union must push forward toward a more fair, secure and extensive system of multi-year appointments for long-serving teaching adjuncts.
What steps should you take now?
- If you meet the criteria for a multi-year appointment under the current terms of the pilot, notify your department.
- If you are not already scheduled to have your teaching observed this semester, request that the observation take place within the first ten weeks of the semester per the contract.
- More information is available here. Participate in the PSC contract campaign, including our effort to extend and expand multi-year appointments. Next Thursday, February 29, is the one-year anniversary of our contract’s expiration! Most CUNY campuses will be sites of a lunchtime PSC informational picket on that day. Click here to tell us you will participate, and contact your chapter chair to learn more about what is planned.
The PSC has succeeded before in extending and modifying this provision. It’s time now to make it permanent. The PSC is committed to doing everything necessary to ensure this happens in time for the May 15 appointment deadline for Fall 2024.
In solidarity,
James Davis, President
Published: February 23, 2024
