State budget details | Congressional Town Hall this Friday

The budget fully funds salary increases in the PSC-CUNY contract and adds $23.5 million toward CUNY’s fringe benefits. It increases the senior college operating budget and devotes more than $500 million toward CUNY’s $7 billion backlog of deferred maintenance needs. It also holds the line on resident tuition, maintains the community college funding floor, and expands the state Reconnect program to offer free associate degrees for many students at the CUNY comprehensive colleges – City Tech, College of Staten Island, and Medgar Evers College – a new benefit previously restricted to community colleges. These are welcome investments in quality higher education, affordability, and New York’s economy.

Retirement security for CUNY faculty and staff and other public workers will improve significantly through reforms to the Tier 6 Teachers Retirement System (TRS) pension and the defined contribution Optional Retirement Plan (ORP). While there is more to do to bring Tier 6 retirement inline with the benefits offered to recent generations of public workers, PSC took part in an effective statewide campaign to reduce the retirement age from 63 to 58 (with 30 years’ service) for TRS pension members and cut out-of-pocket employee contributions along with a 1 percent increase in state contributions for ORP members, whose retirement benefits are typically administered by TIAA.

Important measures to protect immigrant New Yorkers from persecution by ICE were passed in the budget, including protections for sensitive locations against incursions by immigration agents, a right to sue over constitutional violations, and a mask ban for law enforcement officials. While these measures fall short of the New York for All act and do not fully outlaw collaboration between local authorities and out-of-control federal immigration authorities, they will help to protect our communities.

PSC members and allies, and our champions in the State Capitol, should feel proud of what we have accomplished. But Albany could have achieved so much more for the CUNY community, for families who are struggling to afford life in New York, and for the New Yorkers losing their Essential Plan health insurance if this budget had approved tax reforms to make wealthy corporations and the ultra rich pay their share. The campaign to tax the rich in next year’s state budget starts today!

PSC is co-hosting our first-ever congressional town hall with our allies at Rutgers AAUP-AFT and Higher Education Labor United (HELU). Join us for an in-person forum at the PSC Union Hall (25 Broadway, 15th floor) featuring candidates running for U.S. Congress in the June 23rd primary. We will spend 15 minutes with each candidate on their vision for federal higher education policy. Chuck Park (NY-6), Claire Valdez (NY-7), Antonio Reynoso (NY-7), Brad Lander (NY-10), and Alex Bores (NY-12) are set to attend. RSVP is required for building access. When you RSVP, you’ll have the opportunity to submit a question that we may pose to the candidates.

RSVP: CONGRESSIONAL TOWN HALL

SpaceX is preparing for an initial public offering in June that is expected to make Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire. The company’s road show of events to pitch the stock to investors begins this week. But a coalition of labor, environmental and social justice groups are mobilizing to protest the DOGE oligarch. The PSC will be there, along with the AAUP, Bargaining for the Common Good, Climate Defenders, NY Communities for Change, and many others. Click here to tell us you’ll be there at the NASDAQ stock exchange in Times Square, Friday, June 5 at 10AM.

We cannot allow the emergence of trillionaire-level wealth in the United States to go unchallenged while millions of people face poverty, housing insecurity, medical debt, and low wages.

RSVP: NO TRILLIONAIRES!

PSC First Vice President Jen Gaboury (right) and City College housing expert John Krinsky (left) at a Freeze the Rent rally outside LaGuardia Community College before the preliminary vote of the Rent Guidelines Board.

Rent Freeze Policy Briefing for CUNY

Tuesday, June 2, at 6 PM, on Zoom

PSC members who want to learn more about how a rent freeze for the 2.4 million New Yorkers living in rent stabilized apartments would benefit the CUNY community can join us for an online Rent Freeze Policy Briefing for CUNY on Tuesday, June 2, at 6 PM. The briefing on Zoom will feature City College political science professor John Krinsky, a scholar of New York City’s housing movement. Register here to get the Zoom meeting link.

Rally and Testify at the CUNY Rent Guidelines Hearings

Monday, June 8th, Hostos Main Theater, 5-8 PM
Thursday, June 11, City Tech, The Theater, 7-10PM

Sign up here to let us know you will attend one of the CUNY Rent Guidelines Board hearings as part of a visible, powerful PSC contingent. We’ll rally before the hearings with tenant’s rights groups and then help pack the room. You can sign up to be part of the demonstration AND sign up to testify for up to two minutes. Fill out the PSC webform to RSVP for the union action and then, if you wish to testify, fill out the Rent Guidelines Board registration as well. It’s linked here and in the confirmation message for the union’s RSVP.

PSC Executive Council Member is One of the Charter Revision Commissioners Tasked with Making City Government Work Better for New Yorkers

The Professional Staff Congress/CUNY is proud that Dr. Susan Kang, a political science professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and member of the PSC Executive Council, has been appointed to Mayor Mamdani’s new Commission on Government Efficiency (COGE). Dr. Kang’s decades-long leadership on political reforms in New York and her disciplinary expertise make her an excellent addition to a commission packed with skills and talent.

At a time when trust in government is badly in need of a shot in the arm, this commission has the opportunity to lift up what’s best about New York City government, making it truly work for working people. COGE can ensure that city agencies are not just efficient and transparent, but also enforce the standards that will make big corporations truly accountable to New Yorkers. A successful COGE is a win for everyone.

If you have been through the PSC’s online court support training, please join with fellow union members to bear witness and support immigrants who are called to the courts at 26 Federal Plaza. Spanish speakers are especially helpful. Meet any Friday at Pret, 7:30 AM at 319 Broadway, across the street from 26 Federal Plaza. The next Zoom training for PSC court support is Wednesday, June 10 at 6:30PM. Register here for the Zoom meeting link.

CUNY Research Foundation workers have endured disrespect, mismanagement, and unacceptable delays in payment. Working conditions for RF employees matter to all of us and affect our students’ ability to succeed. The recent introduction of a new, deeply flawed administrative software system has compounded these issues while adding additional tasks to overburdened workers. Sign our petition to tell the Research Foundation management that they need to treat their workers fairly and fix OneRF!

CLICK HERE TO SIGN PETITION