Mass Meeting on Winning a Just Contract
Wed., Oct. 26, 6:30PM
All members are invited to a virtual mass meeting Wednesday, October 26, 6:30-8:00PM. The union is building a campaign for a just collective bargaining agreement. That includes winning the city and state funding we need, expanding our coalition work with CUNY Rising Alliance and other unions and, most importantly, organizing ourselves at the campus level. Please join this mass meeting and invite your colleagues. It will take all of our efforts!
Sign Up to Testify with the PSC
CUNY Board of Trustees Hearing
October 17, 4:30 PM
The CUNY Board of Trustees will hear in-person testimony for the first time in two and a half years at a public hearing to be held 4:30 PM on Monday, October 17 at The CUNY Graduate Center in the Elebash Recital Hall. PSC members can sign up here to deliver testimony related to CUNY’s budget request or the coming contract campaign. You can also let us know that you’ll be there to wave a sign and show support for your colleagues’ testimony. Pressing the Board of Trustees is a critical part of our campaign for a fully funded contract with strong advances in pay and working conditions. Be part of the action!
If you sign up for in-person testimony with the union before our 12 noon Thursday, October 13 deadline, the PSC will 1) notify the Secretary of the Board of Trustees of your intention to testify in-person, 2) review and submit a copy of your testimony to the Board, and 3) publicize your testimony. If you wish to give remote testimony during the hearing or you wish to register yourself for in-person testimony, you must notify the Secretary via email at [email protected] prior to CUNY’s deadline of noon on Friday, October 14. (Official Hearing Notice.)
All testimony will be limited to 3 minutes. Topics you might address using examples from your experience as a CUNY worker and a PSC activist:
• Raises above inflation
• CUNY’s budget request must reflect our real needs
• Continued remote work options
• Flexible schedules
• The #NewDeal4CUNY
• Job security for part-time titles
• Pay equity for Teaching Adjuncts
• An end to workplace bullying
• Promotional opportunities
Office Hours on CUNY Employment Verification for Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Thursdays 1:30 – 2:30PM
Applying for Public Service Loan Forgiveness was complicated before all the recent developments. Now, a new state law has made many teaching adjuncts eligible for PSFL and a federal waiver allowing more faculty and staff to qualify for PSFL is expiring this month.
The PSC has recorded webinars and other resources about PSFL on the union website. Now PSFL advocate and PSC member Paul Bartlett is holding office hours on CUNY employment verification for PSLF on Zoom every Thursday. Visit this Zoom meeting link between 1:30-2:30 every Thursday to attend.
NYSUT is offering webinars on PSLF application and loan consolidation at 6pm on Thursday, October 6th and Thursday, October 13th, as well as one-on-one PSLF loan counseling.
Protect Our Health Insurance
Send a Letter to the NYC Council
PSC members and allies have sent 3,540 letters to the City Council urging them to oppose a change in City Administrative Code section 12-126. The change would allow the City to shift its retirees from traditional Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan and open a door to future changes to the quality or cost of health insurance for active employees. This fight affects all of us!
If you haven’t sent the letter to the City Council, send it today!
Mass Action to Defend Reproductive Rights
Saturday, October 8
12 – 3 PM, Foley Square
On Saturday, October 8th, 12-3 PM, PSC members will join the Mass Action to Defend Reproductive Rights rally at Foley Square organized by the Women’s March and other organizations. The rally is part of a national day of action to defend reproductive rights and reject attacks on bodily autonomy. Reproductive rights are a labor issue, and the PSC will not sit back and accept the attacks on our families, future, and our lives.
PSC Testimony About Online Education at CUNY
PSC Secretary Penny Lewis testified before the City Council Committee on Higher Education at a September 22nd hearing about online degree programs. In her testimony, Secretary Lewis expressed concerns about the direction that CUNY’s expansion of online degree programs is taking. She echoed questions raised by the University Faculty Senate and described some best practices that should be in place as any expansion is considered. Read the testimony.