It’s Union Week!
Stand in solidarity for the contract we deserve.
PSC chapters throughout CUNY are hosting meetings, socials, and Decarbonize CUNY town halls. They’re staffing tables to distribute signs and buttons, and signing up new members. The central union is organizing a CUNY-wide wear #Red4HigherEd day and pre-bargaining picket line on Tuesday. Our One-on-One Organizing Committee is even hosting a New Member Meet-Up Wednesday evening. The full run-down of Union Week actions is here and on the graphic below, but Tuesday, September 24th is a particularly important day:
Contract Now! Informational Picket
New Yorkers need to know that CUNY management refuses to offer fair raises to the 30,000 workers who make public higher education possible in our city. Join an informational picket outside CUNY Central on Tuesday, September 24, before the next bargaining session. We’ll arrive at 205 E. 42nd St. by 12:45 PM and demonstrate until the bargaining team and observers enter the bargaining session at 1:30PM. Please make plans now to be at the picket if you can and click here to RSVP.
RSVP: PICKET LINE 9/24
#Red4HigherEd
Stand with our bargaining team on Tuesday, September 24 by wearing #Red4HigherEd at work, on the picket line, and at any other union or work-related events happening that day. And share a photo of yourself or with your coworkers on social media with the #Red4HigherEd hashtag! If you don’t use social media, email photos to [email protected] so we can post them for you. Click here to tell us you will wear red.
I WILL WEAR RED 9/24
Next Mass Contract Action After Union Week:
Confront Management at the
October 21st Board of Trustees Hearing
The CUNY Board of Trustees will hold their first public hearing of the academic year on Monday Oct. 21st. The location hasn’t been announced yet, but please save that date–Monday 10/21 after 4PM. Fill out the RSVP form at this link to tell us you will be there! A big PSC member turnout is absolutely critical at this point in the negotiations.
More than once last year the Board changed the location or the modality of their hearings and meetings. We had to chase them to the Bronx for a contract campaign protest last spring when they switched meeting sites. So, we’re urging members to set aside the evening of October 21 and to prepare to confront our bosses directly, whatever the location.
I WILL SAVE: MON, OCT 21, AFTER 4PM
Observe Contract Bargaining
All dues-paying members are welcome to observe a bargaining session, after they have attended the online orientation. Your next opportunities to attend an orientation are:
- Wednesday, September 25, 12:30 PM. Register here for the 9/25 Zoom.
- Monday, October 7, 6:30 PM. Register here for the 10/7 Zoom.
Join the PSC’s Social Media Action Team
Join our team of committed social media activists to help amplify PSC messages and build our power! We’re getting started with messages to help boost the #Red4HigherEd action during Union Week. Apply here.
Big Pension Win for Tier VI Members!
Last spring, the Fix Tier Six campaign supported by PSC members through our statewide affiliate, NYSUT, convinced the governor and state legislature to change the way the final average salary (FAS) is calculated for state pensions. This applies to full-time and adjunct employees enrolled in the TRS defined benefit pension plan who were hired on or after April 1, 2012 (Tier VI). Instead of using the average of the highest five consecutive years to determine the FAS, the highest three consecutive years are used. This victory is the biggest win for pension reform in 20 years and provides a substantial benefit to our Tier VI members in TRS.
The new calculation means Tier VI members retiring after April 20, 2024, will receive a bigger pension check, every month, for life. Individual situations will vary, but this works out to around $100,000 more in lifetime retirement earnings. It also gives Tier VI members parity with Tier IV members.
The Fix Tier VI campaign aims to change the disparity between Tier VI and Tier IV members by improving Tier VI benefits. It is led by NYSUT and supported by the PSC and more than 1200 local unions. In 2022, the campaign led to pension vesting dropping from ten to five years, bringing thousands more into the pension system.
Vaccination Coverage
Flu season is nearly here. The PSC and the PSC-CUNY Welfare Fund have the information you need to protect yourself against the nasty bugs that will soon be putting your health at risk.
Vaccine coverage can be confusing, and some PSC members have been getting mixed messages from providers about insurance coverage for vaccinations. The PSC-CUNY Welfare Fund has posted clarifying information here on their website under the tab labeled “RSV/Covid: Protect Yourself”. In short, active full-time CUNY employees, adjuncts who are eligible for health insurance through the NYC Health Benefits Program, and retirees under age 65 should present their basic health care card (i.e. the GHI or HIP card) when getting a vaccine for Covid, Flu, Pneumonia, and, if you’re over 60 or medically eligible, RSV. If you get health insurance through the NYC Health Benefits Program, you should not submit your CVS/Caremark card. That card will show no coverage. Pharmacy workers should be trained to know to ask for your basic health insurance card, but not all do.
If you are 65 or older you should present your Medicare card for Covid, Flu, and Pneumonia vaccines and your Silverscripts card for RSV and other vaccines. For graduate workers insured by NYSHIP, select vaccines, including Covid, Flu and RSV, are covered without copayment at a pharmacy participating in the CVS Caremark national vaccine network.
Get Out The Vote
Elect Harris/Walz and Pro-CUNY Candidates
Early voting in New York starts in 33 days! Do your part to help the PSC’s Get-Out-The-Vote team turn out pro worker, pro democracy votes in the presidential election and critical down-ballot races, including New York congressional races that could decide control of the House of Representatives. Sign up here to be part of the team and below for specific actions.
Sign up now for PSC organized phone banks to be held on Zoom Tuesdays at 6PM with your cell or home phone:
• Tuesday, October 1, RSVP 10/1 to Call voters in Michigan!
• Tuesday, October 8, RSVP 10/8
Sign up here to attend the October 15 PSC Legislation Committee Meeting and phonebank starting at 6:30PM. The committee will meet on Zoom to plan more get-out-the-vote actions and make calls.
Sign up here for in-person phone banks organized by NYSUT to win Congressional seats on Long Island. These tight races might decide control of the House of Representatives!
March to Reclaim & Defend Public Medicare & Medicaid
The PSC Retirees chapter is mobilizing PSC members to attend the March to Reclaim & Defend Public Medicare & Medicaid on Monday, September 30. Part of a national day of action to fight corporate health insurance greed and profitization of healthcare, the event is sponsored by a dozen healthcare advocacy organizations, including the Cross-Union Retirees Organizing Committee and Physicians for a National Health Program.
Join the PSC retirees and healthcare activists from across the city Monday, September 30, 11 AM – 12:15 PM for a rally at City Hall Park followed by a March to the Aetna offices at 6th Avenue and Spring Street. A rally to defend and reclaim traditional public Medicare will begin at 1:30 PM at Spring Street Park (across from Aetna). Click here to RSVP for the rally and march.
Published: September 23, 2024 | Last Modified: September 24, 2024
