TRS’s Downtown Office is Open for Business Again
Teachers Retirement System has announced the resumption of full operations at their 55 Water St. location, which was damaged during Hurricane Sandy. The Member Services Center is open during regular business hours (8:30 AM – 5:00 PM, Mon. – Fri., except during official New York City holidays). TRS staff are no longer stationed at the temporary walk-in facility on Court St. in Brooklyn. TRS has also resumed their schedule of free onsite “Getting Ready for Retirement” educational programs at the 55 Water St. location. Click here to learn more.
Celebrate International Women’s Day by Learning about the Founding Women of CUNY
The PSC Women’s Committee is hosting a luncheon called The Founding Women of CUNY on Fri., Mar. 8, International Women’s Day. At the event, CUNY Distinguished Professor of History Blanche Wiesen Cook, will describe the key roles that Mina Reese, Ruth Weintraub and Belle Zeller played in the 1961 consolidation of NYC’s seven municipal colleges into the City University of New York. Seating is limited. RSVP by Mar. 6 to Marcia Newfield at [email protected]. Click here to download a flyer.
Labor Goes to the Movies Presents One-Zero
PSC’s ongoing film series, Labor Goes to the Movies, presents One – Zero (Egypt, 2009) this Fri., Feb. 22 at the PSC Union Hall (61 Broadway, 16th floor). Set in Cairo on the eve of an important soccer match, One-Zero interweaves stories of Cairo inhabitants from various walks of life and explores a mosaic of morals and conventions across class, gender, and religions in contemporary Egyptian culture. Click here to learn more about the movie and our guest speaker. Doors open at 6:00 PM. Light food and drink provided. There is a suggested donation of $2.
“Stop the Sequester” Rally and News Conference—Wed., Feb 20
In less than two weeks, drastic, across-the-board “sequestration” cuts to the federal budget will begin to take effect unless Congress takes action to avert them and pursue alternative ways to reduce the budget deficit. Food inspections, disease surveillance and control, Head Start, AIDS drug programs, cancer screenings, senior nutrition programs, and many others services that New Yorkers depend on are slated to be cut along with military spending. Progressive organizations are gathering outside the NYC offices of Senators Schumer and Gillibrand (780 3rd Ave. between 48th and 49th St.) this Wed., Feb 20 at 4:30 PM to demand a just alternative to sequestration. Members of the PSC’s Social Safety Net Committee will be there; please join them. The coalition is calling for a budget solution that protects vital services, preserves the Safety Net and reduces the deficit with fairer tax policies and an end to wasteful military spending. Click here to download a flier.
Support the Union’s State Budget Campaign; Lobby with Us.
PSC members are meeting with legislators in Albany and in their local district offices here in New York City to make the case for the PSC’s budget platform. Sign up for one or more of these events, via the web form on our State Budget Campaign page:
- NYSUT Committee of 100 Advocacy Day, Albany—Mar. 4-5
- NYSUT Higher Education Advocacy Day, Albany—Mar. 11-12
- Student/Faculty/Staff Higher Ed Action Day—Mar. 12
- Other In-District Meeting Dates to Be Announced
Transportation, food and hotel costs for the Mar. 4-5 and Mar. 11-12 Albany trips are covered by NYSUT. Members can also ride back and forth to Albany in one day with students on the buses for the Mar. 12 Student/Faculty/Staff Higher Ed Action Day.
Sign the Pathways Petition
Do you have colleagues in professional organizations, research groups and other networks who would oppose curricular “reforms” like Pathways, which undermine the quality of public higher education? If so, please send them a link to the National Petition for a Moratorium on CUNY’s Pathways Curriculum. And sign the petition, if you haven’t already. Last spring’s CUNY-wide petition was a separate petition. If you didn’t sign in the last four months, your name is not on the national petition.
Adjunct Health Insurance Extended Through April 30
The current adjunct health insurance through the PSC-CUNY Welfare Fund has been extended through April 30. Read the message here.
