A New Level of Resistance in the Contract Campaign
After more than a year in office, Chancellor Milliken has yet to offer a single dollar for raises or back-pay and has failed to secure funding for the contract from the State. PSC members have gone six years without a raise while nearly all other public-employee contracts in the state have been settled. At this point, the failure to make an economic offer on the PSC contract has to be understood as an attack on us as CUNY employees. PSC President Barbara Bowen’s message to members on the first day of classes outlined an escalating series of actions to force a resolution on our contract. But the plan will work only if all of us are behind it. Mark your calendar for the following actions and register here to let us know we can count on you:
- Sept.: Emergency union meeting on your campus.
- Oct. 1: Wake-up Call for Chancellor Milliken—demonstration at Milliken’s expensive Manhattan apartment on the morning of the first CUNY Board meeting of the year.
- Oct. 19-30: Teach-In, Teach-Out, Teach CUNY on CUNY campuses—two weeks of local actions and activist curriculum.
- Nov. 4: Disruptive Mass Action
- Nov. 19: Mass Meeting of PSC
- Throughout the Fall Semester: Free union training sessions on non-violent disruptive protest—learn tactics for street protest, picket lines, civil disobedience and more.
Stay Up To Date on the Contract Campaign
Important contract updates are generally emailed to members by President Bowen, posted on the PSC homepage (psc-cuny.org) and repeated in the next This Week in the PSC e-newsletter. Chapter chairs send meeting announcements and updates via email. Tell colleagues to look for these emails and to sign up here for This Week in the PSC if they aren’t receiving it. PSC’s award-winning monthly newspaper, Clarion, is posted online and delivered to members at their campus address. The September issue will arrive shortly after Labor Day. “Like” PSC on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter: @PSC_CUNY. Use these hashtags: #CUNYNeedsARaise, #RespectCUNY, #CUNYContractNow.
March with the PSC in NYC’s Labor Day Parade
Save the Date: Sat., Sept. 12
Make plans to join union members throughout the city, union colleagues and their families at the Labor Day Parade on Sat., Sept. 12. PSC members will assemble at 11 AM on 45th St. between 6th and 7th Avenues. (The parade marshal and first marchers will kick off at 10 AM from 5th Ave. and 44th St.) The march is an opportunity to stand together with other public employees who, like us, continue to be the targets of austerity, and to show common cause with all working people, whether they are in a union or not. It’s also a time to raise the visibility of our own struggle for a contract and urge other workers to stand with us as our campaign escalates this fall. Download a flier here.
Adjunct Pay Dates
For the Fall 2015 semester, teaching adjuncts are scheduled to be paid on eight successive pay dates. At the senior colleges, the first pay date will be Sept. 17 and the last pay date will be Dec. 24. At most community colleges, the first pay date will be Sept. 11 and the last pay date will be Dec. 18. Kingsborough CC, LaGuardia CC and Guttman CC have different pay dates because they operate on a different academic calendar. The dates are posted here on the PSC website.
