A new academic year is beginning, and the union’s e-newsletter, This Week in the PSC, is back. Check your inbox every week for the latest union news. Also visit www.psc-cuny.org to stay up to date, and follow the PSC on Twitter and Facebook. For in-depth news and analysis, read the PSC’s award-winning monthly newspaper, Clarion. The next issue of Clarion will be out mid-September.
Enrollment Deadline for Adjunct Health Insurance—Sept. 19
Pursuant to an agreement between the PSC and CUNY, beginning Oct. 1, 2014, the University Benefits Office will be responsible for providing health insurance through the NYC Employee Health Benefits Program to all eligible CUNY adjuncts. To avoid a lapse in coverage, eligible adjuncts must enroll in the NYC Employee Health Benefits program via their College Benefits Officer no later than Sept. 19, 2014. Here is a letter to adjuncts currently enrolled in the PSC-CUNY Welfare Fund Basic Health Insurance from the University Benefits Office and the Fund. Here is a link to the University Benefits Office website where forms and further information are posted. On the CUNY University Benefits Office page, select “Benefits at a Glance,” then select “Adjunct Staff (Teaching and Non-Teaching)”.
If You Missed the August Contract Bargaining Update
President Barbara Bowen emailed a bargaining update to CUNY faculty and staff on August 11. (Read it here.) In it, she explained how the Adjunct Health Insurance Agreement relates to the contract and benefits all CUNY workers. Discussions at the bargaining table have been productive, she reported. The union and management have had promising discussions of the needs of CUNY faculty and staff, but CUNY has not yet put an economic offer on the table.
Fall 2014 Adjunct Pay Dates
For the Fall 2014 semester, teaching adjuncts are scheduled to be paid on eight successive pay dates. At the senior colleges, the first pay date will be Sept. 18 and the last pay date will be Dec. 24. At most community colleges, the first pay date will be Sept. 12 and the last pay date will be Dec. 19. Kingsborough CC, LaGuardia CC and Guttman CC operate on a different academic calendar. The dates are posted here on the PSC website.
March with Us at the Labor Day Parade—Sat., Sept. 6
New York’s labor movement has been working hard this year electing progressive City leaders, bargaining long-overdue contracts that protect workers and improve their lives, and (slowly) changing the political conversation in our state. But there is much more to do. Too many elected officials are scoring political points by playing worker against worker and union against union, and the politics of austerity still dominate our state capital. Unions need a show of strength and unity right now as a major state election approaches. Join us! PSC members will meet at 12;30 PM on Sat., Sept. 6. PSC and CUNY marchers will gather on West 47th St. between 5th Ave. and 6th Ave, in a staging area shared with NYSUT, UFT, ASFCME and PEF. Let us know you’re coming, download a flier, and share this call to action from Solidarity Committee Co-Chairs Mike Fabricant and Jim Perlstein with your colleagues.
People’s Climate March—Sun., Sept. 21
RSVP to March with the PSC; Tell Us Why You’ll Be Marching.
The People’s Climate March in NYC is an opportunity to demand a planet safe from the ravages of climate change; clean air and water; and a world economy for all people that supports good jobs and healthy communities. March with the PSC on Sun., Sept. 21 as we join tens of thousands of people from 500+ organizations for a powerful demonstration organized during the United Nations’ summit on the Climate Crisis. Sign up here to let us know you’re coming and to receive updates and a gathering point for PSC and CUNY marchers. Once you’ve signed up, tell us why you plan to march and download a flier.
PSC Members at the We Will Not Go Back March
Shocked and saddened by the deaths of Michael Brown of Ferguson and Eric Garner of Staten Island, PSC members joined the We Will Not Go Back march on Staten Island on Saturday to call for policing policies that protect all New Yorkers. Here they are at the march.
PSC Mourns the Loss of Former Retirees Chapter Chair Lawrence Kaplan
Larry Kaplan, chairman of the PSC Retirees Chapter from 1992-2001, died Aug. 5 at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset. He was 98. Kaplan held degrees in economics from Brooklyn College and Columbia University, was a decorated member of General George S Patton’s Sixth Armored Division in WWII, and served as an economist for New York City before he joined the faculty of John Jay in 1965. He retired in 1986 and spent the next 15 years building the strength and the reach of the PSC Retirees Chapter. He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Jeanne, his three children, Harriot, Sandford and Marcia, and his seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. A full obituary will appear in Clarion.
