Dear Colleagues,
Welcome back to the 2025-2026 academic year! I hope you had a restorative summer despite the exceedingly difficult times we are living through, including attacks on universities, the social safety net, vulnerable populations of all kinds, and the rule of law itself. Times like these remind us how important it is to be in a union – and to keep the union strong. We cannot normalize what is happening in our country. There are major challenges in front of us, but because of our members, the PSC is positioned to tackle them.
This summer, eligible PSC members received ratification bonuses and retroactive pay thanks to the contract ratified earlier this year. Next week, salaries increase to reflect cumulative raises of over 9% since March 2023 and 11.7% over the past 34 months. Another across-the-board raise of 3.5% will arrive next year, plus equity increases for the lowest paid job titles and a bump to the highest step of the full-time salary schedules. The member-led contract campaign propelled the PSC to successfully complete negotiations before the Trump administration took office and began wreaking havoc on state budgets and attacking higher education. We managed to shore up not only contractual raises but also our Welfare Fund, Research Awards program, Professional Development Funds, and other critical benefits.
The Federal Fight Ahead
The Trump administration is trying to smash unions and curtail collective bargaining rights, as they have done with federal employees. But we are fortunate to have strong state laws and a resilient union to protect CUNY faculty and professional staff. We will need that strength and resiliency now as the danger that the Trump administration poses to our profession and our communities cannot be overstated.
Ivy League schools may grab the headlines, but public colleges and universities are also being targeted for extortion by the Trump administration. UCLA is the latest and largest yet, with $1 billion at stake. Academics who have not devoted time to politics or collective action now realize they must speak out because their programs, research, and mentorship roles are in jeopardy. Indeed, none of us now has the luxury of disengagement. If you have not been active in your union chapter before, contact your chapter chair today, attend upcoming PSC meetings, and find out how to get involved.
Millions of dollars in federal research funding to CUNY scholars have been frozen or revoked, as has federal support for research centers and programs at our colleges. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are fundamental to CUNY’s historic mission and must remain so for future generations. Even basic science has been politicized and undermined, and the PSC is here to fight for full restoration of that funding.
Our academic freedom is also at risk if we do not fight hard for it now. We have entered a new era of political firings, here and around the country. CUNY faculty and staff must be free to exercise their first amendment rights, which extend outside their classrooms, studios, and labs, and to exercise academic freedom, which applies to teaching and research. The PSC has challenged the unexplained summer firings of four Brooklyn College adjunct faculty members whose names were suddenly removed from the fall schedule, there and at three other CUNY campuses. By now it should be clear to all that the President and MAGA movement have no sincere interest in combating antisemitism, an actual problem in this country, and are weaponizing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to curb public criticism of Israel. We are fighting to get these four jobs back not only because the academic judgment of their departments was ignored, but also because of the chilling effect that CUNY’s overreach has on the entire academic enterprise.
The Fight for New York City, Immigrant Communities, and the City University
We must also fight for the kind of city we want. The Trump administration, which already imposed military occupations on Washington DC and Los Angeles, has unleashed ICE and the Department of Homeland Security to unlawfully arrest our immigrant neighbors without due process and is threatening to bring the National Guard to Chicago and New York. Half of all immigration courthouse arrests nationally this summer were in Manhattan and PSC has responded. Trained PSC members continue to show up at the courthouses to ensure those who are seeking to attend mandated hearings know their rights and are supported in court. More of us in the PSC and the labor movement need to be trained to provide support. Of special urgency is the need for speakers of languages other than English. We must demonstrate against these authoritarian tactics while continuing to organize on campus. Join the PSC’s immigrant solidarity working group here, and consider adding our suggested statement to your syllabi. The next PSC Zoom training for courthouse support is Monday, September 8, 6:30pm–register here.
Healthcare
We hope to have more information to report soon about negotiations for a new health insurance plan to replace Emblem/GHI. That is the comprehensive benefits plan in which most active PSC-represented employees and pre-65 retirees are enrolled. The summer began with an announcement from the City that this successor plan would remain premium-free, but further details have not been made available. We will ensure that members have this information to review and discuss. We all know how important the quality and continuity of health care is to PSC members and their families.
Electing Zohran Mamdani
The PSC is proud to be among a handful of unions who took a risk and endorsed the most progressive candidates for Mayor. Our ranked-choice strategy allowed the PSC to be one of the earliest unions to support Zohran Mamdani for Mayor and helped to defeat Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary. Most NYC unions have now endorsed Mamdani, and it is now even more important that PSC members work to get him elected in November. Sign up here to get involved in our get-out-the-vote campaign. PSC members recall all too well what austerity from the state was like during the Governor Cuomo era, and what austerity from the city has been like during Mayor Adams’ tenure. Over $95 million in cuts under Mayor Adams has resulted in more than 400 vacant full-time community college positions. Now, with the Governor’s implementation of free tuition for community college students aged 25-55 majoring in high-demand fields, enrollment will grow further still. Mamdani has campaigned on filling City job vacancies, and we must work to ensure that happens at CUNY and beyond.
State Investment
The Republicans’ big, ugly bill created federal tax breaks for billionaires while cutting Medicaid, SNAP, and other programs that provide direct funding to New York State. Without a progressive approach to new revenue, the state cannot address deficits on the scale that the State Comptroller and Division of Budget have forecast. To continue the progress we’ve made on state funding for CUNY will require increasing taxes on the ultra-wealthy and large corporations. This new state revenue is what the PSC and our state affiliate, NYSUT, will be fighting for in Albany – and we’ll need you with us. Sign up here to be part of our campaign to make the rich pay their fair share.
As academics and as unionists, we must unite around a bold vision of a fully staffed university where every college has the resources and personnel to provide our students with the education and support they deserve. As of last week, fall enrollment at CUNY was up more than 4.2% above last year, including a 9% increase at the community colleges. A successful 2025-2026 academic year will mean that our colleges hire more full-time faculty and professional staff. The university administration is not going to save us from the Trump assault on our profession and our communities, only we can do that. Let’s start with a strong PSC turnout at the annual New York City Labor Day March and Parade on Saturday September 6. Join your colleagues and unionists across the city at 9:30am in Midtown Manhattan. RSVP here.
In solidarity,
James Davis, President
Published: August 26, 2025 | Last Modified: August 27, 2025
