Sign a petition demanding that college presidents release the ventilation data.  [2] On Sept. 10, PSC requested release of all data used in the creation of the ventilation reports for ten colleges prepared by the engineering consultant firm Ramboll. Eight of the colleges have failed to provide the data, which is essential to minimizing the risk of COVID transmission. Even worse, City College and Brooklyn College, which had posted room-level ventilation data on their websites, have been told to remove their data! Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Law, the New York Taylor Law, and our union contract with CUNY, the PSC has responded to the college presidents to reiterate the information request. Help us make this action even stronger by signing the CUNYwide petition or the petition for your campus or worksite.

 

ACTIONS | RESOURCES | CAMPUS COORDINATORS | TIMELINE

Classes started Wednesday, August 25 at most CUNY colleges, 17 months after the COVID shutdown. Many professional staff began schedules that include some in-person work the week of August 16. The reopening has been safer and more cautious because of the persistent advocacy of PSC members, and while important concerns remain unaddressed, we have moved CUNY Central and the college administrations. Over 200 union health and safety watchdogs have participated in walkthroughs of campus worksites, identified threats to health and safety, and held CUNY accountable to reducing risks. We negotiated a Remote Work Agreement that gives workers additional agency in setting schedules, empowered members to seek accommodations, when necessary, and informed members of their right to challenge a denied ADA accommodation through the NYC Commission on Human Rights. 

Together we have built the power to ensure that many unsafe facilities have been taken offline or remediated. We’ve successfully shifted CUNY from an honor system for mask-wearing to a real mask mandate. The August 2 return date for professional staff was pushed back to August 16. At Lehman College and Queens College, for example, most professional staff who are not designated “essential” are not returning to in-person work until September 14.  Colleges have allowed greater flexibility about when and how often in-person classes must meet. The concerns we have publicized about having unvaccinated students in classrooms have led some colleges to issue guidance to have classes with unvaccinated students increase social distance by relocating to larger rooms or remain online until all students in the class are vaccinated or the October 7 vaccination deadline passes. Some departments in Baruch’s Zicklin School of Business have moved in-person classes online until the student vaccination mandate is in effect. Concurrent organizing and pressure has also averted the cancellation of many (not all) under-enrolled courses, preserving students’ schedules and faculty employment. 

As the Delta variant has emerged in New York, we’ve pressed CUNY in local and university wide labor-management meetings, organized protests to demand better COVID protocols on campuses, mobilized allies in the State Legislature and the City Council, and generated strong media coverage of the struggle for a safe return at CUNY. Union members rallied this week at CUNY Central and at Hunter College, and our most recent efforts have been reported by Fox 5 [3], NY1, ABC 7 [4], Gotham Gazette [5], the Daily Eagle [6]and the Chronicle of Higher Education. 

Yet we must do more. CUNY’s testing policy for unvaccinated individuals requires a negative test every seven days, when the more infectious Delta variant has made a three-day requirement the best practice. Some colleges are requiring six feet of social distance only for unvaccinated individuals, who are expected to self-identify. CUNY has not initiated a program of surveillance testing to detect breakthrough infections. And CUNY lacks a university-wide, public plan for how to scale back or suspend in-person activities if community spread of the Delta variant continues to increase. We need that plan, and it must include infection-rate thresholds that trigger specific actions in offices, labs, and classrooms.   

Join the Health and Safety Watchdogs [7] or attend your union chapter’s next meeting to help keep CUNY safe.  

ACTIONS

Sign the Safe Return Petition for Spring 2022 [8]. #CUNYSafeReturn cannot be one size fits all. A safe, smart return to in-person teaching and work would not undermine shared governance and local academic judgement.

Sign a petition demanding that college presidents release the ventilation data.  [2] On Sept. 10, PSC requested release of all data used in the creation of the ventilation reports for ten colleges prepared by the engineering consultant firm Ramboll. Eight of the colleges have failed to provide the data, which is essential to minimizing the risk of COVID transmission. Even worse, City College and Brooklyn College, which had posted room-level ventilation data on their websites, have been told to remove their data! Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Law, the New York Taylor Law, and our union contract with CUNY, the PSC has responded to the college presidents to reiterate the information request. Help us make this action even stronger by signing the CUNY-wide petition or the petition for your campus or worksite.

 

---

 

RESOURCES​

• Have you been denied an ADA Accommodation? [9]
• Resolution on CUNY Libraries Reopening of Physical Space [10]
• Remote Work Agreement [11]

HEALTH AND SAFETY CAMPUS COORDINATOR

Jackie Elliot  (JElliot@citytech.cuny.edu)

• York
• City Tech
• Brooklyn EOC
• Medgar Evers
• Kingsborough 

Joan Greenbaum (joanbaum@ix.netcom.com):

• Hostos 
• John Jay
• LaGuardia
• Lehman
• BMCC

Susan Fountain (shfountain@gmail.com):

• GC (SLU, SPS, McCauley, School of Journalism)
• CUNY Central Office 
• City College 
• Bronx EOC 
• BCC
• Guttman
• Manhattan EOC

Jean Grassman (jean.grassman@yahoo.com):

• GC (GC, SPH, ASRC) 
• CSI 
• Hunter
• Queens
• Baruch
• Queensborough
• Queens EOC

Brian Graf (bgraf@pscmail.org):

• HCCS 
• RF 
• General Assistance

TIMELINE

• 10/04/21: Vaccine Mandates at CUNY [12]
• 09/03/21: Guidance for Faculty Teaching In-Person Classes [13]
• 08/31/21: CUNY Faculty, Staff Protest at Medgar Evers College Against the Administration’s Inadequate Reopening Plan [14]
• 08/26/21: CUNY Faculty and Staff Protest at Hunter College Against the Administration’s Reopening Plan [15]
• 08/24/21: Day Before CUNY’s Fall Reopening, CUNY Faculty & Staff Union and Elected Officials Raise Safety Concerns [16]
• 08/19/21: Health and Safety Update -- First week back for some [17]
• 08/13/21: CUNY Cannot Combat the Pandemic by Patchwork [18]
• 08/12/21: Updates on health & safety and reopening [19]
• 08/02/21: Safe reopening update & Fall schedule [20]
• 07/26/21: Two More Weeks to Ensure a Safe Return [21]
• 07/12/21: Updates on Safe Reopening and Delayed 2% Raise [22]
• 06/29/21: Update on Remote Work Agreement [23]
• 06/22/21: Summer Safe Reopening Campaign Plan [24]
• 06/07/21: Important Updates on Reopening [25]
• 06/07/21: Changes to teaching modality [26]
• 06/03/21: Remote Work Agreement issues [27]
• 05/13/21: Resolution on CUNY Libraries Reopening of Physical Space [10]
• 03/20 - 04/21: Save Lives, Save Jobs, Save CUNY 2020 [28]