Show Your Support for the Strike Authorization
The PSC’s strike authorization vote is scheduled for May 2-11. Click here to learn more about how to vote by mail, by phone or online. Send your reason for voting yes to [email protected], or share it yourself with the hashtag #CUNYStrikeAuth. You can also download this image to use as your social media profile picture.
Why I’m Voting Yes
Thousands of PSC members have made a public pledge to vote YES for strike authorization. We’ll be sharing some of their reasons for voting yes via email and social media over the next two weeks.
Susan Kang, Associate Professor, Political Science, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
I am voting YES because I support our union’s efforts to take an offensive and proactive role in fighting the nonstop austerity politics that dictate higher education in our state and in our country. While it is personally difficult to deal with six years of no contract, it is even more important for myself and the larger CUNY community, especially the students that we serve, that we reject the idea that there isn’t enough money to properly fund accessible and high quality higher education for our students, who come from the working classes of New York City and surrounding areas. We are in a period of budget surpluses, yet Albany is not willing to sufficiently fund the CUNY campuses, and instead seeks to pass financial burdens to students via tuition increases or through budget cuts that reduce our ability to serve the students. By voting yes, we are strengthening the position of our union as it bargains for a better deal not only for PSC members, but also for the students and the larger communities that we serve.
By voting yes, we are standing up for one the most important institutions for social justice and equality in New York City and we refuse to accept the starving of CUNY as “business as usual.” I urge my fellow union members to consider all these reasons and join me in voting yes on this important vote.
Click here for video and written testimonials from PSC members who plan to vote yes for strike authorization.
Support Union Rights at NYU
Your demonstration of solidarity is needed by our union comrades at New York University (NYU).
In 2013, NYU unilaterally changed the job titles and duties of workers represented by the Union of Clerical, Administrative and Technical Staff (UCATS, AFT local 3882). In some cases substantial new skills were required to perform the new duties and little training was provided. The workload of these workers at Bobst Library was increased without any additional compensation.
NYU has refused to bargain with UCATS over the effects of the changes imposed on library staff despite being directed three times by the National Labor Relations Board to bargain in good faith. This UCATS petition demands that the University enter into good faith bargaining with their union over the effects of the changes, as they have been directed to do so by the NLRB. Please add your name and show your support.
New York Labor History Conference—May 6-7
“Can’t Turn Back: Unfinished Tasks of the Civil Rights Movement”
The New York Labor History Association is hosting a labor history month conference on the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement and today’s ongoing fight for racial and economic justice. The conference kicks off Friday, May 6 with a keynote address by Jerald Podair entitled “They Couldn’t Wait: A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin and the Struggle for American Equality,” and continues Saturday, May 7 with panel discussions on as mass organizing, housing, policing, economic inequality, and education.
The conference will be held at The Worker Institute at Cornell ILR, 16 East 34th Street, 6th Floor, NYC. Space is limited so pre-registration is required. The cost is $15. Learn more.
