2017 PSC Collective Bargaining Agenda Approved
The union’s elected representatives overwhelmingly approved a new bargaining agenda at last week’s Delegate Assembly. President Bowen will now send a formal request to CUNY management to begin the next round of collective bargaining. She will call on CUNY to start before the end of our current contract on November 30. Read the 2017 PSC Collective Bargaining Agenda and its preamble here.
Build Power for the Next Contract
The single most important thing you can do right now to build the power we will need for this round of bargaining is to sign the PSC’s new membership card, if you haven’t signed already. The Trump Supreme Court is about to decide a case that is designed to destroy the strength of public-sector unions like the PSC. The case aims to crush American unions and strip us of the power to win higher salaries and better working conditions. The new card is designed to withstand anti-union legal challenges. All CUNY employees who are represented by the PSC should sign it.
TIAA: PSC Working with CUNY Human Resources Office in Response to Concerns
An article in Sunday’s New York Times reported on practices at TIAA (formerly TIAA-CREF) involving TIAA’s changing business model and the-costs/fees associated with some investment vehicles. The PSC leadership immediately called on CUNY’s Vice Chancellor for Human Resources to ensure that members’ retirement savings are handled with transparency and care and will be working with CUNY to provide members with information.
CUNY Community Tells the CUNY Board of Trustees:
Fight for the Maintenance of Effort Bill and the Funding CUNY Needs
CUNY Rising Alliance groups, including New York Communities for Change, Retail Action Project and Alliance for Quality Education, demonstrated outside Baruch College yesterday before the CUNY Board of Trustees meeting where the Board voted for a $200 tuition hike in the University Budget Request. The groups also staged a protest in the CUNY Board meeting, disrupting it with chants of “Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Tuition Hikes Have Got to Go!” and “Tell Cuomo: Sign the MOE.”
At the meeting yesterday and at a Board hearing last week, the groups demanded public funding for CUNY, not endless tuition hikes for students. The first step toward full public funding for CUNY would be the governor’s signature on the College Maintenance of Effort (MOE) bill, they said. The bill, which will soon be on the governor’s desk, would begin to reverse the State’s record of underfunding CUNY. Signs at the demonstration said “Tell Cuomo: Don’t Veto Funding for CUNY!” CUNY Rising groups like New York Working Families and Alliance for Quality Education in their testimony last week urged the Trustees to use their political sway with the governor to press for his signature on the MOE. (Read CUNY Rising’s release with quotes from the testimony.) Ten of the 17 CUNY Trustees are Cuomo appointees.
President Barbara Bowen spoke at the demonstration yesterday and testified last week in support of the College MOE. In her testimony, Bowen also pressed the Board to demand public funding to support the three-credit teaching load reduction agreed to in the latest PSC-CUNY contract and $7,000 per course for adjuncts. Other PSC members testified as well. Read some of their testimony here.
We’re Voting NO! on the Constitutional Convention
The PSC opposes the constitutional convention (“Con Con”) because it would be a chance to take away workers’ rights and undermine public pension protections. PSC members are mobilizing their colleagues to vote “NO!” on November 7 by phone banking their colleagues every Wednesday evening. These phone banks will take place at the union office. Members can also sign up to make call from home via the “virtual phone bank.” Click here to volunteer.
#Sandy5 March March & Rally—Oct.28
New York’s elected officials must prioritize protection from the impacts of climate change and lead a just transition to a renewable energy economy. With climate change deniers in power in Washington and dangerous storms increasing in frequency and intensity, we cannot wait any longer. On Saturday, October 28, New Yorkers will rally and march to demand a better future. PSC members will assemble at Cadman Plaza Park, Brooklyn, at the corner of Pineapple Walk and Cadman Plaza West at 11 AM. The march will cross the Brooklyn Bridge and then rally at the Alfred E. Smith Houses in Manhattan. Click here for more details.
