Read coverage of the contract campaign in The Nation
Leaders of Teachers’ Unions Send PSC Messages of Solidarity
PSC members at the mass meeting on Nov. 19 received messages of support from unionists from around the nation who have also held strike authorization votes. Click this link to see a video featuring teachers’ union leaders from Seattle, San Francisco and Chicago and a special message from Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis. Participants in the meeting also saw a clip from an upcoming documentary about the student-worker alliance in South African universities. Nationally and internationally, there is evidence that faculty, staff and students can win when they link their struggles and organize together.
Sign Up for a Contract Organizing Training
Help Mobilize for a Powerful Strike Authorization Vote
Hundreds of PSC members have already signed up to help assure a maximum turnout and a powerful, united strike authorization vote. The first organizing trainings are happening this Monday and Wednesday in the PSC Union Hall. You can sign up too, by filling out this online commitment card and choosing one of the remaining training dates: Tuesday, December 8, 4:00-6:00 PM; Thursday, December 10, 4:30-6:30 PM; Monday, December 14, 6:30-8:30 PM; and Tuesday, December 15, 5:00-7:00 PM (PSC staff organizers will be providing training on campuses, if you can’t attend one of these dates.) The vote will happen in early March.
NYS Regents to Attend Meeting on New Teacher Certification Exams—Dec. 7
A meeting of NYC teacher education faculty, public school teachers and students is being convened to describe to two key Regents their experiences with the new teacher certification exams. Regent Kathleen Cashin, an outspoken critic of high-stakes testing, will be in attendance with Regent Charles Bendit. Faculty panelists will lead discussions on the impact of these exams on the preparation of future teachers, on the racial and ethnic composition of the teaching force, and on the professional autonomy of teacher educators. They will also be presenting ways to move forward in evaluating teacher preparation programs. The meeting will take place Mon., Dec. 7, 6-9 PM, at St. Francis College, 180 Remson Street (Brooklyn, two-blocks from the Borough Hall subway stop).
Labor Goes to the Movies Presents Caché—Dec. 11
The union’s film series explores the theme of “Surveillance” on Fri., Dec. 11, in the PSC Union Hall (61 Broadway, 16th floor) with a screening of Caché (Haneke, France/Austria, 2005). A bourgeois French family watches its own life being filmed as mysterious, impossible videotapes arrive at their door. The tapes trigger revelations of a childhood injustice against an Algerian playmate of the protagonist. The repressed personal “memories” in fact parallel a real 1961 police massacre of Algerian immigrants in Paris. $2 suggested donation. Doors open at 6 PM. Refreshments provided.
Deadline for Declaration of Candidacy for the 2016 PSC Elections—Fri., Jan. 6
In April 2016, sixteen PSC chapters will hold elections for chapter officers and for delegates and alternates to the PSC Delegate Assembly and the PSC-CUNY Welfare Fund Advisory Council. The term of office is 3 years. The deadline for filing for candidacy for the elections is Friday, Jan. 6, 2016. Here is a link to the declaration of candidacy form. Other deadlines and election rules are posted here.
