More than 1,200 City University professors packed the Great Hall at Cooper Union in downtown Manhattan last week to chart the next steps in their fight for a contract.
The meeting was organized by the Professional Staff Congress (PSC), the union representing CUNY’s 20,000 professors and staff, and provided a platform for reiterating their demand for increased salaries, restored Welfare Fund benefits, and improved working conditions and equity.
“This is a critical moment in negotiations with CUNY,” said Professional Staff Congress President Barbara Bowen.
So far, negotiations have not yielded an equitable settlement. Faculty and staff have worked without a contract since 2002 and without a raise since 2001.
Comparing their situation with hundreds of other government employees, PSC reminded state officials that “in the past year, New York government settled contracts with many state government employees, including our State University of New York (SUNY) colleagues in United University Professions. Its members accepted a four-year contract worthy of 15 percent in salary improvements of the life of the agreement while also getting an $800 cash bonus.”
Union officials say that what’s at stake is something that matters not only to them but to city residents.
Faculty member Jack Arnow said that “management’s demeaning contract offer is driving faculty away.” Alexandra Tarasku who teaches in the Nursing Department at Queens College says management’s intransigence is having “difficulty attracting nursing educators with the salaries they are offered.”
Union officials say “CUNY faculty and staff are public servants” who serve “the working class, people of color and new immigrants to New York.” They are concerned that management’s refusal to negotiate a contract is part of “a very clear and present political agenda to dismantle the public sector by steady erosion of the salaries and benefits of public servants.”
“What we are fighting against when we refuse substandard wages, benefits and conditions for ourselves is a substandard future for our students,” Bowen said.
On November 3rd, the Professional Staff Congress Executive Council will decide whether and when to hold a referendum seeking membership support for a job action.
