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April 2021 Edition VOTE ● Union- wide election Meet the candidates. Get larıon ready to vote. CNEWSPAPER OF THE PROFESSIONAL STAFF CONGRESS / CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK APRIL 2021 PAGES 13–16 Erik McGregor CHANCELLOR BACKS DOWN AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL CUNY Central violated our contract when it suddenly delayed equity raises for assistants to HEO and lecturers. Thanks to organizing, the union forced the administration to reverse course. Read about the PSC’s success and the ongoing fight for raises. PAGE 3 GRIEVANCE POLITICS CAMPUS BENEFIT Fighting for Budget struggle Rudy Crew Paid family our raises in Albany steps down leave FAQs The union makes its case With Governor Andrew For months, Medgar Evers The union is happy to to a CUNY hearing officer Cuomo in a tight spot, College community mem- announce a new benefit for that the university violated unions and progressive leg- bers have called for the CUNY faculty and staff: paid the contract when it unilat- islators have an opportunity controversial president family leave. Members have erally delayed our 2% con- to pass a fair budget with to resign. He finally did some questions, and we have tractual raises. PAGE 2 new taxes on the rich. PAGE 4 in February. PAGE 5 some answers. PAGES 7, 12 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS ● AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS ● NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION ● NYC CENTRAL LABOR COUNCIL ● NYS AFL-CIO ● NEW YORK STATE UNITED TEACHERS 2 NEWS Clarion | April 2021 Fighting for members’ 2% raise By ARI PAUL ‘Chancellor’s actions are illegal’ The fight to have PSC members paid what they are owed continues. Brad Lander Last November, Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez ruined the holi- days for CUNY faculty and staff when he told the union that the uni- PSC: Lander versity would ignore its contractual obligation to implement a 2% raise for comptroller for everyone in the bargaining unit. The union vowed to fight. By ARI PAUL On February 19, the union made its case against CUNY before a He’s against austerity and he’s in fa- university hearing officer regard- vor of the PSC-backed New Deal for ing its mass grievance concerning CUNY legislation. He’s Brad Lander, the raise. Renée Lasher, the PSC’s and the PSC has endorsed him for director of contract administra- city comptroller. tion, did not mince words when A Brooklyn City Council mem- she said in her statement before ber who has been a vocal part of its the hearing officer that the chan- progressive caucus, Lander is the cellor had failed in his most basic best candidate for the position of duty of adhering to the union and the city’s top fiduciary officer. PSC the university’s collective bargain- President Barbara Bowen said, he ing agreement. “will simultaneously safeguard the city’s fiscal health and fight for NOT SUGGESTIONS an economic recovery that repudi- “Once these terms are bargained ates austerity,” because he “under- and signed, they are not a sugges- Erik McGregor stands that an economic crisis that tion, they are not optional, they are Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez has decided, wrongfully, that implementing contractual raises is optional. has been devastating to the city’s not subject to the whims and vaga- working class, its poor and its com- ries of the parties, they are legally dents, and meet other institutional Center for Public Policy, an anti- the CUNY hearing officer, Eric Carr, munities of color cannot be solved binding obligations,” Lasher said. needs created by the pandemic.” union think tank, complained that to rule in favor of the union. without visionary investment.” “This isn’t news, not to anyone here, She continued, “More recently, on the state’s pay freezes weren’t ex- Bowen said that the fight for “Investments in CUNY provided a and not to the chancellor. The chan- December 27, a second much larger treme enough, suggesting that the the raise is also an ongoing fight platform for young people, especially cellor understands his obligation to aid package was passed, allo- legislature freeze all state in Albany, where she has been those from immigrant and low-in- pay what the contract says is going cating an additional $118.4 mil- No excuse and local government work- speaking to state lawmakers about come backgrounds, from across this to be paid, but his actions reveal his lion earmarked for student aid for this er pay. using new federal monies to fund city to thrive in generations past,” disdain for his legal obligation, the to CUNY colleges, and an addi- delay The United University contractual raises. said Lander in a statement. “The contract and his employees. The tional $336.7 million to CUNY Professions (UUP), which “Now that there is more than $12 cuts and tuition hikes of recent years chancellor made the assessment colleges for institutional needs. represents SUNY faculty and staff, billion coming into the state from fall hardest on those students who that he wouldn’t be held accountable This means that CUNY will have a has joined the PSC in calling on the the federal government, it is an ab- can least afford it, denying them the in any way that mattered to him, so total of $455 million for institutional New York State Legislature to adopt solute priority that we restore these chance to succeed. As comptroller, he chose to disregard his obligations needs, but again, CUNY’s plans for new tax revenue bills to fund ser- wages,” Bowen said. “This fight is I will be a strong partner to faculty to his employees.” these funds are hidden.” vices and address budget shortfalls. not just about a grievance – it’s a and students in advocacy to fully And, Lasher said, is that the ad- “Last year, UUP filed class action budget fight.” fund CUNY as the essential institu- ministration’s justification for de- OTHER UNIONS FIGHTING grievances covering the delayed tion it is to secure an equitable recov- laying the contractual raise was The PSC isn’t the only union fight- raises as well as delays in imple- BROAD ISSUE ery and shared prosperity.” the fiscal uncertainty caused by ing this battle – last year, several menting increases in minimum Bowen pointed out that the law Among other fiduciary respon- the state’s decision to withhold 20% state unions reported that the state salaries scheduled to take effect in requires the union to go through sibilities, the comptroller oversees of state funding to the university. was delaying negotiated wage in- 2020,” UUP spokesperson Mike Lisi the grievance procedure before fil- the city’s five pension funds, includ- But that excuse doesn’t hold water, creases. The Times-Union in Albany told Clarion. “These include mini- ing a lawsuit. ing the Teachers’ Retirement Sys- she said. reported that workers whose unions mum salaries for adjuncts. UUP It is likely that the grievance will tem of the City of New York. “CUNY had access to over $118 bargain directly with the governor also filed an improper practice eventually be settled in arbitration. million for institutional needs may not see raises implemented charge with the NYS Public Em- For the union, the grievance is not PROGRESSIVE SUPPORT from the CARES Act passed at the until 2023 unless the state receives ployment Relations Board (PERB) just about the chancellor’s violation Lander is backed by a coali- end of March 2020, but didn’t seem more federal aid. on behalf of residents working in of the contract. tion of progressive state and city to feel any urgent need to use it,” The New York Daily News report- facilities associated with SUNY’s “The chancellor’s actions are im- lawmakers, as well as unions and Lasher said. “To date, the status of ed that the Metropolitan Transpor- academic medical centers.” moral, illegal, unethical and unsup- organizations, including the Work- that money is being guarded like a tation Authority was considering CUNY’s lawyers offered little de- portable,” Lasher said. “This kind of ing Families Party, Our Revolution corporate secret. The CARES Act freezing wages until at least 2024, fense of the chancellor’s action in the casual disregard of legal obligation, and the Communications Workers award to CUNY ... was a total of prompting Transport Workers hearing, other than to say that be- dismissal of the less powerful, and of America–District 1. almost $251 million. Roughly $118 Union President John Samuelsen cause the administration has vowed refusal of personal accountabil- The union also endorsed several million was earmarked specifi- to say workers would be so “upset that the raise will be implemented ity might be considered normal in New York City Council candidates in cally for aid to students; the bal- by the rescinded raises that they’d eventually with backpay, there was Washington, DC, and on Wall Street, February: Christopher Marte, Erik ance could be used more broadly to likely begin to disrupt mass transit no need to apply interest as well. PSC but I never would have expected it to Bottcher, Keith Powers, Julie Menin, support employees as well as stu- service on their own.” The Empire President Barbara Bowen called on be taken up by CUNY.” Maria Ordoñez, Diana Ayala, Tiffany Cabán, Jaslin Kaur, Adrienne E. Adams, Felicia Singh, Sandy Nurse, Alexa Avilés, Kevin Riley, Marjorie Clarion APRIL 2021 Velázquez, Juan Ardila, Lincoln Res- Newspaper of the Professional Staff Congress/City University of New York. Vol. 50, No. 2. PSC/CUNY is affiliated with the American Association of University Professors, National Education Association, the American Federation tler, Michael Hollingsworth, Brandon of Teachers (Local 2334), AFL-CIO, the New York City Central Labor Council and New York State United Teachers.
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