April '05 Clarion

G POLITICS Members grill mayoral Clarıon hopefuls PSC forum NEWSPAPER OF THE PROFESSIONAL STAFF CONGRESS / CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK APRIL 2005 draws all challengers. PAGE 5 RESEARCH FOUNDATION RF union election at Grad Center in May Close to 200 employees of the CUNY Research Foundation who work at the Graduate Center will have the chance to vote for union representation in early May. PAGE 5 PROTEST CCNY administration draws fire for arrests The response to a demonstration about on-campus military recruit- ment is part of a wider hostility to dissent at City College, say students, faculty and staff. The arrest and suspension of four protesters drew sharp criticism. PAGE 4 t e h c i o h c S y r a G PPSCSC DEFENSE FUND HEALTH Drug ads: are they good for your health? MMEMBERSEMBERS SSIGNIGN UP Did you know that the United CUNY management still refuses to make a contract offer that preserves Welfare Fund benefits, gives real States will soon be the only country raises, and makes CUNY a better place to work. In response, PSC members are signing up to contribute to a that allows direct-to-consumer Union Defense Fund, to cover special expenses of a militant contract campaign. Not since the 1970s, when the advertising for prescription drugs? PSC first established a Defense Fund, has the need for such a campaign been so urgent. PAGES 6-7, 10-12 Find out why. PAGE 9 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS G AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS G N.Y.C. CENTRAL LABOR COUNCIL G N.Y.S. AFL-CIO G NEW YORK STATE UNITED TEACHERS 2 NEWS & LETTERS Clarion | April 2005 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR | WRITE TO: CLARION/PSC, 25 W. 43RD STREET, FIFTH FLOOR, NEW YORK, NY 10036. E-MAIL: [email protected]. FAX: 212-302-7815. “teaching of courses” and the amount of back pay owed are the issues that will be decided by a new Management responds to Clarion arbitrator. The vice chancellor also has his 1 – Comment from CSI team have been trained specifically been some progress on this persis- “To realize the college’s mission and facts wrong on the history of settle- to handle the safe removal of mold. tent problem.” The article quoted educational objectives in a safe and ment discussions. There was no G I wish to comment regarding the If a project is too big to be handled Shah Jayman, of the CSI PSC chap- healthy environment requires that “tentative agreement” in 2001. At story entitled “CSI chapter presses by the in-house team, outside ven- ter’s executive committee, on the this problem be fixed now, not al- that time, the full-time faculty health & safety,” which appeared in dors who hold licenses to remove fact that in some areas “the mold is lowed to drag on,” says Vasilios Pe- fought to add 12 adjuncts to a list of a recent issue of Clarion. mold are called in. beginning to disappear…The ad- tratos, PSC chapter chair at CSI. “It 25 full-time faculty who would bene- Since the CSI Willowbrook cam- Please note that the College wel- ministration is responding.” Jay- is urgent that DASNY carry out the fit from the 150-hour prospective pus was opened ten years ago, the comes any and all inquiries regard- man commended VP Aponte’s deci- necessary repairs, and it is the joint settlement offered by management. College has consistently dealt with ing issues that affect the health and sion to put gutters on one building responsibility of the CSI and CUNY In spring 2003, the grievants and La- the issue of mold. Every building on safety of everyone at CSI. We re- as an experiment. administrations to make sure that Guardia agreed on 21 full-timers as campus was inspected for mold and spond to every inquiry with serious- “The key problem is that as long this happens.” the list of grievants in settlement reports detailing corrective mea- ness and attention to detail. as water leaks are prevalent on the discussions. When the grievants sures are on file with CUNY’s Office Angelo J. Aponte CSI campus, there will be a problem sought to add two substitutes to the of Design, Construction and Man- VP for Finance & Administration with mold,” comments David 2 – 80th Street objection list of 21, LaGuardia refused and agement, who are handling the re- College of Staten Island Kotelchuck, co-chair of the PSC G It is understandable that the PSC then took two full-time substitutes, mediation project through the Dor- Health and Safety Committee. would wish to spin its story on the previously agreed upon, off the list. mitory Authority of the State of Clarion editor Peter Hogness re- “While it is essential ‘to remove any LaGuardia case (Clarion, March While it is true that the faculty New York. In the meantime, the Col- sponds: CSI administration has in- contaminated material,’ this is insuf- 2005) to make it seem like a victory. have thus far made an economic lege handles day-to-day mold issues deed worked to remove mold in ficient. Until the leaks are fixed, the The truth, however, is that the PSC sacrifice in not taking the original with our own mold abatement team campus buildings. The article in our mold problem will constantly recur.” lost its grievance and could have settlement offer, the value of the of College personnel under the di- February issue described how the As VP Aponte notes, mold has achieved far more if it had settled principle of solidarity and of not rection of our Environmental Health PSC chapter at CSI has pressed for been a problem at CSI since its cur- the case more than three years ago. throwing the weak overboard and Safety Officer. Members of the action, and noted that “there has rent campus opened 12 years ago. In the 1998 summer session, La- seems to escape Vice Chancellor Guardia Community College ended Schaffer. its practice of paying instructional staff in Cooperative Education at the teaching hourly rate even Don’t ‘let market decide’ Anti-war educators draw big crowd though only a minimal amount of G As a longtime public school- their work involved classroom teacher I worry a lot about the cor- teaching. The arbitrator denied the porate domination of public schools, PSC’s grievance, finding that the but reading in The New York Times College properly paid the non- that IBM’s Lou Gerstner, former teaching rate for work other than governors, and other Standardistos classroom teaching. The court up- are inspiring changes in the CUNY held that decision but reversed the teacher education program sure arbitrator’s denial of back pay for grabbed my attention. I hope the those paid the non-teaching rate for CUNY faculty is more than “sur- classroom teaching since the sum- prised” by the new academy (March mer of 1998. 2005 Clarion, “Education faculty In September 2001 the PSC and surprised by new academy”). Out- the College tentatively agreed that rage and resistance seem more ap- the PSC would withdraw the griev- propriate reactions. ance and the College would guaran- When a university chancellor de- tee existing full-time instructional clares that he wants a “competitive staff at least 150 hours at the teach- environment for teacher education” ing rate for work in future summer and “let the market decide,” one has sessions. The PSC later wanted ad- to wonder about where his priorities juncts and substitutes included, a are. Letting the market decide demand the College rejected. After should be an anathema in a place more than two years of inaction, the concerned with fostering learning, a PSC walked away from this tenta- place established to educate teach- tive settlement and lost the arbitra- ers capable of nurturing students. tion. The result? During summer Letting the market decide sounds sessions, full-time Cooperative Edu- more like selling your baby to the cation faculty will be paid at the highest bidder than nurturing it. teaching rate only for actual class- In Why Is Corporate America s e room teaching. Bashing Our Public Schools? my n o ñ i u Frederick P. Schaffer co-author and I document the corpo- Q a s CUNY General Counsel and rate agenda for public schools. In- i L Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs stead of scrambling for places in the More than 500 educators and 250 Most participants were from the National Priorities Project, the new hierarchy, it would be refresh- students attended the Educators to NYC metro area, but others came state’s proportional share of the PSC First Vice President Steve Lon- ing to see professors offering resis- Stop the War conference on March from Massachusetts, Philadelphia, war’s total cost so far is $17.7 billion; don responds: It is premature for tance. Future public school teachers 5. The PSC was a co-sponsor of the Washington, DC, and as far away as NYC’s share is $6.6 billion. In the Vice Chancellor Schaffer to wag his badly need this model of resistance, conference, a project of US Labor Iowa. They included members of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, finger at LaGuardia Coop Education not more marketplace compliance. Against the War. AFT, NEA and AAUP, as well as court-appointed experts called for faculty and tell them they should Susan Ohanian The turnout far exceeded orga- both high school and college stu- an additional $14.8 billion in K-12 ed- have settled. Judge Friedman af- Charlotte, Vermont nizers’ expectations. “The numbers, dents. ucation spending – but the State firmed that they should be paid at diversity, energy, and focus of the The conference focused on teach- Legislature says it does not know the teaching rate when teaching and Editor’s note: Ohanian was given people who came convince us that ing about the war in Iraq, organiz- where to find the money.

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