G BROOKLYN Two new organizing goals Clarıon Chapter pushes for on-campus child care and NEWSPAPER OF THE PROFESSIONAL STAFF CONGRESS / CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK MARCH 2006 curriculum changes PAGE 5 BENEFITS Buying insurance for long-term care What you need to know to figure out whether you or your family need long- term-care insurance. It’s expensive, but so is long-term care. PAGE 10 ALBANY PSC members push legislative agenda Union members went to Albany to press state lawmakers to restore more funds for CUNY, as well as tackle prob- lems in the laws governing pensions and unemployment insurance. PAGE 6 t e h c i o h c S y r a G CUNY WEEK IN TALKSTALKS WIWITHTH CUNYCUNY,, CICITY,TY, STASTATETE CUNY and the Katrina connection Hurricane Katrina hit Dillard Univer- PPSCSC PUSPUSHH FOR FINFINALAL DDEALEAL sity in New Orleans fast and hard. But Dillard has also suffered the “slow- PSC members held an early-morning demonstration on February 16, before a bargaining session at the City’s motion disaster” of inequality in edu- Office of Labor Relations. After CUNY backed off from a framework it had approved in November, union cation, with effects familiar to those at members and supporters turned out to say it’s long past time for management to come through. Above, CSI City University. CUNY Week, March student Wanda Calamia and PSC member Craig Topple. PAGES 3 AND 8 27-31, looks at the link. PAGE 7 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 | March 2006 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. What it takes to break a bad ‘pattern’ G The PSC and CUNY management ship – but still couldn’t break a bad activity. If these unions are “elimi- had better act locally, or your “island about the quality of service they pro- agreed to a contract framework in pattern. Is there anything that can? nated or weakened, we may become of privilege” will continue to shrink. vide. We’ve featured patient photos November, but New York City and How about a coalition of municipal an ‘island of privilege’ in the eyes of Steven Weisblatt and interviews about issues such as State objected. They said the deal unions joining hands, locking arms, other workers,” Hyland wrote. York College staffing, public funding for health went beyond the patterns for other and marching to the bargaining table The island metaphor also applies care or the little things from union public workers – and they’re right. as a unified force? That is the only to a comparison of the conditions members that can humanize a pa- It’s a credit to the union that we got way we have of ensuring that the facing the 9,500 contingent faculty More on students tient’s hospital stay. CUNY to agree to these terms. “pie” for economic settlements with with the conditions facing full-time G Clarion is an excellent publica- I hope that such coverage helps Even the stunted deal now on the our employers is large enough to ac- faculty at CUNY today. tion. You once asked me how it conscientious members who are de- table is as good as or better than commodate all our needs. How we The “island of privilege” exists at could be improved, and I am writ- voted to good patient care see that settlements for police, teachers or slice it can be left to the respective this very moment in the PSC’s own ing with a suggestion: I don’t see the union shares their concerns. To other city unions. unions, but we can only force a big- backyard. As a CLIP instructor, I enough in Clarion about students. the public, I hope it accurately pre- The problem is, none of these con- ger pie if we bargain together. see the island from an overcrowd- The students in the journalism sents the union as having a heart, as tracts were good ones. The nail in la- The PSC leadership has long sup- ed, listing, third-world ferry which classes I teach at CCNY’s Center for being a fully rounded institution in- bor’s coffin was the substandard pat- ported this. Will other unions climb isn’t ever going to make it to the is- Worker Education are wonderful. terested in more than just bread and tern set early on in this round of mu- aboard the solidarity train? land, and nobody is undertaking a They’re diverse, articulate, motivat- butter. nicipal bargaining. The PSC had a Bill Henning rescue mission. ed and smart, making huge sacrifices Substitute the idea of education smart, open leadership, a democrat- City College While the organizing and educat- to earn their BAs. I’m sure students for health care in the above para- ic process and a mobilized member- ing in “right-to-work” states is in- at other CUNY facilities are similar. graphs, and I think it’s just as true An injury to one… valuable, the financial and human In my work at 1199/SEIU, the for members of the PSC. So I’d sug- G As PSC Treasurer John Hyland resources of the PSC, AFT, and health care workers’ union, we’ve gest more coverage in Clarion that Write to Clarion argued in the February Clarion, NYSUT must be used right here, tried to regularly feature patients in lets us see and hear the students when the American Federation of right now. Go ahead, spend our mon- the union’s magazine. They’re the who are at the heart of our work. Letters should be no more than Teachers uses our dues money to or- ey helping other nascent unions and reason for health care workers’ jobs. Dan North 150-200 words in length, and are ganize and educate teachers’ unions worker groups around the world, Our members care about their pa- City College subject to editing. across the country, it’s a worthwhile but while you think globally, you tients as individuals, and they care (Former editor, 1199 News) Demolition for Fiterman By PETER HOGNESS & LETICIA TAYLOR Contaminated inside & out Since September 11, 2001, the “We are concerned, along with that the agency’s comments should scarred, empty structure of Fiter- our neighbors in lower Manhattan, be completed by late March. man Hall has loomed over lower that the work be done safely,” said The CUNY/DASNY plan is based Manhattan – but that may be about Joan Greenbaum, co-chair of the on environmental testing of Fiter- to change. CUNY is about to release PSC Health and Safety Committee, man’s interior that began in Septem- a plan for how Fiterman’s 15 stories in testimony at a February 27 city ber, after a decontamination facility should be torn down, with new con- council hearing. The PSC is part of a was built to allow for safe entry and struction to follow. The first phase local alliance, the WTC Community- exit of environmental consultants. of work could start this spring. Labor Coalition, that has acted as a But although that testing was large- Fiterman Hall had provid- watchdog on cleanup and ly completed last fall, the results ed space for classes at Bor- Too damaged reconstruction issues. have not been released. “All of us ough of Manhattan Commu- to repair CUNY and the Dormi- need to know exactly what contami- nity College, just south of tory Authority of the nants are in the building,” Green- the college’s main building. The col- State of New York (DASNY), which baum told the February 27 hearing. lapse of World Trade Center 7 left carries out most CUNY-related con- “And we need to know what proce- gaping holes in Fiterman’s south struction, have developed a decon- dures will be used to contain [them] wall, and the building was too dam- tamination and deconstruction plan when demolition takes place.” aged to repair. and sent it to the federal Environ- Soon after September 11, the PSC While the large debris has been mental Protection Agency. That urged CUNY to replace, not repair, removed, Fiterman’s interior con- plan is not yet public, but when the Fiterman Hall. CUNY agreed, but tains contaminants such as lead, EPA is finished with its review, the State did not until last year. s r e mold and dioxin. High levels of diox- both the plan and the EPA’s com- d n a INSURANCE DISPUTE S in, a potent carcinogen that can be ments will be posted on the e v a produced by burning plastics, were web at www.lowermanhattan.info/ The biggest cause of delay in re- D found in dust sampled from inside construction/project_updates/ placing Fiterman was a dispute Fiterman Hall will be torn down – but a cleanup must come first. the building in 2002. fiterman_hall_39764.asp. After a with the insurance company, FM chance for public response, said Global, which was settled in 2004 Fiterman’s place will take two years overcrowded. The college resorted COMPLICATED DASNY spokesperson Claudia Hut- for $90 million. Of that sum, $27 mil- and cost about $125 million, she to temporary trailers, put up parti- This means that dismantling ton, decontamination work will lion was reportedly used to help added. However, last September, tions in common areas to carve out Fiterman is more complicated than a then begin.