NEW! ● Change of plan WF prescription provider replaced larıon PAGE 8 CNEWSPAPER OF THE PROFESSIONAL STAFF CONGRESS / CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK DECEMBER 2015 Erik McGregor Erik PSC POWER GROWS WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED In its fight for a fair contract, PSC is ratcheting up the pressure with a series disorderly conduct. Plans for the action resulted in contract offer from CUNY of escalating tactics. In the scene above, members engaged in a planned civil management – one described as ‘unacceptable’ by PSC President Barbara disobedience action on November 4, blocking the entrance to CUNY head- Bowen. On November 19, members packed The Great Hall at the Cooper quarters in Midtown, risking arrest. Fifty-three members were charged with Union to begin preparations for a strike authorization vote. PAGES 3 & 6 FIGHT FOR $15 CHURCH & STATE DETERMINATION POWER & ART CUNY’s low- Friedrichs Ready for Irony meets wage workers plaintiffs action idealism The University employs Pressing the anti-union Su- At a union-wide meeting, 900 PSC member and MacAr- 7,000 workers at less than preme Court case is a little- PSC members gathered to thur Fellow Ben Lerner talks the rate set by activists known group that seeks to prepare for a strike autho- to Clarion about the rela- calling for a raise in the bring religion into public rization vote – the next big tionship between poetry and minimum wage. Read schools, making missionar- step in the union’s campaign politics, and the beauty of their stories.​ PAGE 5 ies of teachers.​ PAGE 9 for a fair contract.​ PAGE 3 imperfect collectivity.​ PAGE 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 & LETTERS Clarion | December 2015 IN BRIEF LETTERS TO THE EDITOR | WRITE TO: CLARION/PSC, 61 BROADWAY, 15TH FLOOR, NEW YORK, NY 10006. EMAIL: [email protected]. Working Families Party backs Sanders for president The union-backed national Working Families Party (WFP) overwhelm- ingly endorsed US Senator Bernie Sanders for president. It is the first Exploitation at CUNY hurts all time the party has endorsed in a presidential contest. ● CUNY’s reliance on an adjunct from 2011 to 2016. If the PSC claims tory of student organizing. The The PSC is affiliated with the workforce easily replaced by newly Dignity at stake to struggle for racial and economic PSC leadership agrees completely WFP. In the past week, the New York minted graduates of the very sys- ● The PSC’s Midtown demonstra- justice for the working class, then that the only force strong enough State leadership group voted to bind tem that exploits them represents tion demanding a contract brought it should refuse to let CUNY fund to reverse the national attacks on its two delegates attending the WFP a loss of civilization. This system our message where it belongs – into faculty raises with student tuition public higher education is a coali- endorsement convention to the out- employs the majority of the CUNY the heart of this great city. Let us increases. tion of faculty, staff, students — come of a national membership plebi- workforce; 75 percent of classes in embrace and cheer the 53 fellow ● True movement toward pay and the communities of which they scite on the three Democratic Party the CUNY system are taught by union members, including our own equity for adjunct faculty, i.e., are a part. We are actively build- presidential candidates. The PSC adjuncts. Even more, the support- Assistant Professor Felipe Piment- $7,000 per course. Within the last ing such a coalition for CUNY right voted with the majority of the NYS ive staff (secretaries who fill out el, who endured arrest on our behalf few years, the Modern Language As- now, working to deepen our bonds WFP leadership regarding a binding mountains of new hire paperwork, and in defense of our union. sociation (MLA), Coalition of Contin- with student activists and orga- plebiscite but was not a part of the employees in the duplicating center, The PSC belongs to its members. gent Academic Labor (COCAL) and nizations, showing how students national convention that endorsed department chairs who organize co- We built it and nurtured it. The CUNY Doctoral Students’ Council have a stake in the PSC contract Bernie Sanders. lossal class schedules, tenured fac- contempt for the PSC shown by (DSC) have advocated a $7,000 start- fight. That work could be among The online membership vote was ulty who observe adjuncts) have not the CUNY Board of Trustees par- ing salary for 3-credit courses. By re- the most important we do. open to all WFP members who af- had an increase in pay for almost six allels its contempt for faculty gov- fusing pay disparity between CUNY On the issue probably most impor- firmed support for WFP values, and years. That lack of support taxes the ernance, which was clearly shown adjuncts and other faculty, the PSC tant to students – tuition increases – the was combined with a vote of WFP’s whole CUNY system and compro- by the board’s ignoring the 92 per- can end the reliance on adjuncts as PSC opposes the current proposal national advisory board that includ- mises its effectiveness as a vehicle cent “No” vote against Pathways. cheap exploitable labor, the practice for another increase and has con- ed representatives from the party’s for social betterment. I suggest that we begin collecting of which harms our whole union. sistently opposed shifting the cost of state organizations. Sanders took It has been documented by many pledges from other faculty and staff ● Adjunct job security. Create a CUNY education onto the backs of 87.4 percent of the vote and former news outlets that creatives and in- willing to be arrested for this just real and comprehensive job pro- our students. The shift of cost is a Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tellectuals are leaving New York cause. What’s at stake is our dignity tection for all through a seniority failed strategy. won 11.5 percent. City because of the high cost of liv- as workers in a democratic society system by date of hire that doesn’t The union is also working with Clinton, however, has garnered ing. When bonuses for Wall Street and the right of our students to a introduce additional evaluations activist organizations that advo- the endorsements of major unions, executives were threatened, the re- quality higher education. into the process. cate for the communities in which including the American Federation sponse was a fear of driving away Gerald Meyer ● Workload flexibility. Lift the our students live. Many are eager to of Teachers (of which PSC-CUNY is a the best, the most talented. Professor of History, emeritus cap on the number of courses that coalesce around a defense of qual- local). (PSC President Barbara Bow- The shame I feel as an under- Hostos Community College adjuncts can teach at any single ity education at CUNY. en was among three AFT leaders paid adjunct is palpable and often CUNY campus. Finally, on your suggestions for who voted against the endorsement; compounded by those who believe The addition of these demands demands: there has been much dis- see the September Clarion.) Earlier I should simply reject a system that Solidarity with students will strengthen the PSC’s ability to cussion of the union’s demands in this month, Sanders supported PSC’s relies so much on employee exploita- and adjuncts negotiate, fight and win. Right now our policy-making body, the Del- contract campaign, tweeting, “We tion. The belittlement, by the lack ● A joint effort among CUNY stu- most students and adjuncts don’t egate Assembly. The DA voted not must invest in our public institu- of a fair labor contract, of our edu- dents, faculty and staff is necessary see any reason to take action – let to include the demand you propose tions! We stand with @PSC_CUNY cational institutions and those who to reverse continued attacks on pub- alone strike – in support of a con- for “workload flexibility” because in their fight for a fair contract.” support them affects our communi- lic higher education. We encourage tract that doesn’t yet express all our that demand is in the interest of ty, our economy and our democracy. the PSC to adopt the following as interests. This situation will change management. Management al- Journal explores adjunct An environment that tolerates and central demands in its contract when we stand united. ways wants to multiply the number encourages the employment of un- campaign. By doing so, the union Conor Tomás Reed of courses taught for substandard labor organizing dervalued, underpaid workers only will show that its commitment to Graduate Writing Fellow pay; the union works to increase The most recent issue of the compounds opportunities for the the most exploited members of Kingsborough Community College the pay and create meaningful academic journal WorkingUSA exploitation of other workers. CUNY, students and adjuncts goes job security. We have already ac- (published by Wiley-Blackwell), ex- A system that does not reward beyond lip service to become genu- PSC President Barbara Bowen complished a landmark benefit amines contingent academic work workers on the basis of merit, edu- ine solidarity. responds: in this round of bargaining: fully with articles exploring organizing, cational attainment or talent is dam- ● An immediate tuition freeze Thank you for your letter, Conor; funded health insurance for eligible tactics and collective bargaining. aging to all. and rollback of the tuition hikes I know it comes out of a long his- adjuncts. This issue, “Contingent Aca- Elisabeth von Uhl demic Labor: The Way Forward,” Adjunct Lecturer is edited by PSC bargaining team Bronx Community College member Marcia Newfield; Polina 40,000 postcards to Gov.