{"id":1986,"date":"2019-10-24T22:50:54","date_gmt":"2019-10-24T22:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/?p=1986"},"modified":"2019-11-21T21:41:24","modified_gmt":"2019-11-21T21:41:24","slug":"no-7k-for-adjuncts-in-new-contract-announcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/2019\/10\/no-7k-for-adjuncts-in-new-contract-announcement\/","title":{"rendered":"NO $7K FOR ADJUNCTS IN NEW CONTRACT ANNOUNCEMENT"},"content":{"rendered":"

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7k or strikers in the back at union rally at City Hall on 3\/14\/2019<\/figcaption> Photo by $7k or Strike<\/span><\/figure>\n

The new PSC-CUNY contract brought new developments like paid office hours for adjuncts and salary raises of more than 10% across the board but did not come with $7,000 per course for adjuncts. \u201c<\/span>While we have not yet achieved our goal of $7K per course, the new pay-rates represent, to the best of our knowledge, the biggest increase for the largest number of adjuncts in any contract nationally,\u201d said PSC President Barbara Bowen in the email announcement.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the proposed contract, adjuncts will be paid $5,500 per course by 2022. While 71% pay raise is substantial, <\/span>a pay raise by 2022 won\u2019t immediately help adjuncts who are in need now. By next year, adjunct pay would go up to $4,200 per course but amidst staff cutbacks there\u2019s no guarantee adjuncts would be re-appointed to see these raises. \u201cTo adjuncts looking at [the contract] saying \u2018I could really use that extra $1,000 per course,\u2019 are you going to get that extra thousand? Can you guarantee your job is not on the chopping block?\u201d said Jane Guskin, an adjunct at Queens College in Urban studies. The contract does not include any new job protection provision for adjuncts, a demand of $7k or Strike activists.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Jane Guskin talks about adjunct struggle at State Senate hearing on Higher Ed<\/figcaption> Photo by Henry Fernberger<\/span><\/figure>\n

The current CUNY budget proposal has a marginal increase from the state but a significant cut back from the city straining college\u2019s operations even further. The budget can\u2019t accommodate such a pay raise without cutbacks in other places.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

PSC-CUNY leadership sees this contract as an unprecedented victory for professors and union labor. \u201cWe achieved a tentative agreement that can genuinely be called historic.\u201d said President Bowen. \u201cIt breaks the longstanding system of poverty-level pay for teaching adjuncts.\u201d While professors\u2019 pay isn\u2019t poverty level, the new contract doesn\u2019t address the inequality of the two-tier system between adjunct and full-time professors. By 2022 under the proposed contract, adjuncts who work full-time with a full-course load will have half the pay of full-time professors even though their work hours are equivalent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Adjuncts have a different opinion about the legacy this contract should leave behind. \u201cWe need to make [the contract] historic by being the first contract the members vote down.\u201d Said Guskin.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The contract isn\u2019t set in stone yet. Now that the executive council signed the contract, the delegate assembly will have to ratify it before the union\u2019s 33,000 members can vote on it. The contract didn\u2019t meet the goals of $7k or Strike activists so now the ball is in their court to maintain their namesake pledge. $7k or Strike has already artfully denounced the contract on social media.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A post shared by Rank and File Action (@rankandfileaction)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n