{"id":2158,"date":"2019-11-24T04:40:56","date_gmt":"2019-11-24T04:40:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/?p=2158"},"modified":"2020-02-11T20:05:36","modified_gmt":"2020-02-11T20:05:36","slug":"psc-leadership-receives-criticism-for-proposed-contract-could-they-have-done-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/2019\/11\/psc-leadership-receives-criticism-for-proposed-contract-could-they-have-done-better\/","title":{"rendered":"PSC Leadership Receives Criticism for Proposed Contract"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Barbara Bowen speaking at a Delegate Assembly meeting<\/figcaption> Photo by $7k or Strike<\/span><\/figure>\n

Earlier this month PSC union members began voting on a controversial new contract proposal. The union leadership lauds this contract<\/span> as historic winning raises across the board with the largest raises going to adjuncts. \u201cWe wanted an equity contract<\/span> which fought austerity in as many ways as it could and lifted the bottom,\u201d said PSC First Vice President Andrea Vasquez at a Hunter Delegate Assembly meeting.<\/span><\/p>\n

By 2022, entry level adjuncts will be paid $5,500 per course, a 71% increase from the current pay of $3,200 if the contract is ratified by the union members. Currently, the <\/span>Modern Language Association\u2019s<\/span><\/a> standard for adjunct pay is $11,100.<\/span><\/p>\n

This contract didn\u2019t achieve the ambitious goal of $7,000 per course set out by $7k or Strike activists. For some adjuncts, $5,500 by 2022 just isn\u2019t enough. \u201cIf this contract goes through I might have to quit because I can\u2019t afford to be paid this much,\u201d said Casandra Murray, an adjunct at Hunter College in the English department.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the new contract, the lowest paid adjunct with a full course load will make a little more than half what the lowest paid full-timer makes. This contract still maintains the two-tier system of faculty labor because of this pay disparity. \u201cWe are not saying we dismantled the structure of adjunct exploitation,\u201d said PSC Secretary Nivetida Majumdar. \u201cFar from it, but we made a big dent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The union leadership received a lot of criticism for stopping at $5,500 and not achieving the goal of $7k. \u201cIn 3 years, we will be up to $5,500 which is not a living wage in New York City,\u201d said Sandor John, an adjunct in Hunter\u2019s History department. \u201cEven though the $7k initiative was innovative, the contract campaign was routine.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some members blame the leadership\u2019s mobilization strategy for coming up short from the bargaining table. John says the routine bargaining strategy with routine demonstrations and disruption isn\u2019t enough to close the gap in the two-tier system.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think the strategy is one that is not militant or confrontational enough to win a living wage or the beginnings of structural shift for how employment at CUNY is done,\u201d said Andy Battle, a doctoral graduate in US and New York City history and former adjunct at Hunter College. Part of the goal to eliminate the two-tier system is to incentive CUNY administration to hire more full-time and tenure track faculty. \u201cI think that the contract that we got is the best that can be achieved with a strategy of advocacy. It was moral pressure, requests, and shows of symbolic power but not ones that had actual stakes,\u201d said Battle. Battle explains advocacy and lobbying tactics aren\u2019t nearly as effective as organised labor\u2019s ultimate weapon, a strike.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Climate of Organized Labor<\/b><\/p>\n

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Chicago Teachers on Strike<\/figcaption> Photo by Charles Edward Miller via Creative Commons<\/span><\/figure>\n

Since 2018, the teacher\u2019s strikes in seven states led to budget increases for schools and pay raises for faculty and support staff. The bargaining team confirmed that these struggles in other states played an important role in winning the raises in this contract. \u201cThe credibility we had when we first talked to the Governor\u2019s office the new CUNY Chancellor and the City Mayor\u2019s office was in part by the other teachers who had been on strike in Chicago, L.A., West Virginia, Oklahoma and elsewhere,\u201d said PSC President Barbara Bowen at a recent panel on austerity contracts at the Grad Center.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Compared to the contract the CUNY bargaining team won, the victories in these states are relatively meager. \u201cLook at what has been won in other strikes: 6.5% over three years, 6%, 9%. We got to a contract with an average of a 45% increase for adjuncts without a strike,\u201d said Bowen. \u201cIf we had not gotten above CUNY\u2019s initial offer we would have prepared to strike.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the raise\u2019s large margins, the contract still doesn\u2019t address the exploitation of adjunct labor in the two-tier system and some professors wish a larger struggle was mobilized. When the Delegate Assembly was voting to recommend this contract to be ratified by the whole union, delegate Marc Kagan needed to illustrate the unions failure to give an alternative to a \u201cyes\u201d vote. \u201cI did vote ‘no’ but simultaneously I expressed my frustration that I didn\u2019t think there was a plan in place if we voted no,\u201d said Kagan, a Ph.d candidate at the Grad Center and adjunct at Lehman College. \u201cThe union had not taken the steps that would be necessary to wage a successful strike.\u201d Last bargaining session, 92% of union members authorized a strike but no such mobilization happened in this round of bargaining.<\/span><\/p>\n

Strikes in New York<\/b><\/p>\n

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TWU on Strike<\/figcaption> Photo by Sander Koyfman via Creative Commons<\/span><\/figure>\n

But, even a mobilized strike poses a serious threat to the PSC because of the repressive labor laws in New York. \u201cI just don\u2019t think we have the power,\u201d said Delegate Jackie DiSalvo, retiree from Baruch College. \u201cFourteen years ago, the transit workers had the power to shut down the whole city and they lost because of the Taylor Law.\u201d The 2005 transit workers strike is the most recent precedent of workers in the public sector striking. Under the Taylor Law, public employees are fined for every day they strike and the union leadership risks arrest.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

TWU was fined $1 million for every day they were on strike, the union president was put in jail, and union could no longer collect dues out of paychecks. \u201cYou can\u2019t substitute what\u2019s desirable for what\u2019s possible,\u201d said DiSalvo. \u201cWe have to figure out how we can get away with breaking the Taylor Law.\u201d Although TWU was charged considerable fines, the union did win its contract.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The TWU fended off the efforts of the MTA which hurt retirees and employees who would have to spend 2% of their salary on healthcare. \u201cThey defeated those efforts and emerged with a better contract than they would have without striking,\u201d said Delegate Josh Freeman, distinguished professor at the Graduate Center and Queens College and expert in US labor history. \u201cOn the other hand, they paid a penalty both individual workers who went on strike and the union. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s some simple answer victory or defeat but in my view it did represent a gain.\u201d Freeman explained that it\u2019s difficult to compare the two unions because transit workers would have a bigger impact than college professors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The victories of teachers around the country still can\u2019t be ignored. Last month, Chicago teachers were on strike for eleven days and won over <\/span>$500 million<\/span><\/a> from the city which said that, <\/span>\u201cthere is simply no more money.\u201d<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re in a unique political moment with teachers strikes happening across the country with presidential candidates falling all over themselves to be most progressive,\u201d said Tom Watters, an adjunct professor in English at Brooklyn College and $7k or Strike activist. \u201cI don\u2019t think you piss this moment away.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

$7k or Strike activists campaigned on a \u201cVote No\u201d platform because the $7k demand wasn\u2019t met. Their strategy is to begin mobilizing for a strike once leadership has to restart negotiations, but a contract has never been voted down by the whole union. It\u2019s unlikely that this contract will be any different according to Professor Freeman, but there are some who don\u2019t see a decision for a strike hinge upon a \u201cno\u201d vote.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Albany\u2019s Influence<\/b><\/p>\n

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Governor Andrew Cuomo<\/figcaption> Photo by azipaybarah via Creative Commons<\/span><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe biggest issue for me is whether this union understands this contract as a stepping stone to broaden the fight both for adjuncts to get more money but also to place CUNY at the center of an anti-austerity political moment,\u201d said Rosa Squillicote, adjunct assistant in Political Science at Hunter College. Some see this contract as a good place to start building a movement for demands greater than just pay raises for adjuncts. \u201cUltimately, targeting Cuomo and understanding him as the true enemy of CUNY is of essential importance,\u201d said Squillicote.<\/span><\/p>\n

The PSC is a member of the CUNY Rising Alliance, a coalition of faculty, staff, and student groups who advocate for a free and fully funded CUNY. The Alliance has been a feature of student rights organizing in New York since 2015 with much of their strategy built around lobbying public officials and supporting campaigns for progressive candidates. To some extent this strategy has fallen flat because the state congress the Alliance is trying to influence doesn\u2019t have the power to override a veto from Governor Cuomo. At a recent Senate hearing CUNY Rising Alliance put together a panel to illuminate the flaws in the CUNY system and advocate for the necessary funding. \u201cThere\u2019s an Assembly, there\u2019s a Senate and then there\u2019s an 800-pound gorilla in the room,\u201d said State Senator Robert Jackson referring to Governor Cuomo at recent Senate hearing on higher education.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the past four years, Governor Cuomo has vetoed the Maintenance of Effort Bill, a key piece of legislation which would compel the state to support the CUNY and SUNY budget with the rise of inflation. Governor Cuomo rolled out the Excelsior Scholarship two years ago which was generally touted as \u201cTuition-free College.\u201d Of the 940,000 eligible students that were estimated to be enrolled as Excelsior scholars, only <\/span>24,000 students<\/span><\/a> were granted the scholarship. The Governor\u2019s \u201cRational\u201d tuition plan scheduled $200 tuition hikes which started in 2011 and ending in 2020. The Tuition Assistance Program, the New York State financial aid program, hasn\u2019t been reformed to support the tuition increases which means students that were once covered by financial aid have had to start paying tuition. In a recent <\/span>CUNY survey<\/span><\/a>, 48% of participants were food insecure in the past 30 days and 55% were housing insecure in the previous year. During the Governor\u2019s tenure, getting a public college education has been more burdensome for at-risk populations.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Unique Contract<\/b><\/p>\n

When the PSC leadership goes to the bargaining table, they\u2019re bargaining with agents of Cuomo and De Blasio. \u201cThey want to give us nothing and we are asking for a 100% increase and $5,500 is where we landed,\u201d said PSC Secretary Majumdar. This contract was in some ways a breakthrough because the bargaining team secured extra funding to support the pay-raises. Many union members were concerned that the bargaining team secured pay-raises without a budget increase. Such a contract would have meant reallocations from other positions and even firings, but Majumdar assured the members, \u201cthere were no carve-outs.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The fact that the bargaining team secured extra funding is outside the norm of routine bargaining, but this pay raise by 2022 still doesn\u2019t change the situation for many adjuncts. \u201cThe contract the way it is means adjuncts like myself will be struggling to get by, struggling to make rent struggling to stay in this profession,\u201d said David Klassen, adjunct professor at BMCC. \u201cI\u2019m excited to be in the classroom but it sucks to not have ever bought a car, never think about buying a home, all this stuff we want to plan for our futures. We want a living wage.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Union members can vote on the proposed contract now. Some professors worry the PSC didn’t mobilize enough to win the ambitious demand of $7k. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":2159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[227,14,136],"class_list":["post-2158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-7-or-strike","tag-hunter-college","tag-psc-cuny"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2158"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2164,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2158\/revisions\/2164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}