Contract Key Issue: PSC Leader Faces Election Challenge

Contract Key Issue
PSC Leader Faces Election Challenge

By HOWARD MEGDAL

A member of the Professional Staff Congress who said of President Barbara Bowen's leadership, "We could hardly do worse," is challenging her for the PSC presidency in next month's union elections.

BARBARA BOWEN: Foe faults leadership. Ms. Bowen emphasized her own accomplishments during her six years in office with the New Caucus slate and charged that her opponent's slate, the CUNY Alliance, "had no record of winning anything" for the PSC membership, which is made up of City University of New York employees.

Bowen: Many Victories

"The current leadership won the best contract in a decade," Ms. Bowen said in a March 22 phone interview, referring to a previous wage deal. "We've negotiated and won victories on campuses, we've had legislative victories, and most importantly, we've stopped the 15-year decline in state and city funding of CUNY resources. And we did it because we organized."

For opponent Rina Yarmish, a Professor of Mathematics at Kingsborough Community College, the PSC's working under an expired contract since Nov. 1, 2002 is the overriding issue.

'Essentially Bankrupt'

"It's almost 3-1/2 years, and we have no contract," Ms. Yarmish said in a March 21 phone interview. "The offer that's on the table is horrible."

The challenger also criticized PSC leadership for the depletion of the union's welfare fund, which is largely a consequence of the delay in reaching a new wage agreement.

"It went from $15 million, to essentially bankrupt," Mr. Yarmish asserted.

While Ms. Bowen acknowledged the declining assets of the PSC welfare fund, she asserted that her leadership team had taken steps to reduce costs by as much as $7 million per year.

'Stopped the Bleeding'

"The welfare fund we inherited had a dwindling reserve," Ms. Bowen said. "It would have continued to dwindle without our changes." Ms. Bowen also took issue with what she called an abrupt enthusiasm for union work from her opponent.

"The people on that slate have been nowhere in sight in six years," Ms. Bowen said of Ms. Yarmish's team. "They have been absent. They have not come with hundreds of members who have been part of our efforts. It does not suggest they'd be strong advocates."

Ms. Yarmish strongly disputed that claim. "I have served as the PSC Chapter chair at Kingsborough," she said. "I am the chair of a very large academic department, and have served for nine years. I have been a member of the welfare fund [board] for close to a decade, and I had served as [fund] treasurer - so I understand its politics, its economics."

Misstates UUP Terms

She added that she would restore the welfare fund to "pre-New Caucus Levels," while getting a contract from CUNY equal to the one signed by the United University Professions with the state.

"UUP got over 15 percent [raise] plus an $800 cash payment," Ms. Yarmish said. "What's on the table for us hovers in the vicinity of 10 percent."

That claim, however, was punctured by a UUP spokeswoman who said that its deal, signed in April 2004, was for 8.25 percent in raises, plus an $800 lump sum at the start of the contract, July 2, 2003, and an $800 payment that will be rolled into base salary at the contract's conclusion, July 1, 2007.

"She doesn't understand the UUP contract," Ms. Bowen said of Ms. Yarmish. "What's on the table for us is the exact same raises as UUP."

The PSC leader went on to criticize the CUNY Alliance slate for having "no understanding of the political realities for a public-employee union."

PSC members in good standing for at least four months will be eligible to vote in the election. The American Arbitration Association will mail ballots to eligible voters on April 3. Completed ballots must be received by 5 p.m. April 24, and will be counted the following day.