PSC Begins Voting On 37-Month Pact Upping Pay 10.15%
By DAVID SIMS
Voting on a new three-year contract for the Professional Staff Congress/City University of New York has begun after the PSC Delegate Assembly voted 92 to 13 to send the contract to the membership for ratification.

BARBARA BOWEN: Some gains and some ambivalence.

The contract if approved would be retroactive to Sept. 20, 2007 and run through Oct. 19, 2010, and provides compounded raises of 3.15 percent the first year, 4 percent the second year, and 3 percent the third year, along with additional increases on the top step of job titles.

The Selling of the Contract

Ballots are being sent out on July 29, and are due back no later than Sept. 2. Prior to their going out, the members of the union's bargaining committee hosted meetings at various campuses around the city, encouraging members to come and discuss the terms of the contract in detail. These meetings so far have been "well attended, with over 250 people showing up [at each event]," according to Dorothee Benz, the PSC communications director.

It was learned that additional salary increases would be applied to certain employees, with a 1.04-percent increase to all full-time employees in titles with salary ranges and adjunct employees in the Law School, a 3.1-percent increase to the top step of all annual titles with salary steps, and a 5.75-percent increase to the top step of all adjunct titles with salary step schedules.

Another key part of the contract would establish a fund to pay for a parental leave benefit for up to eight weeks, which both mothers and fathers could take advantage of as long as they were full-time instructional staff. However, the specifics of this benefit remain unclear and are referred to as "the subject of continuing negotiations with CUNY and the State" in the Clarion, the PSC newspaper.

Other provisions include the creation of 100 new Lecturer jobs for experienced CUNY Adjuncts, and the establishment of a new full-time faculty title, Clinical Professor.

Bowen: 'We Sent a Message'

In a letter to members, PSC President Barbara Bowen said the contract "delivers gains in almost every area prioritized by the union for this round of bargaining." She argued that the union had "sent a message that we would not sign a contract that re-structured CUNY as an increasingly corporate university," while bemoaning that the contract had not done enough to bolster the job security of adjuncts.

Ms. Bowen was full of fighting words on that topic, stating that "there are adjuncts at CUNY who have taught faithfully for 15 or 20 years, and who are then dismissed without warning or explanation. No courses to teach means no income and no health insurance. She then blasted CUNY, which she said "refused to change this grossly unfair system." Ms. Bowen concluded her letter by calling on the organization to "enlist the entire union — not just a small group of activists — in the fight to change this unjust system."