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April PSC Contract Update

Mariya Gluzman

Last month, CUNY management withdrew its 1.5 percent salary increase offer (with an extra 1 percent funded by productivity savings) and made an improved offer to the PSC. Though the new offer of 6.75 percent over four years is a step in the right direction, the union says it still falls short.

In March, the PSC made a counterproposal, seeking further improvements – both economic and otherwise. The breakdown of the economic demand is as follows:

Year 1: 1.25 percent across-the-board increase to salary rates applied annually to the
PSC/CUNY Welfare Fund, effective November 1, 2002.

Year 2: 3.5 percent across-the-board increase to salary rates effective November 1, 2003.

Year 3: 3.75 percent, compounded, across-the-board increase to salary rates effective
November 1, 2004.

Year 4: 3 percent, compounded, across-the-board increase, effective November 1, 2003.

The union is also calling for a university-wide professional/of?ce hour per each 3-hour course taught for all teaching adjuncts, sick leave for teaching and non-teaching adjuncts, and a seniority/hiring preference system for part-time instructional staff.
In a statement on April 15, Vice Chancellor Malone claimed that the union’s counterproposal is unrealistic, stating that it does not follow any of the established economic patterns.

She wrote, “For more than 30 years, pattern bargaining has shaped negotiations in the New York State public sector. Historically, the economic pattern established at the University in bargaining with its unions has re?ected the patterns that both the City and State established in their respective rounds of bargaining…. In the current round of bargaining, the University has offered a package that represents a hybrid of the State and City economic patterns, although it favors the State pattern in terms of duration and across-the-board salary improvements. After two years of bargaining, the union, which must understand these realities, has proposed an economic package that bears no resemblance to either the State or City package and would cost approximately twice as much as the University's offer.”

Malone also criticized union members for engaging in activist actions – including calling and writing the Chancellor and members of the Board of Trustees (BOT) and picketing of?ces – which she described as serving “little purpose other than to distract from and delay the collective bargaining process.”

The PSC, however, is still planning to hold a massive rally outside the of?ces of Benno Schmidt, BOT Chairperson, on April 19. While management contends that the new offer was not made as a response to “the union's distraction tactics,” the union strongly believes that by uniting and making their voices heard union members can show their commitment to a fair contract and put pressure on CUNY management to demonstrate the same commitment.

Mariya Gluzman works for the Adjunct Project.