Inside the Current Issue

Reports from the Front: The Adjuncting Experience

In this special section... The Tensions of Teaching Marriah Star Critical Adjuncting Kimora Reflections of an Adjunct Teacher Daphna El-Roy On Love, Hate and Adjuncting Dan Skinner Graduate Students: Sign your Union Cards! Andrea Morrell Against Tuition Remission, Against PSC Adjunct Unionization Spencer Sunshine The Value of Student Evaluations Jonathan R. Wynn Experts Ask: Do We Need Adjunct Pedagogy? Mark Wilson The New Proletarian Academy James Hoff Teaching Shakespeare with an Eastern European Accent Szidonia Haragos

Graduate Students: Sign Your Union Cards

Andrea Morrell

According to the PSC, fewer of 30% of the graduate student workers who are eligible to become members of the union have signed their union cards. This is understandable, considering that most graduate students are left "out of the loop" on the campuses where they work and our jobs change semester to semester. However, signing a union card is an essential part of being a union employee. This article will give you an idea about union representation for grad student workers.

GC STUDENTS:
Are you a member of the PSC?

The PSC is the union of CUNY faculty and staff. You are a member if you are:

• Adjunct Faculty at a CUNY school
• A Graduate Teaching Fellow
• A Graduate Research Assistant
• A Writing Fellow
• A Tech Fellow

You are covered by the PSC's collective bargaining agreement, BUT you must sign a membership card to be a member. Cards are available in Room 5398. You should sign a yellow card if you are an adjunct, and a green card if you are a GTF or Writing/Tech fellow. This gives you the right to vote on the contract (after 4 months of membership) and the leadership of the union. The full time faculty, administrative staff, adjuncts and grad student workers at CUNY are all members of the PSC, and pay "agency fees" to the union - but you can only vote is you sign a card.

PSC members and supporters flyer outside the GC to increase awareness of adjunct unionization during Campus Equity Week. Photo credit Spencer Sunshine

UNIONS 101

A bargaining unit is the group of people covered by a contract. A contract, or collective bargaining agreement, including possible wage and benefit increases, is negotiated between the employer and representatives from the union - this contract serves as an agreement about working conditions and compensation for ALL of the people who work in the jobs it covers; that is, every faculty member and every part-time employees work is covered by the contract. A contract is negotiated to cover a few years at a time. In New York, if your contract expires, your work is covered by the previous contract. We have been working without a new contract for over three years at CUNY! That means - no raises and the money for adjunct health insurance, which is paid for by the Welfare Fund, has been put in serious jeopardy. The contract must be voted on by the union members before it is approved. You must be a member for four months to vote on a contract.

Being a member of a union means that you are not alone. For example, if you are fired, if you are not paid on time, if management is requiring you to work more than is outlined in the contract, you can file a grievance and try to get the problem fixed. Unlike many universities across the country, at CUNY, all of the full-time and part-time faculty and members of the staff (such as financial aid workers) including department chairs are members of the same union.

A new group of graduate students organizing for graduate student interests is forming. We'd love to see representatives from every department. Our activities have and will include: tabling, learning about grievances, and walking the picket in solidarity with the NYU students on strike. The next meeting of the Adjunct Project will on Tuesday, Dec. 13 in room 5409.

If you have questions about the union and what it means for you, contact me, Andrea Morrell, the Adjunct Project Coordinator for the DSC at amorrell@gc.cuny.edu or andreamorrell@yahoo.com. More information is available on www.psc-cuny.edu. Additionally, if you have a question about your contract, there are grievance counselors available 9 to 5 at the union who can answer your questions at 212-354-1252. The union pays members to serve as part-time organizers at the CUNY campuses. They will be good resources for graduate students--they are listed at http://www.psc-cuny.org/ PTorganizers.htm.

Andrea Morrell is a PhD student in the Anthropology department and is coordinator of the Adjunct Project.