Dear UFCT Voting Member: FYI… The UFCT will be holding three MOU review meetings: (1) Friday, 7/6th, 12-2PM, (2) Monday, 7/9th, 12-2PM, and (3) Wednesday, 7/11th, 12-2PM. All three meetings will be held in the “MMB” room on the lower level of the Brooklyn campus Library. Enter the Library, and take the elevator down to “LL” (note: the second L appears as an “I” as its horizontal is worn!) I have again attached to this email, the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).* Please revi

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING Pratt Institute and the United Federation of College Teachers, Local 1460 hereby agree to extend the existing collective bargaining agreement in full force and effect until and including August 31, 2015 with the changes set forth below. 1. General Wage Increases Full-time faculty members employed during the applicable academic year shall receive the following increases in salary: Effective September 1, 2011 – 3% Effective September 1, 2012 -3.25%

Watch for the appearance of the “New” New Voice, the faculty union newsletter (special 12-page edition) on April 30, just in time for May Day. More May Day events: Occupy May Day Solidarity Lunch on May 1, 2012 from 12 noon – 2 pm Local 153 OPEIU (Academic and Administrative Support Staff) is inviting faculty, staff and students to join us in Solidarity with the “Day Without the 99%” Wear Red (for May Day) and or Black (for OWS) Brown Bag Your Lunch (OWS is calling for

“The Face of the Outside: Gilles Deleuze and the Philosophy of the Other” A presentation by Gregory Flaxman Thursday, April 12, 5:30 Alumni Reading Room Pratt Library, 3rd Floor Gregory Flaxman is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature, and Adjunct Professor of Communications, at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His book, Gilles Deleuze and the Fabulation of Philosophy, Volume 1 (University of Minnesota Press, 2012), explores the centrality

For the first time, in 2010 student loan debt exceeded 100 billion dollars. Student loan debt now exceeds credit card debt. Students are taking on massive debt, and then are unable to procure well-paying jobs to pay it off. Economists predict that this burden will be a drag on consumer spending and the economy for years (let alone what it suggests about the lives of the students and parents who have taken on the debt), while students organize to demand loan forgiveness. Her

It’s been a couple of years, but the Pratt Faculty Union newsletter, “The New Voice” is about to get renewed. We’d like to invite you to contribute! For the Spring 2012 issue, we’ve chosen the theme of “Occupy Hall Street.” We’re seeking contributions from both union members and students that consider: who are we, the 99%, at Pratt Institute? What are the experiences and activities of this “we,” an amazingly diverse set of educators, artists, students, workers, and activi

Here’s an amazing 1940 photo of Woody Guthrie entertaining New Yorkers with a rendition of “This Land is Your Land.”

A revealing story about the fate of most of the money derived from a nearly 10% tuition hike at the University of Colorado: most goes to salaries of top administrators. About 50% of faculty received a slight raise after salaries had been frozen for three years, and they also lose most of their tuition benefit for family members since this is a “down economy.” At U. of C., it’s apparently only a “down economy” if you’re a faculty member, not a top administrator. Here’s the st

Dear Colleagues, I recently attended, with UFCT local 1460 Secretary Holly Wilson, a Summit on the role of contingent labor in the academy. The Summit was titled, “Reclaiming Academic Democracy: Facing the Consequences of Contingent Employment in Higher Education,” and was convened by a new organization called “New Faculty Majority,” whose goal is to educate about and advocate for equity for contingent professors nationally. They work with existing unions, but are something

Dear Union Members: I am pleased to announce that on Friday, December 9th, from 5:15-7:30, at Pratt Institute (location TBA), the UFCT Local 1460 will be hosting a lecture/presentation: “The State of Academic Unionism.” Our esteemed guests will be both Stanley Aronowitz of the CUNY Graduate Center, and Michael Pelias of LIU. Please RSVP ASAP (kyecarbone@gmail.com) as seating will be limited. Moreover, students, friends, and guests are allowed, but we will need to know just h

Here is an excellent report on the situation at UC Davis, and in the California public university system in general, in the wake of pepper spraying of students and use of police brutality on campus. It includes an interview with untenured professor Nathan Brown who called for the Chancellor’s resignation, and has since garnered support from around the world. A brilliant example of faculty and students standing in solidarity against tuition hikes and the repression of free s

Please join the Pratt Faculty Union (UFCT 1460) for a special presentation: ‘Hydraulic Fracturing’ [the new Halliburton technique used to drill for natural gas]Learn how proposed “fracking” regulations will NOT protect New York City! On Thursday, Oct. 13, from 6:30-8:30 in the Alumni Reading Room, three expert panelists will discuss proposals for New York State, the Delaware River Basin, and Lower Manhattan. Since 2005, when ‘fracking’ was exempted from the Safe Drinking Wa

A call from a fellow Pratt Faculty Union member to join the historic Occupy Wall Street movement: Sisters & Brothers: I’m on sabbatical this semester so I’ve spent a lot of time on Wall Street. I’ve seen some of you at Liberty Plaza, mostly sisters, two of whom are officials of our glorious union. I would encourage each of you to visit the Occupation at your convenience, what has been evolving there is truly incredible. I’m curious as to what Pratt students think, I’ve seen

Please join the Pratt Faculty Union (UFCT 1460) for a special presentation: ‘Hydraulic Fracturing’ [the new Halliburton technique used to drill for natural gas] Learn how proposed “fracking” regulations will NOT protect New York City! On Thursday, Oct. 13, from 6:30-8:30 in the Alumni Reading Room, three expert panelists will discuss proposals for New York State, the Delaware River Basin, and Lower Manhattan. Since 2005, when ‘fracking’ was exempted from the Safe Drinking W

Christian Parenti on Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence Special Event sponsored by the Pratt Faculty Union (UFCT 1460) Monday, September 26, 2011 6:30 Alumni Reading Room, 3rd Floor, Pratt Library Please join the Pratt Faculty Union (UFCT 1460) for a special presentation by Christian Parenti, investigative journalist, contributing editor at The Nation, Puffin Foundation Writing Scholar at The Nation Institute, and visiting scholar at the Brookl

Dear UFCT Member: As you’ve probably heard, our fellow Brooklyn faculty colleagues at LIU are on strike. Calling a strike is never a cavalier move, or is it a stunt; but only called for when management chooses to be completely intractable with respect to collective bargaining. The LIU faculty union had been negotiating for a new contract in good faith w/LIU’s management since late spring and throughout the summer. They have come to an impasse as LIU’s management is demanding

Christian Parenti on Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence Special Event sponsored by the Pratt Faculty Union (UFCT 1460) Monday, September 26, 2011 6:30 Location TBA Please join the Pratt Faculty Union (UFCT 1460) for a special presentation by Christian Parenti, investigative journalist, contributing editor at The Nation, Puffin Foundation Writing Scholar at The Nation Institute, and visiting scholar at the Brooklyn College Sociology Department.

Dear UFCT Dues Paying Member: As a reminder, a final General Membership Meeting and ‘send-off’ (for negotiations), is scheduled for this: Tuesday, 4/12th, from 12:30-2PM, in the Alumni Reading Room, 3rd floor, Library (sorry, no food is allowed in the ARR.) The UFCT’s issue proposals for our forthcoming spring-summer contract negotiations w/the Pratt Administration are attached for your perusal. [Please email Kye at kyecarbone@gmail.com if you need a copy. –Suzanne] In

Monday, April 4: Union Solidarity at Pratt ————————- WORKERS’ RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS! National Day of Union Solidarity on the Pratt Campus Please Join Us For A Lunchtime Roundtable Discussion Monday, April 4, 12:30-2pm, in the Alumni Reading Room, 3rd floor of the Library. All members of the Pratt community are welcome. On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while in Memphis supporting the collective bargaining rights of sanitation workers. Since Fe

A group of union members has initiated a much-needed awareness campaign to draw attention to the following: 75-80% of Pratt faculty are currently deemed ineligible for any form of health insurance benefits through the Institute Of Pratt’s yearly operating budget of 170 million, less than 20% is spent on faculty (that’s including all part-time and full-time faculty benefits). The Pratt administration has agreed to provide healthcare benefits for part-timers in the past 2 contr