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

Dear UFCT Member: The Union has thus far, conducted no less than fourteen discussion/preparation meetings with an eye on our spring-summer negotiations w/the Pratt Administration. There are just two such sessions remaining, both this coming week: (1) Monday, 3/28th from 5:00 to 6:30, and (2) Wednesday, 3/30th from 5:00 to 6:30 (both meetings will be held in the UFCT conference room: 123 North Hall). Originally, Wednesday’s meeting was to be held during the 12:30 to 2PM

Here are the details. #WisconsinNYCRally #WisconsinRallyFebruary22

Dear UFCT Member: The current 2007-2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is due to expire on August 31, 2011. It is imperative that we build on the accomplishments of the last two Contracts (2003-2007 & 2007-2011)… Any and all dues paying union members (agency fee payers are strictly prohibited from participating in collective bargaining) are free to attend and participate in all discussion meetings leading up to negotiations. Schedule (I have alternated weekly TUES-TH

UPDATE, February 17: Massive Protest of Wisconsin Workers, Government Grinds to a Halt What used to be the land of Russ Feingold is now the home of the most virulent anti-union governor in the US in decades. Speaking of Feingold, he just founded a new organization to fight corporate control of government. #wisconsin

February 1, 2011 UPDATE: It has been announced on Democracy Now that Brooklyn College has reversed its decision and rehired the professor. Good sense and academic freedom prevails! An adjunct professor at Brooklyn College was fired for his “pro-Palestinian” views. Academic Freedom watchdog group FIRE protests the president on his behalf. Here’s the link to the Brooklyn College case. The Pratt collective bargaining agreement between the administration and faculty contains a