CUNY Contract Settlement

Dear UFCT Members: The following message was sent to me from Tony Wildman who is the head of the Higher Education division of New York United Teachers (NYSUT) for both the public and private sectors. As many of you are aware, CUNY has historically, had the strongest and "best" contracts. The salary schedules and benefits found in CUNY contracts have been for decades, used as models by other faculty bargaining units nationwide. [CUNY's Professional Staff Congress (PSC) is comprised of some 18,000 employees.] These are not friendly times for unions. The recent CUNY "settlement" was hard fought; negotiations having been so deadlocked that there was talk of striking. As a civilian work force and as public employees, CUNY faculty are governed by the pernicious Taylor Law, which effectively grants to bargaining units an agency fee in exchange for forfeiting a right to strike. [Note the head of the transit workers going to jail for "breaking the [Taylor] law."] For the "I'm an academic not a worker," limousine liberal, tenure applying Pratt faculty employee who fails to see that without their own union (the UFCT) they would be fodder for the academic corporatist machine (which is modern day academia), you need to get over yourself and get out more. It's time for a reality check comrades. -Kye Good Afternoon, Congratulations: Congratulations to the Professional Staff Congress for achieving a tentative contract settlement with the University/City/State after a long and tough struggle. You can read the details on their website (www.psc-cuny.org). Have a great weekend. Tony Tony Wildman