March Newsletter
In this edition:
- taking the Brooklyn Bridge
- building a social justice union
- outsourcing the Writing Center
- no bosses, no borders
- DSA for ND4C
- United for Change in the UFT
-Labor Notes conference and book club
Brooklyn Bridge Budget March: Strike! Strike! Strike!
Rank and File Action members joined Hostos Action Committee, Queens College’’s Delany Hall contingent, and comrades from SUNY and Rutgers to march across the Brooklyn Bridge on March 6. PSC-CUNY and the United University Professions - the SUNY union - organized the march as part of the push for NewDeal4CUNY. We marched behind a beautiful hot pink banner proclaiming our fight for a free anti-racist CUNY and SUNY. Led by the chant maestro, Conor Tomas Reed, our part of the march called for defunding police, racial justice at Queens College, and striking as a viable tacting for achieving #ND4C. As shown in this video, the rank-and-file led the way! The energy was infectious, causing people looking down from the pedestrian walkway of the bridge to cheer and wave. Especially after long isolation of the pandemic, actions that bring people together are an important for building energy, creating a collective experience, and strengthening connections. They are best as part of an escalating plan of action towards a clear goal. So we are left to ask: if NewDeal4CUNY does not pass, how will the PSC escalate action? What is more disruptive than a mass march across Brooklyn Bridge?
Discussions of the PSC’s Social Justice Efforts
The Resolution in Solidarity with the Palestinian People, passed at the June Delegate Assembly of the PSC, called for “discussions at the chapter level of the content of this resolution and [consideration of] PSC support of the 2005 call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS).” During the fall semester, several chapters (Retirees, CSI, Brooklyn) held such discussions.
On March 11, the John Jay and Baruch chapters held a joint chapter discussion entitled “Who We Are, What We Stand For: A Discussion of the PSC’s Social Justice Efforts.” Some 30 members joined the virtual discussion. The chapters wanted to address the question of “social justice” following protests from some members about the relevance of standing up for justice in Palestine to the core commitments of the PSC. The chapters invited four speakers. Prof. Lawrence Johnson (Brooklyn) spoke as co-chair of the PSC’s Anti-Racism Committee; Prof. Nancy Romer (Brooklyn, emerita) represented the PSC’s Environmental Justice Committee; Prof. Jonathan Buchsbaum (Queens, emeritus) for the International Committee; Prof. James Davis, PSC President. As many readers will remember, three committees drafted the original resolution submitted to the PSC Executive Council, which voted down the resolution and proposed a substitute resolution. After several amendments proposed and voted on at the DA, the DA voted overwhelmingly in favor of the resolution (https://www.psc-cuny.org/sites/default/files/Final_Resolution_in_Support_of_the_Palestinian_People.pdf).
In 2007 the PSC passed a resolution opposing an academic boycott of Israel. The 2021 resolution in solidarity with the Palestinian people reflects a change in views over justice in Palestine, at least among the delegates, since the 2007 resolution. As opinions evolve over a difficult issue for many members, and as our own faculty continue to develop and disseminate new knowledge about the international nexus of racism, settler colonialism and indigenous dispossession, speakers such as Buchsbaum expressed the hope that growing numbers of voices within the PSC will recognize the justness of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, and the PSC can take the progressive lead as an exemplar for other unions nationally, and internationally.
After the presentations by the invited speakers, chapter members offered criticism and support for the resolution. The entire discussion proceeded in a respectful and courteous manner. To the best of our knowledge, this event was the fourth chapter discussion organized around the resolution (following events last semester at Retirees, Staten Island and Brooklyn chapters). Hunter College will be the next chapter to hold such an event. We at RAFA encourage more chapters to take on the mandate of the resolution and host such discussions!
Fighting for Our Next Contract!
by Stuart Chen-Hayes (Professor and Chair, CLLSE Department, Lehman College)
Over my 24 years at Lehman I’ve become increasingly radicalized by not seeing our union leaders push for enough resources for the most vulnerable—students, staff, and faculty in the least-well resourced status/titles. It’s time to change that. Over time I’ve come to realize that union democracy comes from the bottom up. We have to be the ones to push for equity. And two of the strongest tools to do that are open bargaining, which allows all of us to watch and contribute as the bargaining process moves along (no more backroom deals) and bargaining for the common good, which allows us to address community and student issues—not just staff and faculty issues. My heroes at Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) have really pioneered how to do this nationwide and we have much to thank them for reviving the strike movement in public education. Oh and last, we need to bargain away the Taylor Law. We can strike regardless but that should be a priority!
Together in the next contract, let’s fight for:
Raises in all titles with the largest % ones coming in the lowest paid titles
7K for adjuncts
Open bargaining
7K annual benefit for mental health--currently $500
Dental benefits increase
Contractual guarantees for adjuncts
Anti-racist, anti-oppression training for all faculty and staff and administrators
Bargaining for the common good:
-Free Transit in NYC
-Rent Control
-Guaranteed Income
-Counselors Not Cops
-No New Jails
-Close Rikers
-Eliminate Cash Bail
Outsourcing the Writing Center
This week we learned that at least two CUNY colleges are outsourcing some of their writing center services to the private contractor Tutor.com. This means funneling public dollars into the hands of a private company, which is one aspect of the privatization of education, but it's much worse than just that. As of 2015, the starting wage for English tutors at Tutor.com was $10 an hour, significantly lower than New York City's minimum wage. By outsourcing writing center appointments, CUNY is able to legally pay workers much less than if CUNY hired local tutors to work in the writing center. An internet search suggests that peer tutors (fellow CUNY undergraduates) are paid $15.61 an hour --- still not very much --- and "professional" tutors (typically graduate students or those who already have advanced degrees) are hired as non-teaching adjuncts, with a minimum starting rate of $46.49. Outsourcing the writing center therefore also undermines the PSC by eliminating what would have otherwise been union jobs. It's especially ironic for CUNY to be doing this because Tutor.com is an online product, and CUNY's messaging over the past several months has emphasized the pedagogical value of in-person instruction and other activities. Clearly, this only matters when it saves the university money.
No Bosses, No Borders event; PSC dues going to migrant criminalization
On March 4, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies hosted a panel on anti-capitalism and migrant justice organizing. The panelists discussed the failures of much of the immigrant rights and migrant justice organizing to seriously engage with anti-capitalist analysis, the corners of the movement where connections are being made, and vision for the future. The panel reminded us that union members who want to contribute to migrant justice work should fight for disaffiliation of law enforcement unions from their union federations. Local police, corrections - not to mention border patrol and ICE - are essential in criminalization, detention, and deportation of immigrants in the US. PSC members pay dues to the AFL-CIO, which includes the police unions. In June 2020, the PSC Delegate Assembly passed a resolution that called for defunding the NYPD. It included a call on the AFL-CIO to end its affiliation with the International Union of Police Associations, resolving that our representatives to the AFL-CIO will initiate the proper procedures for such a discussion in the AFL-CIO as soon as possible. A recent question from a delegate on the status of implementing this resolution went unanswered. The recording for the No Bosses, No Borders event is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irLZW3HJApc&t=4s
DSA for New Deal 4 CUNY by Alex Pellitteri
Photo credit here
In NYC-DSA’s 2021 City-wide convention, 98% of delegates voted to make the New Deal for CUNY campaign a chapter priority. Since then, both DSA and YDSA have been organizing at full speed for a ND4C. The DSA ND4C campaign has mobilized hundreds of people to attend PSC-CUNY rallies and other actions. We have spoken to thousands of students both through weekly tabling at our Hunter canvas and our Week of Action which was held at dozens of CUNY campuses. Most recently, our organizing has shifted toward the New York State budget where we are pressuring elected officials to include funding for the ND4C. We have pressured elected officials on social media, promoted #CrumblingCUNY, held a Red 4 Ed day, and a town hall. This past Wednesday, nearly 2 dozen CUNY students went to Albany to ensure legislators include ND4C in the one-house budget.
As a result of this organizing, Y/DSA has joined a movement of several groups organizing for a free CUNY and are working in coalition with groups such as PSC, CRA and RAFA. Furthermore, the ND4C campaign has exponentially grown our Hunter YDSA chapters, and was the catalyst for the formation of chapters at Lehman, Baruch and Brooklyn College.
Over the next few weeks, we will continue organizing around the April 1st budget deadline to ensure we see more funding for CUNY. After the deadline, we will continue talking to students and professors about why CUNY should be free and prepare for the next budget cycle and mass action at CUNY. So if you see a friendly DSA for ND4C activist at your local campus, stop by and say hello!
United for Change caucus in the UFT by Ronnie Almonte
This Spring the largest labor local in the country, the United Federation of Teachers, is having elections. The UFT has been controlled by the Unity Caucus since its founding in 1960. This year, the various opposition caucuses (including the Movement of Rank and File Educators, of MORE) formed a single slate, United for Change (UFC), to run candidates against the Unity machine. UFC is composed of teachers, paraprofessionals, related service providers, retirees, and UFT-represented support staff, along with major caucuses and groups, who want to see a positive and meaningful change at the top of our union, in our contract, policy, and decision making, and in our school communities. We are committed to transforming our union from one that relies on making backroom deals with indifferent politicians, to one with an active membership empowered to confront the employer. We want to end the union’s era of concessionary bargaining, and put our union in a position to leverage its power democratically for reduced class sizes and case loads, protection against abusive admin, equitably pay, and more.
For more info and information about voting procedures, check out their website! Please spread the word amongst DOE/UFT comrades.
We’ll see you at the Labor Notes Conference this June!
This year’s Labor Notes Conference will be in Chicago from June 17th-19th and we hope to see you there! Register before May 1st for a $45 discount on the regular price: https://labornotes.org/2022
If you are unfamiliar with Labor Notes, it has been a vital resource for union organizers since its founding in 1979. They offer organizing training, books, and (most famously) a monthly magazine that covers the labor movement. RAFA members will be helping plan a panel at the event with our comrades from the Public Higher Education Workers Network–a group that brings together union members from across North America to strategize and support each other’s fights for more democratic and militant unions within higher education. The conference is a fantastic chance to learn from workers in unions from a variety of sectors, and to take lessons learned back to our own organizing spaces.
New PSC Member Book Club
A newly formed PSC Member Book Club will be tackling Democracy is Power at their first meeting.
On Democracy is Power:
Do you want to know how to run your local union more effectively or how to get more members involved? Democracy Is Power, by Mike Parker and Martha Gruelle, provide a blueprint for building a member-driven union. They demonstrate what member control really looks like, and why it is crucial to labor's future.
With a focus on union activity in the workplace, the authors describe democratic approaches to contracts, grievances, communications, and leaders’ relationship with members. They shine a revealing light on democratic union culture, yet also address the more obvious parts of democracy, like elections and bylaws.
The Book Club will meet on Saturday, May 14th, at 2pm, at an outdoor venue (TBD).
Democracy is Power is currently unavailable in physical copy (after the tragic damage to Labor Notes' home office after a flood), but RSVP here for a PDF copy. Please consider making a donation to Labor Notes if you will be attending, since we are not paying for each book.
RSVP here if you would like to attend (or even if you can’t but would like to be invited to future book clubs).