October 2022 Dispatch: Halloween edition
In this issue:
TONIGHT! Attend the 10/26 PSC Mass Meeting on Winning a Just Contract!
Hiring From Within? A Clarion Retraction
10/6 CUNY For Abortion Rights Walkout
The Committee for Adjuncts and Part-Timers Returns
Cross-union Organizing Committee (CROC) Halloween Rally, 10/27
Open Bargaining Forum Report
Wonder what the Principal Officers are saying about Open Bargaining?
CUNY Adopts the IHRA Definition of Anti-Semitism
RAFA-MAC Teach-in on Breaking Unjust Laws
Labor Notes NYC Troublemakers School Coming Soon!
PSC Team at the Organizing for Power Trainings
Class Struggle Unionism Reading Group
TONIGHT! Attend the 10/26 PSC Mass Meeting on Winning a Just Contract!
A mass, online meeting is scheduled to take place tonight, Wednesday, 10/26 from 6:30 - 8:30 to “show our strength, to hear from the bargaining team and ask questions, and to learn about the campaign for a just contract.”
We urge RAFA members and everyone else to attend the meeting to advocate that the Negotiations Committee open the bargaining process and that the Demand Develop Committee put forth a bold vision for CUNY in the form of a maximalist list of demands.
Register for the event here: 10/26 Registration
Hiring From Within? A Clarion Retraction
By Olivia Wood, Lecturer, CCNY
As a CUNY PhD student and adjunct hired into one of CUNY’s new full time lecturer lines, Clarion asked me to write a short piece for the October issue on how my new job will impact my life and what I think it means for the union as part of the Hire From Within campaign. Prior to publication, Clarion deleted two key components of my statement that were critical of the campaign, which changed the meaning of my piece significantly. Below is my statement as I originally wrote it. Additionally, while I have worked as a graduate assistant and adjunct within the PSC for the last four years, I was not already working at CCNY specifically. For that reason, many people in my department view me as an outside hire (a view I find very understandable).
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After writing about why I was applying to these positions for a previous issue of Clarion, I was very fortunate to be offered a lecturer position at CCNY this year. My field, English composition, had many open lines across almost all of the senior colleges. I applied to eleven positions, all at CUNY schools. Most adjuncts, teaching in other fields, probably didn’t have as many opportunities to be considered.
Above all, the way this job most benefits me is in stability. This was going to be my last year with PhD funding, and I didn’t know what I would do for money or for health insurance after that, since my fellowship was close to half of my income. This job means my partner and I are able to begin seriously discussing when we want to start a family. A NYS pension means I have a retirement plan beyond “hope that capitalism is overthrown before 2065” (although I do still hope for that).
However, I don’t think this symbolizes very much for the union. I was fortunate — that’s all. Many of these lines are going to external hires. Someone I know found out that the hiring committee in her department was specifically looking for folks with research experience, postdoctoral fellowships, and publications, even though these lines are supposed to be for dedicated teachers. These hiring committees consist of our fellow union members. We failed to convince many of them that the importance of hiring from within outweighed other factors.
I have no idea what other outreach the union did on this matter other than the Clarion series, and I’m a very involved member. I think a better approach will be to negotiate for new lines dedicated explicitly to adjuncts, as we have done in the past, and create a system of conversion, where any adjunct who wants to be hired full time will automatically be converted into a full time lecturer once they meet the conditions. Adjuncts teaching as much as they can under the 9-6 rule are already teaching a full time teaching load, so I think in most cases, the course sections already exist for the workload of converted full time roles. The need is there. CUNY just doesn’t want to pay the salaries and benefits of lecturers, when adjuncts are so much cheaper.
10/6 CUNY For Abortion Rights Walkout
On October 6th, hundreds of CUNY students and workers joined together in walkouts and rallies for abortion rights, trans rights, and other forms of reproductive justice. Organizers estimate about 250 people joined the protest at Hunter College, 40 at Brooklyn College, and 150 at the Graduate Center.
These walkouts, organized by, CUNY For Abortion Rights, were part of a National Student Day of Action co-organized by the Graduate Student Action Network (GSAN) and Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), which included students from over 50 schools across more than 30 states. While the PSC as a whole has not taken up the walkouts, instead encouraging members to attend the event organized by the Women’s March on October 8, the Graduate Center chapter passed a resolution on September 30 endorsing the action and pledging support to any students or workers penalized for participation. Elected leaders from the PSC’s Graduate Center chapter (Zoe Hu and Giacomo Bianchino) both spoke at the rally.
The Committee for Adjuncts and Part-Timers Returns
After several months of inactivity, the Committee for Adjuncts and Part-timers (CAP) reconvened on 10/7 for its first meeting of the year to discuss the upcoming contract negotiations. Members of the Platform Committee gave a presentation on the Vision for Equity, an important and visionary set of demands that would provide a path toward equity between full-time and part-time workers.
The meeting also featured demand development breakout rooms to discuss what adjuncts and part-timers want out of the next contract. Of course, job security, higher pay, and more robust benefits are at the forefront of all CAP members’ minds. As well, the breakout rooms discussed how we can mobilize the power of the rank and file to push both the Negotiations Committee to adopt the Vision and fight CUNY on behalf of all adjuncts, part-timers, and graduate student workers. We understand that power comes from the organized rank and file, and we plan to use that power to push for open bargaining practices and the demands as laid out in the Vision for Equity.
We also want to thank Rosa Squillacote for her service as VP of Part-timers and congratulate on her new full time position.
If you support the Vision for Equity, please sign this support pledge: I Support the Vision for Equity
Cross-union Organizing Committee (CROC) Halloween Rally, 10/27
New York City Municipal retirees have fought for over a year to keep the City from switching our excellent traditional Medicare with supplement to a privatized Medicare Advantage Plan. We won a lawsuit protecting us, and now the City is doing an "end run" by trying to get the City Council to change the law--Admin. Code 12-126! This change will not only affect retirees but could diminish current city workers' health benefits as well.
We are sharing the announcement of the upcoming Halloween Horror Press Conference on Thursday 10/27 at 12:30PM (see below) in the CROC's fight back and educational efforts to preserve our health care benefits as well as important updates.
The Mayor and the key leaders of the Municipal Labor Council (MLC) are openly moving forward in their draconian efforts to balance the budget on the backs of all of us : retirees and current municipal employees. This past Friday, the City issued a document soliciting expressions of interest from vendors to provide health benefits for current NYC employees.
We are gathering once again when the Council is in session to tell them— VOTE NO! You can find the contact information for your City Council representative here: https://council.nyc.gov/districts/
In the meantime, we are sharing a victory that is inspiring us in our fight. On 10/20 a judge in Delaware halted the state’s efforts to move all of its 30,000 retired employees off of their traditional Medicare – a similar victory to the one we had in NYC in March 2022 that is being appealed by mayor Eric Adams.
For more information or get involved with CROC please email: crocnyc22@gmail.com
Open Bargaining Forum Report
On October 12th, PSC Members from across CUNY attended the RAFA/Action Committee Forum on Open Bargaining, featuring a lively discussion on the need to demand open bargaining from CUNY and from PSC leadership, and how to go about winning this important step.
We discussed components of open bargaining, including access to bargaining meetings, timely and detailed reports to members, and the sharing of proposals from both sides. There are multiple reasons for unions to embrace open bargaining: it wins better contracts, it mobilizes the memberships and gets members to experience their union as a site of collective power rather than a service provider, and it is key to building an anti-racist union.
We went through common arguments union leaders make against open bargaining. Watch the video recording and contact RAFA or the Action Committee if you’d like to get involved in this struggle!
Wonder what the Principal Officers are saying about Open Bargaining?
One of the four Principal Officers visited a recent chapter meeting and fielded a question about whether the PSC will be implementing open bargaining in the upcoming contract struggle. RAFA members took notes. Here are some of the points the PO in question made, and our response:
“We have come up with a workable process that isn’t quite open bargaining but a form of open bargaining.” By this they mean that members will be invited into key sessions for particular viewpoints, a model that has been used by the PSC in the past. But these invitations have in the past come with a gag agreement which prevents members from reporting openly on the sessions afterwards. Since the bargaining team decides who gets to be there and how much they can disclose, this is not open bargaining.
“We have formed a Demand Development Committee that is pivoting to work with Campus Action Teams (CATs) on demands.” As far as we can tell, the Demand Development Committee is comprised solely of Executive Council members, and CAT teams are similarly limited in scope. At at least one major CUNY campus, the CAT hasn’t even met yet this year. There need to be clear paths for member involvement in formulating demands, rather than the “death by committee” approach.
“Open bargaining would be too unwieldy for a union of 30,000 members.” Yes, a bargaining session with thousands of members might be chaotic. But open bargaining is not a free-for-all and is premised on the notion that there is power in numbers. You can choose a maximum number of participants and have people sign up beforehand, rotating through different attendees for each session. The caucus structure means that members know to remain quiet during negotiations and debrief with the bargaining committee during breaks. There can be structure and limits to open bargaining.
“We would look weak if only five people showed up.” So, which is it? Are the POs worried about too many or too few people attending bargaining sessions? It is true that some unions practicing open bargaining have struggled to activate members as participants in the sessions. But this is all the more reason why we need to start building our member power now, and spread as much political education as possible. Members can help each other understand that they can have a meaningful role to play in their own contract negotiations, rather than believing their voices don’t matter or expecting others to fight on their behalf in a top-down structure. Who better to advocate for part-time CLTs than someone currently holding that role? This union is our union, not the leadership’s union, and open bargaining is a process that can begin today.
“We sometimes worry that the focus on open bargaining distracts from building power among the members.” (Yes, this is a direct quote). We at RAFA know that the whole point of open bargaining is building member power. If you are accustomed to showing up at pointless publicity events or filling out surveys whose results are never released, you’re not going to believe turning out to negotiations is worth your time. On the other hand, if we build a union culture that values and amplifies all voices and encourages active and horizontally balanced participation, open bargaining will become a natural outgrowth of the kind of vibrant union we’ve cultivated.
Open bargaining does not happen in a vacuum, curtailing other approaches to building power. On the contrary, it is an umbrella term that encompasses many other actions and mobilizations as members see fit, while becoming increasingly activated and enraged by the betrayals and hypocrisy of CUNY executives. It is also not an all-or-nothing feature of negotiations, but rather a process (like strike readiness), a muscle we must flex and strengthen over time. Rather than shutting down dialogue by claiming that “the PSC already practices a form of open bargaining”--which we have heard asserted in various contexts-–the Principal Offers should practice openness to more transparency and new forms of member engagement as we approach the upcoming round of contract negotiations. After all, more members involved would ultimately make these leaders’ taxing jobs easier!
CUNY Adopts the IHRA Definition of Anti-Semitism
CUNY For Palestine at the October 14 Day of Rage event with Within Our Lifetime
As reported in the New York Post, the CUNY Chancellor has caved to pressure from right-wing politicians and announced that CUNY is adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. The Jewish Law Student Association at CUNY Law (JLSA) characterizes the IHRA definition as “conflating antisemitism with opposition to Israel’s settler-colonial ideology.”
They further point out that this definition means that “not only are Palestinian voices silenced, but Jewish students are painted as a monolith, and the long and deep history of Jewish antizionism and Jewish dissent is erased.” Read the full JLSA statement and join other CUNY students, staff, and faculty by adding your name in support.
CUNY For Palestine is holding a teach-in, “IHRA and the Co-optation of the Struggle Against Antisemitism: Intersectional Palestine Organizing at CUNY and Beyond on Wendesday, October 26, 1-2pm on zoom. To register: http://tiny.cc/C4POct26IHRA.
RAFA-MAC Teach-in on Breaking Unjust Laws
Rank and File Action is partnering up once again with our counterpart in the SUNY union, Member Action Coalition, for an event on the Taylor Law. Rather than rehash all the history and details of this law that penalizes strikes for public sector workers in New York, we will focus on organizing to fight and break the Taylor Law. Unjust laws are meant to be broken! The event will feature leaders of two unions that went on strike and broke their state laws - and won.
Save the date for an inspiring discussion with organizers from the Eastern Michigan University AAUP and Brookline Educators Union. 7pm, Thursday November 10th, more details to come
Labor Notes NYC Troublemakers School Coming Soon!
We at RAFA are huge fans of Labor Notes and their vision of rank-and-file led, militant unionism. We encourage any and all union members to attend this day-long Troublemakers School on November 19th for a series of workshops that are sure to be helpful in both your day-to-day organizing and in building for the long-term. You are sure to bump into a few RAFA members if you attend, so make sure to say hi!
On a related note, RAFA members participate in weekly meetings of the Labor Notes group specific for public university union members: the Public Higher Education Workers (PHEW) Network. If you would like to attend a PHEW meeting and learn from/with other higher ed workers around the country as they build bottom-up union power on our campuses, email Gerry for more info.
PSC Team at the Organizing for Power Trainings
A team of PSC members, a number of them in RAFA, have been attending labor organizer and scholar Jane McAlevey’s recent Organizing for Power training Power and Participation in Negotiations. We’re learning from other unions how powerful transparent, big, and open bargaining can be–not just in winning stronger contracts, but in cultivating greater member activism and democracy. So far it has been an inspiring experience, and gives us concrete examples of why open bargaining is the way forward!
Check out Jane McAlevey and Abby Lawlor’s new report, “Turning the Tables” to find out more about the fundamentals of open bargaining, including case studies where big wins were made thanks to high member participation.
