Public Employee Press

CUNY workers demand a contract

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

Amid much fanfare, Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently announced his support for an increase of the state minimum wage to $15 an hour as the state Dept. of Labor implemented an order requiring fast-food workers to be paid a $15 hourly wage.

“It’s wrong to have any economy where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, where the American Dream of mobility and opportunity has become more of a cruel myth,” the governor said at a Sept. 10 Javits Center rally, where he was joined by Vice President Joe Biden. “Fifteen dollars an hour will be the highest statewide rate in the nation and will herald a new economic contract with America and it’s about time.”

Yet thousands of workers at the City University of New York who earn less than $15 an hour have gone without a raise for about seven years because contract negotiations are stalled. State employees and CUNY workers are excluded from state minimum wage coverage.

Late last year, DC 37 opened talks with CUNY for new economic agreement. But, nearly a year later, the university administration has failed to make a wage offer. The workers received their last wage increase on Oct. 1, 2008. “At a time when workers across the country have been plagued by stagnant wages, the Fight for $15 is a good fight, and deserves our support,” said DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido.

“But it isn’t a fair fight unless all workers benefit. We believe the governor needs to look into fixing his own house if he is truly concerned about providing New York’s workers with a living wage.”

Frustrated CUNY workers marched with DC 37 at the AFL-CIO-sponsored Labor Day Parade on Sept. 12, carrying signs demanding that the public university system get serious about negotiations. The workers spoke of struggling to meet their household expenses because of their frozen salaries, which have caused disenchantment, cynicism and a deep deterioration of morale at work. Aurelia Harrison earns $10.99 an hour for her part-time job as an Office Associate at Lehman College.

“I’m very upset,” said Harrison, who is a shop steward with City University of New York and Educational Opportunity Centers Local 384. “Everything is going up, except our pay.” The economic squeeze is leading workers to abandon CUNY to find better-paying jobs elsewhere, Harrison said.

“People are very frustrated,” said Vern Ballard, an information technology worker at the City College of New York, who marched with his union local, Electronic Processing Personnel Local 2627.

Swamped by the rising cost of living

A lot of young workers with children are having a particularly tough time supporting their families, Ballard said. The cost of living — food and transportation expenses — has gone up, and that reduces the value of the take-home pay of workers, he said. Downsizing — which translates into more work for the remaining CUNY staff — adds to the stress caused by the pay freeze, Ballard said.

Besides Local 384 and Local 2627, DC37 locals with members at CUNY include Accountants, Statisticians & Actuaries Local 1407, Custodial Supervisors Local 1797, Motor Vehicle Operators Local 983, College Assistants Local 2054 and Civil Service Technical Guild Local 375. All told, DC 37 represents 12,000 workers at CUNY.

CUNY funding comes from the state, city and tuition. Union officials fault Cuomo for holding up negotiations as he apparently wants to impose the terms of the contracts of other workers on CUNY employees. The state contract pattern includes a three-year pay freeze.

But union negotiators believe the pattern shouldn’t be jammed down the throat of the workers because the DC 37 contract is being negotiated under a better economic climate and the union’s members — unlike other state workers — don’t have a step-pay plan with automatic raises.

CUNY Chancellor James B. Milliken has expressed support for a new contract, but has been unable to jump-start the negotiations and convince the state to agree to help fund a fair agreement. With negotiations stalled and wages stagnating, Milliken’s $670,000 compensation and $19,000 monthly housing allowance have become a sore point for workers.

On Oct. 1, workers rallied outside Chancellor Miliken’s luxury apartment building in Manhattan. The union’s demands include a fair, reasonable and substantial wage increase; the elimination of the reduced hiring rate implemented several years ago; a transit benefit, and extra funding to address the needs of specific titles. Despite the stalled talks on the economic agreement, the union is meeting with CUNY on its blue collar and white collar working conditions contracts.

“It’s time for the governor to make the right decision and agree to a contract for our members,” said Local 375 President Claude Fort. “This situation is so unfair. CUNY workers need to be treated with dignity.”

About 6,000 members in College Assistants Local 2054 earn $10.99 an hour. Some 1,000 blue-collar workers represented by DC 37 are paid less than $15 an hour. And the starting salary Local 384 members are hired at is less than $15 an hour.

These CUNY workers and thousands of others wonder when Albany will finally treat them with fairness and respect.

Protest at CUNY chancellor’s apartment, see 'Unions rally against CUNY’s chancellor.'