Public Employee Press

THE FIGHT FOR FAIR PAY
Scrooged: CUNY's inadequate wage offer rejected

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

The union rejected a miserly pay offer from CUNY, where workers have gone without a raise for seven years.

The proposal, which the City University of New York presented at a bargaining session on Nov. 23, calls for a total compounded wage increase of slightly more than 6 percent over six years.

"The offer is totally inadequate," said DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido, noting that the pay hike would be lower than the cost of living over the 72 months of the contract.

"The six-year proposal has already expired and doesn't even provide for retroactive pay during a 42-month wage freeze from the beginning of the proposed contract," said Associate Director David Paskin of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept., who is coordinating the union bargaining committee's contract talks with CUNY's administration. "The administration's offer does not even keep up with the cost of living."

The CUNY contract typically follows the pattern set by DC 37's economic agreement for tens of thousands of members. But the wage increase of the CUNY proposal is significantly lower than that of the union's master 2010-17 economic agreement, which provides for a total pay increase of more than 10 percent.

The union expects to hold another bargaining session before the end of the year. The union will make a counter-offer at the meeting.

CUNY drags its feet on negotiations

The contract talks opened up last November, but negotiations have proceeded at a snail's pace because of the administration's failure to put an offer on the table. The Professional Staff Congress, which represents the faculty, also received a 6 percent offer.

In March, DC 37 joined the faculty union at a rally attended by hundreds of workers at Hunter College at 68th Street and Lexington Avenue to demand that the administration get serious about negotiations. Angry workers also gathered for an early morning protest on Oct. 1 outside CUNY Chancellor James B. Milliken's luxury apartment building in the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

As contract talks moved slowly, Milliken's generous compensation package became a sore spot for workers. Thousands of CUNY workers earn less than $15 an hour while the chancellor's salary is in the stratosphere.

"The chancellor's salary and other compensation are worth more than the combined pay of the president of the United States, the governor of New York State and the mayor of New York City," said Robert Ajaye, president Data Processing Employees Local 2627. "Is it any wonder that our 12,000 members at CUNY are incensed?"

Milliken's annual salary is $670,000. President Barack Obama earns $400,000 a year, Mayor Bill de Blasio receives $225,000 and Gov. Andrew Cuomo gets $179,000. Milliken's additional compensation includes an $18,000 monthly housing allowance, a car with a chauffeur, a $230,000 contribution for deferred compensation and retirement, and a paid sabbatical after five years.

An unconscionable pay freeze

Ajaye disputed the public university system's cry of poverty. He noted that in recent years, CUNY has been able to open up new campuses, and it produced a budget surplus in 2013 with the $61 million sale of its central administration building.

Cuomo is sitting on a "maintenance of effort" bill that would require CUNY to keep up with inflationary and mandatory costs. The current state budget has left CUNY $63 million short of its mandatory costs.

"This proposal offers less than the city contract, and it is even worse than the state's general contract, which includes a three-year freeze on wages," said DC 37 Treasurer Maf Misbah Uuddin, who is the president of Accountants, Statisticians and Actuaries Local 1407.

Besides Local 1407 and Local 2627, six other DC 37 locals represent workers at CUNY: City University of New York and Educational Opportunity Centers Local 384, Custodial Supervisors Local 1797, Motor Vehicle Operators Local 983, Civil Service Technical Guild Local 375, College Assistants Local 2054 and Custodial Assistant Employees Local 1597.