Public Employee Press

Next on the list: CUNY pay talks under way

Negotiations are under way for a new economic agreement at the City University of New York, where DC 37 members have not received a wage increase in six years.

The CUNY workers' bargaining committee presented its demands to the public university system Nov. 25, and both sides expected to hold a second bargaining session in January, as PEP went to press.

The CUNY economic agreement covers more than 10,000 DC 37 members, mainly in College Assistants Local 2054 and City University of New York and Educational Opportunity Centers Local 384. Other members at CUNY are in Motor Vehicle Operators Local 983, Accountants, Statisticians and Actuaries Local 1407, Electronic Data Processing Personnel Local 2627, Civil Service Technical Guild Local 375 and Custodial Assistant Employees Local 1597.

"Members are very frustrated because they have been without a raise for a long time," said David Paskin, associate director of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept. "We are pressing hard for a settlement."

Last year, the union reached an agreement with the city on a contract for tens of thousands of members, who also went years without a raise under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Negotiations between the union and CUNY are usually complicated, because while CUNY is the employer, the state and city fund the system and influence talks. CUNY can't plead poverty in this round of bargaining, said Paskin, because savings are accruing to CUNY under the municipal unions' agreement with the city to find $4 billion in health-care cost reductions to help fund workers' raises.

As it negotiates the CUNY economic agreement, the union is also pressing for increases for prevailing wage workers and moving toward talks on working conditions contracts for numerous bargaining units.

"Negotiating outstanding contracts like CUNY's is a priority of the union," said DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido.