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PEP April 2016
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Public Employee Press


The CUNY fight back
Defeats a $485 million state budget cut

By GREGORY N HEIRES

DC 37 MEMBERS played a key role in a successful campaign to ensure proper funding for the City University of New York as Gov. Andrew backed off his plan to cut $485 million from the state budget and shift the burden to New York City.

But while the grassroots opposition stopped the $485 million cut, the final approved budget left out $240 million that was earmarked for new labor contracts in the original budget proposal.

The funding will be provided through a "pay bill" once outstanding labor contracts are ratified, according to lawmakers.

With the budget in place, DC 37 will now pressure the CUNY administration to return to the bargaining table.

"We've done the work to organize and mobilize our members," DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido said. "The time for a fair contract is now." Cuomo announced his decision to restore the budget cut on March 24.

The same day DC 37 activists and presidents from union locals with members at CUNY delivered a giant canvas petition with 5,000 signatures to the governor's Manhattan office. The petition demanded the budget restoration and a fair contract for workers.

In the fight-back campaign, union activists also sent 1,000 online letters to the governor; gathered signatures and talked about the crisis last month at the annual conference of Black, Latino and Asians legislators and convinced the New York City Council to approve a resolution in favor of the workers.

The budget and contract campaign heated up on March 10. That was when hundreds of workers, students and community activists turned out for a boisterous rally in front of the governor's New York City office at 633 Third Ave.

With negotiations stalled, DC 37 members expressed their frustration and anger over the CUNY administration's failure to agree to a new contract.

"It's amazing that we are such a big part of the city and we don't have a contract," said Custodial Assistant Julio DeLeon. "It's not fair."

Filling a city block across the street from the governor's office, the demonstrators carried signs with such messages as "Stop the War on CUNY,"

"CUNY Contract Now" and "Invest in CUNY, Invest in New York."

"Of the 10,000 DC 37 members who work at CUNY, about 7,000 don't earn $15 an hour," DC 37 Deputy Associate Director Jahmila Joseph said at the rally. "Our members need a living wage."

The latest economic agreement expired in 2010, and the workers have gone without a raise for seven years.

CUNY's failure to negotiate

CUNY has offered DC 37 workers a 6 percent pay increase over six years. In its counterproposal, DC 37 called for a 14 percent wage hike in seven years and an additional $200 contribution to the union's welfare fund for each employee.

"We need a raise," said Custodian Supervisor Dahlia Linton, a member of Local 1757. "We work very hard. This is unjust."

Local 384 Shop Steward Michele Karpeles came to the rally with a busload of 50 coworkers from the College of Staten Island.

"It's hard to pay your bills," Karpeles said. The pay freeze has been particularly devastating for members who drive to work from New Jersey and use the Verrazano Bridge with its $16 toll, she said.

At the rally and during a gathering at the nearby Community Church of New York, CUNY advocates complained about years of tuition hikes and disinvestment by the state. Over the past five years, students have seen their tuition go up $1,500 a year.

Contending with budget reductions, the CUNY's administration has reduced classes, redirected funds for student services to ongoing expenditures and downsized part-time faculty.

Custodial Assistant Roxana Galindez, who works at Queens College, was one of the speakers at the event in the Community Church of New York.

"I wish the state would come to the table to negotiate a fair contract with a reasonable wage increase for all of us workers, without impacting the tuition cost of the students," Galindez said.

"This is not an accident of funding," said Barbara Bowen, president of the Professional Staff Congress, which represents CUNY faculty, speaking at the forum. "This is a political decision to keep people poor."




 
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