Public Employee Press

CUNY contract fight

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

The Union has launched a grassroots campaign for a new contract at the City University of New York, where members have gone more than six years without a raise.

DC 37 is pressing the CUNY administration to step up contract talks, and members are hitting the streets and cyberspace to demand a raise.

The union has set up a page on its website to coordinate contract-related actions and to keep members abreast on the latest developments.

Within days after the web page went live in mid-April, members inundated CUNY Chancellor James B. Milliken with hundreds of e-mail messages on the contract.

The page features a button that members and other supporters can click to send a letter to Milliken, demanding a contract. Besides this action button, the page discusses the background of the contract dispute and lists the union demands.

The deluge of letters led human resources to warn CUNY workers not to send out the message during work hours on its computer system.

"We have apparently struck a nerve," Robert Ajaye, president of Electronic Data Processing Employees Local 2627, said, "We're going to keep the pressure on.

"On March 31, DC 37 activists and leaders joined the Professional Staff Congress at a boisterous contract rally at Hunter College at 68th Street and Lexington Avenue. The PSC represents the faculty at CUNY. The protestors carried signs with such messages as "CUNY Needs a Raise," and "Library Faculty For a Good Contract." "It's very hard," said Jennifer Sagnelli, an accountant and member of the executive board of Accountants, Statisticians & Actuaries Local 1407, describing what it is like to go six years without a raise.

"You start borrowing up but nothing is coming in." The union expects to hold a bargaining session for the new economic agreement in early May. This would be the first session since last year.

On April 10, the CUNY blue collar unit met with the university about its working conditions contract. The white collar unit met with CUNY a few days later.

Besides locals 1407 and 2627, the union locals with members at CUNY include 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.

"CUNY members have been waiting for a contract since 2009," Local 1407 President Maf Misbah Uddin said. "With over a $5 billion surplus, the governor must give a contract to the members that, at the very least, reflects what other DC 37 members received in the citywide contract. Until then, our struggle continues."