On May 12, 2016, Professional Staff Congress (CUNY’s Faculty Union) voted to authorize a strike that has been anticipated for months. As most of us, if not all of us, are aware, CUNY faculty have been out of contract for five years and gone without pay raises in six years. This means that, though living costs in New York City have risen by 23%, professors are living with salary rates made for six years ago.
The strike, authorized by 92% of 10,000 faculty members, is designed to avoid the academic year, but the union’s president Barbara Bowen says it may extend into the fall.
The 2015-2016 school year has been a year of protests, and after a busy November, PSC decided to hold a strike-authorization vote, despite the fact that public-sector workers in New York are not legally allowed to strike. Now, several months later, there has been no talk of compromise and CUNY professors have finalized their decision to strike. It is unclear whether or not their off-season strike will qualify the union for a fine as of yet.
Though Cuomo has dropped his efforts to cut CUNY’s budget by a third, his lack of prioritizing CUNY employees is not only worrisome and disrespectful, it is harmful to the city and the state. CUNY has not been prioritized for some time, and this situation begs us to ask the question how much longer can the system be sustained without funding? How can a university run effectively when its best professors are considering jumping ship, or have already done so, for higher pay? If the city and state were not acknowledging the fact that CUNY’s lack of contracts are a problem before, I certainly hope they will now.
In short, this development does not shock me, but it does leave me with many questions. If CUNY faculty members are still on strike come the fall semester, what will this mean for CUNY’s students? What will it mean for professors unwilling to return to work before negotiations?
Ballesteros, Carlos. “CUNY Faculty Authorizes a Strike Vote.” The Nation, 30 November 2015. Web. 13 May 2016.
Brown, Sarah. “CUNY’s Faculty Union Votes to Authorize Strike.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, 12 May 2016. Web. 13 May 2016.
I agree that the fact that this situation has come to the point where the faculty and stuff at CUNY are resorting to strikes is worrisome. Many professors (particularly adjuncts) are so underfunded already and easily replaceable, so they would be taking a big risk if they go on strike. Yet, they seem to be willing to do so. They’re being mistreated and disregarded and have chosen to stand up against this. I believe that a way to try and ensure that this strike does not last until the Fall and disrupt the semester is through student advocacy. If the students throughout CUNY stand up for their faculty and stuff, their voices are more likely to be heard. If people are standing up for something that does not directly affect them, more listeners tend to be attracted. I just hope that other CUNY students are aware of what is going on and can use their knowledge to complain and create activism of their own, instead of just leaving their professors and staff hanging.