DC37, PSC Reach Contract Agreements with CUNY
Over the last week, both District Council 37 (DC37) and the Professional Staff Congress (PSC-CUNY) announced tentative contract agreements with the City University of New York (CUNY).
DC37 announced its agreement late Friday night. The contract will affect the 12,000 members of DC37 locals 2054, 384, 2627, 983, 1597, 1407, 375 and 1797 who work at the university’s 24 campuses citywide. The deal includes 10.41% compounded wage increase dating back to November of 2009. The contract also includes a $1,000 signing bonus and an annual $200 welfare fund increase to benefit active and retired employees.
PSC-CUNY announced its agreement on Thursday afternoon. The contract will cover the union’s academic workforce of 25,000 full-time and adjunct professors and lecturers, Higher Education Officers, College Laboratory Technicians, and other staffers. The proposed contract provides 10.41% in compounded salary increases over a period of slightly more than seven years, from October 20, 2010 through November 30, 2017. CUNY faculty and professional staff, who have worked for more than six years without a raise, will receive retroactive payments and a signing bonus. The contract enacts significant structural changes that will fortify working and learning conditions at CUNY.
In a provision that will be crucial for the quality of education, the University has agreed to work toward structuring more time for faculty to devote to individual students. The tentative agreement also provides CUNY’s first-ever system of multi-year appointments for adjunct faculty, allowing thousands of instructors who are paid by the course to offer greater academic continuity to their students. Also as a result of the agreement, CUNY’s professional staff will gain opportunities for advances in pay and title; new provisions recognize the centrality of the work staff do in CUNY’s array of programs and student services.
Both agreements now await ratification by members.
Congratulations to both DC37 and PSC-CUNY!