Whereas the low-wage contingent model of employment has become more deeply entrenched at CUNY in recent years, with nearly twice as many adjunct faculty members at the university in 2018 as there were in 2000;
Whereas the current pay rates of adjunct faculty members and other contingent university employees are not sufficient to honor their professional and educational achievements, or to provide income commensurate with the costs of living in the New York metropolitan area;
Whereas the contingent employment model provides students with too little sustained contact with instructors, undermines the faculty role in university governance, threatens academic freedom, undermines the pay and benefits of full-time CUNY employees, and signals disrespect for the work of all CUNY faculty members and professional staff;
Whereas a breakthrough on adjunct salaries is necessary to raise the standard of living of many PSC members, to allow PSC members to serve our students and community with dignity, and to shift CUNY away from the model of low-wage contingent employment on which it now depends;
Whereas the PSC now seeks a minimum of $7,000 per course for adjunct faculty members (“$7k”);
Whereas winning $7k will involve significant legislative or budgetary changes as well as contractual changes;
Whereas winning $7k will therefore require a strategic, sustained, multi-faceted campaign, rather than reliance on any single form of action or pressure;
Whereas the PSC’s $7k campaign already incorporates efforts at the bargaining table, advocacy with elected officials, and campus-based organizing,
Whereas a strategic campaign for $7k has the potential to unite and galvanize PSC members across campuses and job titles;
Therefore be it resolved that the attendees at the October 17, 2018, meeting of the BMCC PSC chapter support the PSC’s $7k demand;
That we support a comprehensive strategy to win $7k, moving from internal education and organizing to community coalition-building, legislative advocacy, and public pressure, including large-scale collective actions, up to and including some form of job action or strike;
That we encourage PSC members to participate in the full range of $7k campaign activities; and
That we pledge our own participation in this crucial campaign.
$7K or Strike 