Whereas adjuncts make up 57% of the faculty at CUNY and teach 53% of classes, at an average rate of $3,500 per three-credit class with no compensation for research or advising, amounting to an annual salary of $28,000 for the same course load as full-time professors, who make $47,000 at the lowest step;
Whereas adjunct poverty is detrimental to faculty wellbeing as well as to student success, since adjuncts are forced to work additional jobs and do not have the time they need and want to dedicate to helping their students succeed;
Whereas devaluing adjunct labor serves to devalue the labor of CUNY education workers across all titles;
Whereas the PSC has rightly put adjuncts at the center of the current contract campaign by demanding an adjunct minimum wage of $7,000 per three-credit course in the next contract;
Whereas $7k per course is equivalent to what a full-time lecturer earns at CUNY for the same workload, and would put adjuncts closer to a living wage in New York City;
Whereas there is enough wealth in New York city and state that could be tapped through special taxes to cover all of CUNY’s needs, including $7k for adjuncts, programs like ASAP and SEEK, and improvements to campus infrastructure, while reducing or eliminating tuition for CUNY’s poor and working-class students;
Whereas $7k per course is a more robust demand than the salary increases won in past contracts that barely kept pace with inflation, and will require a concerted effort and decisive tactics to win;
Whereas educators across the country have shown the power of striking to achieve significant gains for workers, including West Virginia teachers who won 5% raises for all state workers;
Therefore be it resolved that the members of the Professional Staff Congress (PSC-CUNY) assembled at the Queens College chapter meeting on March 20, 2019 support going on strike if CUNY management does not offer $7k per course minimum adjunct pay at the bargaining table.
$7K or Strike 