The City University of New York and the Professional Staff Congress (AFT Local 2334) reached a tentative contract settlement. The proposal gives back very little, makes some gains, but failed to make some key gains for adjuncts and part-timers.

The Delegate Assembly recommended the agreement by 92-13-7 (yes-no-abstentions), but in the immediate discussion afterwards the PSC leadership agreed to open a “contract bulletin” where views of some delegates could be shared.

Over thirty delegates responded with statements of up to 500 words. You can read them all here. You can read a summary of the contract proposal here.

Barbara Bowen is the president of the PSC. Sándor John is the most outspoken opponent of the agreement. Alex Vitale wrote a statement that captures the complexity of the issue.

From time to time I attend Professional Staff Congress Delegate Assemblies. I belong to two AFT locals: Local 2 is the UFT, and local 2334 is the PSC (represents professors and adjuncts and higher education officers and a lot more titles at the City University of New York’s various campuses and non-campus locations).

This week, they brought a contract agreement to the DA, to be recommended back to the membership. It was striking that the expectations of the PSC are so different from those of the UFT. They hotly debated what is 95% a non-concessionary contract, and debated it hard and angry, because it did not make much progress addressing past inequities.

The past inequities are historic, not the result of union concessions. I believe (need to research a bit) that this leadership was voted in with a mandate to address exactly these issues, and that they made a dent in them in the previous agreement (I believe the first they negotiated). So the debate I heard was over not making enough progress.

I will dig, learn more, and post more. This all seems quite foreign to a UFTer.