CUNY employees fight for new contracts

CUNY only works because we do”

Renee Bell, Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Lehman College

Nearly two years ago, contracts expired for union employees of the City University of New York and they have been fighting for new ones since.

On Monday, Oct. 21, frustrated members of the Professional Staff Congress (PSC) – the union operating within all 25 CUNY campuses and servicing about 30,000 faculty members – took matters into their own hands when they blocked the 10th Avenue entrance of John Jay College at 524 W. 59th Street, resulting in several arrests. Renee Bell, assistant professor of Mathematics at Lehman College, was oen of the 30 individuals taken away in handcuffs and accused of civil disobedience. 

“For all of us who care about CUNY, who care about our students. . . we have to stay and fight,” Bell said.

Bell told The Press the employees are not only fighting for new contracts, but also for better pay rates and job security, especially for adjunct positions. 

The PSC teaching adjunct handbook lists rates varying from $91.60 to $112.50. Adjuncts teach a minimum of 45 hours a semester.

“They’re the most vulnerable, the first to be fired and they’re not tenured,” Stuart Chen-Hayes told The Press, school counselor and professor at Lehman College.

According to Chen-Hayes, when he was first hired at the Bronx CUNY in 1998, adjuncts made $3,200. That number did not change until 2022 when a new contract put the bottom tier at $5,500, according to Chen-Hayes.

At one of the many board meetings Bell attended, she recalled the testimonial of an adjunct professor who taught classes at a CUNY while simultaneously becoming homeless and living out of their car. 

According to Apartments.com, the average rent in NYC is currently $3,898. 

Felix Matos Rodriguez, chancellor of CUNY, makes a yearly salary of $670,000; executive vice chancellor and chief operating officer, Hector Batista, saw a leap in his salary in 2022 from $330,000 to $420,000 and administrators see consistent raises.

“Salaries have eroded in the face of long-term disinvestment in CUNY and are uncompetitive with peer institutions,” the proposed contract states. 

As more time passes between now and the contract’s two-year expiration and as the price of everyday commodities continue to rise, “raises are more important now than ever,” Bell exclaimed.

In her fight, Bell was inspired by CUNY students from 1969 who advocated for their demands, all of which centered around the Black and Puerto Rican communities that felt ignored by the institution. During their negotiations, students took over a portion of the campus and spent two weeks impeding classes. All of the demands on the student’s list were met by 1970. 

“All of the people before me stayed. For all of us who care about CUNY, who care about our students . . . we have to stay and fight,” Bell said. 

Despite battles with management, Bell said she wouldn’t leave her students and in speaking with her colleagues, there was a general consensus the education offered by the public institutions are not only transformative, but reflected in the hard work of the students. 

Bell said that the faculty is ready to take disruptive action. Risking arrest at the rally was just one form, but she said she’s willing to go as far as striking to have their demands met. 

Bell rcently became an alternate delegate with the union, giving her the opportunity to participate in the delegate assembly where votes and resolutions are made. Her goal with this further engagement is to participate in the democracy of the union for the representation of all the people employed at CUNY. 

“CUNY only works because we do,” Bell said.