To challenge the status quo. We are running to overcome the entrenched, apathetic central leadership of our union that has been in power for 17 years. If we win, CUNY Struggle will have ten delegates at the PSC delegate assembly, and we will work to pass resolutions that empower adjuncts and graduate students, as well as hold democratic, participatory chapter meetings.
To democratize the union. Empowering the rank and file is the only way to combat the imminent attack on public sector unions. We want to hold leadership accountable by instituting open bargaining and proportional representation in governance, so that members from all titles are able to play a meaningful role in our union. CUNY Struggle rejects the New Caucus’s reliance on lobbying and instead proposes a more militant strategy based on direct action and preparations for a strike to ensure we get $7,000 per course in the next contract. (Read the rest of our platform here.) The last contract, which our opponents supported, distributed most of the gains to the top tier of our union and kept CUNY adjuncts in poverty, making a measly $3,300 per course, which is less than $30k working full-time. This only continued the trend of CUNY setting the low bar for adjunct contracts city-wide, and it must stop now!
To fight for a broad social-justice-based union. Unions can and should fight for more than wages and job security. Working conditions like class size, control over GTF assignments, and diversity in hiring,to name a few, should be a part of bargaining negotiations. We also want a union that stands in solidarity with our students and with all New Yorkers, fighting for free tuition and against deportations & policing.
The incumbent slate, the New Caucus and Fusion Independents (“NCFI”, a rebranding of the New Caucus) have accused us of opposing “cross-title solidarity” with HEOs by misrepresenting an email we wrote about room capacity, in an effort to sidestep our debate challenge. It is clear that NCFI, much like the New Caucus, would rather not discuss the issues. They want you to take their progressive credentials at their word — but their record speaks for itself. They’ve had abysmal attendance at the delegate assembly, they’ve refused to take bold action against central leadership (even adopting the New Caucus name), and they’ve failed to put forward concrete democratic reforms. In an effort to cut through the mudslinging, we issued a public challenge to a debate open to all, which they’ve since accepted. Join us tomorrow, March 5th, at 5pm in room 9207 at the Graduate Center for a debate.
Ballots that include pre-paid postage were mailed to your home address on Monday: make sure you drop them in the mail by April 24th to ensure they get counted. Vote CUNY Struggle!
So what’s the difference between CUNY Struggle and the NCFI?
They are proposing a half step when only a full step will do it.
cunystruggle.org 