QUEENS COLLEGE–After two years without a contract, the Professional Staff Congress CUNY (PSC-CUNY) was able to ratify a new contract on Jan. 14 with a 90% majority vote.
The PSC is a coalition representing CUNY staff and faculty through advocacy for improved working conditions. The ratification of the contract symbolizes a victory for PSC members following a turbulent period of organizing, with over 30 PSC members arrested in October 2024 during a union protest for a fair contract outside of a CUNY Board of Trustees public hearing. The members were taken into custody after their refusal to unblock John Jay College’s 10th Avenue entrance unless they received an offer that guaranteed a contract with worker raises.
The new contract will take effect retroactively from March 1, 2023, and will run until Nov. 30, 2027. PSC members will receive retroactive pay in the coming months, which constitutes two of the previous raises as the last contract expired Feb. 28, 2023. Additional economic gains include ratification bonuses, equity pay, as well as salary increases for adjunct and graduate assistants, according to the PSC Memorandum of Agreement.
Erica Doran, professor in the Queens College Psychology department and the co-chair of the QC PSC Chapter, mentioned the retroactive pay as being impacted by the length of negotiations:
“The longer the negotiations dragged on, the more time that money — our money — was kept from us. It not only impacts our salaries, but also our retirement savings and our tax liability (these lump payments of the retroactive pay and the ratification bonuses are taxed at a higher rate),” Doran told The Knight News.
