The following is a proposed resolution on the agenda for the October 2 Chapter Meeting:
Whereas, more people have died at CUNY due to COVID-19 than at any other school system in the country;
Whereas, over the summer, CUNY’s administration laid off 2,800 adjunct instructors and staff (representing roughly 20% of its adjuncts and 10% of the total PSC bargaining unit), and even more were terminated directly before the Fall 2020 semester began, with many left on month-to-month contracts, while withholding federal CARES Act money that could have been used to rehire these workers;
Whereas, hundreds of CUNY workers have lost access to health insurance in the midst of a global pandemic;
Whereas, more than 1,200 PSC members have signed a petition calling for PSC leadership to take a strike authorization vote, and withholding labor is the only tool we have left to restore the jobs of all laid-off CUNY employees, to radically improve our collective working conditions, and to fully fund a free CUNY;
Whereas, the PSC President stated that if the CUNY administration did not respond to the PSCs 10 Demands by Fall 2020, “all options will be on the table, including further legal and legislative action, votes of no confidence, and preparation for a strike”;
Whereas, the actions of the HCCS chapter of the union have shown that holding a strike authorization vote and setting a deadline creates power for the PSC, which is necessary in its fight against austerity, layoffs and workload increases;
Be it resolved that the members of the Graduate Center chapter call on the PSC to hold a CUNY-wide Strike Authorization Vote as soon as possible, while beginning an escalating set of CUNY-wide actions designed to prepare members for a strike.