Brooklyn College PSC-CUNY

The PSC represents thousands of professional staff across CUNY, including over 100 here at Brooklyn College. These members serve as Higher Education Officers (HEO’s). HEOs work in the registrar’s office, financial aid, run programs, advise students, and perform a variety of administrative roles such as managing outcomes assessment and international study. As with many other people working at CUNY, they have been subjected to overloads, speedups, and low pay over the last few decades. More recently they have been on the front lines of implementing the two   major CUNY Central initiatives, Pathways and CUNY First, while chronically understaffed. About 10 years ago some HEO’s began to complain that they were being forced to work beyond their contractual obligation of 35 hours a week. There have always been periods, such as registration time, when people were expected to temporarily work longer hours in exchange for comp time. More recently, however, these expectations have grown...

The PSC presented CUNY management with its primary demands 3 years ago. Three years is too long to wait for serious negotiations. Part of the problem is that CUNY management has to answer to the City and State Governments, which have not been interested in serious negotiations as they pursue a politics of austerity in which unionized workers are asked to work more for less, while billions in tax breaks are handed out to the real estate and financial industries . The CUNY Board of Trustees is supposed to oversee the management of CUNY on behalf of the Governor and Mayor, who appoint them. Since the Governor and the Mayor are our ultimate bargaining partners, especially on financial matters, it’s imperative that they know what the faculty are demanding at that rank and file members are dissatisfied. Over the last few years serious questions have been raised about the suitability of our trustees and their numerous instances of failing to do what’s best for CUNY and its students ...