CUNY chancellor applauds new contract; adjuncts to get 71% bump

The Professional Staff Congress today announced that its membership voted overwhelmingly in favor of ratification of the agreement for a new contract with The City University of New York. The historic five-year deal benefits students at the nation’s premier urban public university and provides wage gains for the 30,000 full-time faculty, adjuncts and professional staff of CUNY’s largest union. The term of the new contract will be from Dec. 1, 2017, through Feb. 28, 2023, pending approval by the CUNY Board of Trustees at its meeting next month.

The following is a statement by Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez: 

“We often talk proudly of the moral obligation that drives our mission of expanding opportunity and fostering social mobility for our students. The new PSC contract reflects our equally resolute commitment to our tens of thousands of faculty and staff, whose talents and dedication are critical to CUNY’s ability to remain the nation’s premier urban public university. I am especially proud of the groundbreaking economic and structural advances we made for our 12,000 adjunct faculty members.

“In addition to significant increases in adjunct pay that will reach 71 percent in the final year, the contract’s provisions move CUNY forward in its efforts to fully integrate our outstanding part-time faculty into campus life.  Among other things, these provisions will restructure workloads to enable our faculty to devote more time to working individually with students, and to professional development and other activities that play a key role in our students’ success.

“I am grateful for Governor Cuomo’s leadership, and for his support and Mayor de Blasio’s, that made this new contract possible. I am also thankful to PSC President Bowen and her team for the commitment they made to the good-faith negotiation that was crucial to reaching this historic agreement. Together, we are all making a vital investment in the future — for the students, faculty and staff of CUNY, for the University itself, and for our city and state.”