PSC-CUNY Members Disrupt CUNY Trustees Hearing, More than 30 Arrested

After nearly two years without a raise, CUNY faculty and staff disrupted the CUNY Trustees’ public hearing on Monday, declaring “No Business as Usual!” until they get a fair offer.

More than 30 faculty and staff of the City University of New York were arrested when they blocked the 10th Avenue entrance to CUNY’s John Jay College during a hearing of the Board of Trustees and refused to move until management made an offer that would ensure real raises for workers and a quality college education for students. Hundreds more CUNY faculty and staff, students, and labor allies chanted “Real Raises! Job Security! Contract Now!” during the blockade.

CUNY’s 30,000 faculty and professional staff (members of the Professional Staff Congress) have not received a raise since November 2022, and management’s economic offer is far below what the faculty and staff of CUNY deserve.

PSC President James Davis, an English professor at Brooklyn College, was arrested with colleagues representing 15 CUNY campuses. Before joining the blockade, he testified at the hearing and led union members in a mass disruption of the proceedings.

“CUNY offered unacceptable raises seven months ago, a year after their top executives received 27% and 30% bumps in pay. They haven’t shown faculty, staff and students the respect of a fair economic offer and haven’t put another dollar on the bargaining table since March. We’re demanding real raises, job security, and urgency. There can be no business as usual at CUNY until we get a fair offer,” said President Davis. Read more here and in the NY Daily News and The Chief-Leader.