"Will You Listen to this Cry for Justice?"
Item
Will You Listen to this Cry for Justice?
Fact—6,000 Lecturers and Teaching Assistants teach 40% of the undergraduate courses.
Hundreds more are needed for open enrollment and the expansion of SEEK.
YET
Lecturers are Being Fired—Not for incompetence; not for curricular reasons; certainly
not because of declining enrollment. Then WHY 2 2 ?
Lecturers Are Having Their Salaries Slashed—Full-time lecturers on annual salaries are
being forced to become lower paid hourly lecturers, losing pension rights, medical benefits
‘and vacations as well as salaries. Isn’t this unconscionable?
A Good Grievance Procedure Has Been Made Into a Farce? College Presidents take
their orders from Vice Chancellor Mintz on 1001 ways to fire lecturers. UFCT grievances
pile up at BHE headquarters. When some are finally heard and then answered after long and
inexcusable delay, all kinds of sleazy reasons are given to sustain firings in flat violation of a
solemn agreement—the UFCT-CUNY contract. The CUNY administration is engaged in out-
and out union-busting!
What Kind of Games are Chancellor Bowker and His Collaborators Playing? Are they
trying to drive a false economy wedge between teachers and students by cutting salaries,
firing lecturers, increasing class size, increasing workloads—so that they can mute the stu-
dents’ just cry for an end to fees? Does this make sense?
Students and Teachers Must Stand Together for a fully-funded, tuition-free, fully staffed,
quality university to meet the needs of all our students and all of our programs under open
enrollment.
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO ? ? ? Tell your college president. Tell the Chancellor and the
Board of Higher Ed (535 East 80th Street, NYC). Tell Mayor Lindsay. Tell your Borough Presi-
dent and City Councilmen.
HOW ? ? ? Write, wire, send delegations, and Join our picket lines at CCNY, Queens,
Brooklyn, Hunter, Lehman and NYC Community College.
THEY MUST SIT DOWN WITH THE UNION AND HONOR THE CONTRACT ! ! !
If They Don’t Listen, They Will Be Responsible For Any Drastic Action That May Follow!
HONOR THE UNION CONTRACT OR DISHONOR THE UNIVERSITY.
United Federation of College Teachers, 260 Park Avenue South, New York, N. Y. 10010
Telephone 673-6310 Saad aia
> @ a eee.
Fact—6,000 Lecturers and Teaching Assistants teach 40% of the undergraduate courses.
Hundreds more are needed for open enrollment and the expansion of SEEK.
YET
Lecturers are Being Fired—Not for incompetence; not for curricular reasons; certainly
not because of declining enrollment. Then WHY 2 2 ?
Lecturers Are Having Their Salaries Slashed—Full-time lecturers on annual salaries are
being forced to become lower paid hourly lecturers, losing pension rights, medical benefits
‘and vacations as well as salaries. Isn’t this unconscionable?
A Good Grievance Procedure Has Been Made Into a Farce? College Presidents take
their orders from Vice Chancellor Mintz on 1001 ways to fire lecturers. UFCT grievances
pile up at BHE headquarters. When some are finally heard and then answered after long and
inexcusable delay, all kinds of sleazy reasons are given to sustain firings in flat violation of a
solemn agreement—the UFCT-CUNY contract. The CUNY administration is engaged in out-
and out union-busting!
What Kind of Games are Chancellor Bowker and His Collaborators Playing? Are they
trying to drive a false economy wedge between teachers and students by cutting salaries,
firing lecturers, increasing class size, increasing workloads—so that they can mute the stu-
dents’ just cry for an end to fees? Does this make sense?
Students and Teachers Must Stand Together for a fully-funded, tuition-free, fully staffed,
quality university to meet the needs of all our students and all of our programs under open
enrollment.
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO ? ? ? Tell your college president. Tell the Chancellor and the
Board of Higher Ed (535 East 80th Street, NYC). Tell Mayor Lindsay. Tell your Borough Presi-
dent and City Councilmen.
HOW ? ? ? Write, wire, send delegations, and Join our picket lines at CCNY, Queens,
Brooklyn, Hunter, Lehman and NYC Community College.
THEY MUST SIT DOWN WITH THE UNION AND HONOR THE CONTRACT ! ! !
If They Don’t Listen, They Will Be Responsible For Any Drastic Action That May Follow!
HONOR THE UNION CONTRACT OR DISHONOR THE UNIVERSITY.
United Federation of College Teachers, 260 Park Avenue South, New York, N. Y. 10010
Telephone 673-6310 Saad aia
> @ a eee.
Title
"Will You Listen to this Cry for Justice?"
Description
This flyer, produced and circulated in 1970 by the United Federation of College Teachers (UFCT), called for students and teachers to stand together and demand that CUNY honor the contract. It stated that despite 6,000 lecturers and teaching assistants (adjuncts) teaching 40 percent of CUNY's undergraduate courses and many more needed to accommodate CUNY's recently implemented Open Admissions program and the Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge (SEEK) program, lecturers were being fired and their hours and salaries cut.During the 1960s, the United Federation of College Teachers (UFCT), and the Legislative Conference (LC) were the two main organizations that advocated for the concerns of CUNY faculty. The UFCT represented part-time faculty and lecturers while the LC was the union of tenured professors. The groups merged in 1972 to form the Professional Staff Congress, which represents CUNY faculty today.
Contributor
Professional Staff Congress
Creator
The United Federation of College Teachers
Date
1970
Language
English
Rights
Copyrighted
Source
The Tamiment Institute Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Original Format
Poster / Flier / Leaflet
The United Federation of College Teachers. Letter. 1969. “‘Will You Listen to This Cry for Justice?’”, 1969, CUNY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE, accessed March 10, 2026, https://stephenz.tailc22a4b.ts.net/s/cdha/item/1375