CUNY Adjunct Alert
Vol 4, No. 1 a

Produced by CUNY Adjuncts Unite! PO Box 254, NY, NY 10009

September, 2000
212/780-2155

ADJUNCT AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

The new PSC leadership is following through on their campaign promises to advocate for adjuncts. In the
June Delegate Assembly meeting the PSC won approval of a stand for equitable pay, benefits, and working
conditions for adjuncts. In August, their Statement of Principles submitted at the first collective barg: ining
session on the 2000 contract included: “The PSC seeks pay and benefits for adjuncts on the basis of parity
with full-time faculty and proposes one-time increments for staff titles that have suffered particular salary
erosion. .. these proposals are in part a call for reinvestment in CUNY ...to create a university that will
define urban public education for generations to come...”. In support of this vision for ourselves, our
university, and the city, CAU! is initiating an adjunct awareness campaign that will reach out to the public
as well as to fellow-adjuncts. We will kick off the campaign by a showcase of adjunct talents.

ADJUNCT EVENING AT THE NUYORICAN POETS’ CAFE
October 14 Saturday—236 East 3™ St. (between Ave B&C) 7-9:30 p.m.
Read Poetry, A Story, A Part of a Piay, Sing, Dance, Mime...as long as it’s within 6 minutes.

Call the CAU! hotline to save your space—212 780-2155

SENIOR COLLEGE PAYROLL MESS
NOT ENOUGH TAXES ARE DEDUCTED

Adjuncts who work in the senior colleges will have a rude
and expensive awakening on April 15. That is when they will
find out that the state has been taking NO STATE TAX out
of their paychecks for the whole year and that the hapless
adjunct owes around $2,500. Not only that, federal taxes
have been withheld at the rate of about 3.5%, which will
cause a required payment of around $2,500 to the feds as
well. So you think that this can't happen to you? Do you think
that you filled out your W4 form and asked for no deductions
so you won't owe anything? WRONG! The state has been
withholding tax as if each semester's pay was for the whole
year. Since a semester's pay is about $6000, you don't owe
any state tax on it. Astonishingly, however, you would owe
federal tax on an annual income of $6000, and our paychecks
reflect that. Many adjuncts earn about $26,000 or more if
they work at more than one school and/or teach in the
summer, yet the state treats each semester or summer session
as the adjunct's sole income for the entire year. It is
particularly absurd considering that by the fall semester of
the year it should be absolutely obvious to the state that the
income for the year is in addition to the spring and summer.
And if the idea of having to pony up thousands of dollars at
tax time doesn't impress you, don't forget that you can be hit
with federal and state penalties for under-withholding if you
owe more than a certain percentage of your tax. And you are
liable.

To remedy this, go to the payroll department at every
college that employs you NOW; fill out a new W4 form,
entering 0 deductions and add an amount on the line that says
"Additional amount to be deducted from each check). You
should enter about $80 each for the feds and State if you do
not want to be hit with a huge tax bill in April. Put down $30
for the city if you live in NYC. These seem like huge
amounts, but remember, you are having to pay for the tax
you have not paid for the past 8 months as well as what you
should be paying for the next 4 months. These amounts might
not cover your tax liabilities, but they will avoid penalties
and lower the April hit. —

Rights Alert! If you believe your contractual rights may
have been violated, please remember, you have THIRTY
(30) days from the time you realized the violation to file a
grievance. There are other resolution options available
besides grievance, such as the “Informal” Complaint.

FROM ERIC MARSHALL, NEW PSC VICE
PRESIDENT FOR PART TIMERS:

To those of you retuming to CUNY, welcome back. To
those of you who are new to CUNY, welcome. Let me also
express special thanks to those of you who returned the PSC
Adjunct Survey mailed out in early June, contributing to the
extraordinarily high nearly 40% retum rate (1,750
responses). The results are being encoded and entered into a
database which will be cross-tabulated and analyzed. This
will provide the union with much-needed hard data on the
lives and concerns of CUNY’s enormous part-time faculty. .
Adjunct activists across the country eagerly await the results.

I’d like to reintroduce myself and the PSC to you. I ama
PhD candidate in English at the CUNY Grad Center. Since
1991, I have been an adjunct lecturer in CUNY, first at
Kingsborough, and, since 1993, at Queens College. From
1996 until I stepped down in May to become Vice President,
I was a PSC delegate from Queens College.

The Professional Staff Congress (PSC) is the labor union
representing all CUNY teaching faculty, both full and part

"time. It is comprised of 27 local chapters, each with its own

chair and officers, a 100+ member Delegate Assembly, made
up of representatives from each chapter and the Executive
Council (the 21 general officers), headed by President
Barbara Bowen. The union is involved in all issues
concerning the terms and conditions of employment in
CUNY, including the negotiation of the labor contract. All
CUNY faculty are eligible to join the union, and thereby to
run for office, and vote for officers and on the contract. All
are strongly encouraged to do so. This Spring the following
campuses will hold their triennial elections for chapter
officers: BMCC, Staten Island, Kingsborough, Lehman,
Medgar Evers, New York City Tech, and Queensborough, as
well as Hunter College Schools and the Brooklyn and
Manhattan EOC programs. To be eligible to run, you must be
a member in good standing for one year prior to nomination.
To be eligible to vote, you must be a member in good
standing for at least four months prior to the distribution of
ballots, which usually takes place around April 1. To join, fill
out a yellow membership application card (or a green card if
you are a GTF), available through the con't

Subscribe at no cost to CUNY part timers list serv:
datec@cunyvm.cuny.edu
Check out the PSC website: http:/Avww.psc-cuny.org



ADJUNCT ISSUES RE: HEALTH,
DISABILITY, UNEMPLOYMENT

In the coming months, we will reach out to legislators, city
council members and state and city executives with three
critical issues that affect CUNY’s 7,000 plus adjuncts: lack
of disability; instability of health care; confused
stand of unemployment insurance status. We want the city
council and state assembly higher education committees to
hold hearings on these issues and we will be working with
the PSC to make this happen. We welcome your contacts,
connections and efforts to make this happen. And we invite
you to help by sending us your positive and negative
experiences with these three items. David Tillyer and
Alberta Grossman are working on this project. Send emails
to Alberta ANG3715@aol.com or 212 675-4128,

CHANGE IN CURRENT COVERAGE

Adjuncts are eligible for health coverage in their third
semester if they are teaching six credits that semester. This
summer the PSC Welfare Fund negotiated for a change from
the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Prestige to the Direct Connection
Select Network.. This expands hospitals and offers 67,000
providers. You need to choose a primary care physician and
make co-payments, but don’t need a referral to see any other
doctor. If you have changed schools or are teaching at anew
school, call the Welfare Fund adjunct coordinator, Ms.
France (212 354-5230).

NAFFE

CAU! recently joined NAFFE, the National Alliance for Fair
Employment. NAFFE consists of over 40 organizations
fighting unfair conditions associated with contingent work
(part-time, temporary and contracted employment). They
stand for equal treatment (pay, benefits and protections under
the law) regardless of employment status. Other member
organizations include COCAL (Coalition of Contingent
Academic Labor) to which CAU! also belongs, and our
union, the PSC. For reports and information on a wide range
of issues affecting contingent workers, check out their web
site at: FairJobs.org

COCAL CONFERENCE—JAN 12-14, 2001
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA

In association with COCAL, the California Part-Time Faculty
Association (CPFA) is organizing the third national COCAL
hprior ones were in New York and Boston). The conference
will kick off plans for a National Equity Week, modeled on
the A2K effort that collected 40,000 petition signatures from
86 California community college campuses. The conference
is intended to be an agenda-setter for a true national
breakthrough for contingent labor. Let CAU! know if you
want to attend. Maybe we can organize a charter flight for

a CUNY contingent and do some spectacular fundraising.

NEW ADJUNCT ORGANIZER

Ingrid Hughes, PSC Community College officer has been
appointed CUNY Adjunct Organizer. Call her with your
suggestions, questions, and help. She is at the PSC office
on Tuesdays (354-1252) Ingridhug@aol.com

COME TO THE NEXT CAU! MEETING
Sept 22 —Friday —5:30 p.m.
25 West 43 St. 19 floor

Write or email your thoughts to the Adjunct Alert editor at
revolu(@earthlink.net or the CAU! postal box.

_.Continued ... Eric Marshall

PSC membership office (25 West 43% St, 5 Floor —
212/354-1252), through your local chapter office, me, or
CAUI. —

The new PSC leadership took office on May 18",-and has
been very busy ever since. As many of you know, our current _
contract actually expired on July 31°—though New York
State’s Triborough Laws ensure the maintenance of our
contractual rights and benefits until the ratification of a new
contract. So we have been actively engaged in preparing for
negotiations, which began in late August. Also, the PSC has
been closely involved in the enrollment situation at the
community colleges, and is paying particularly close attention
to the impact this may have on adjuncts.

In addition, as promised, we are preparing for the
implementation of Agency Fee for a// members of the
bargaining unit, both full and part-time. This is a complicated

_ process that involves arrangements with CUNY management

and New York State Payroll in Albany, as well as with our
affiliated unions (the AFT, American Federation of Teachers
and NYSUT, the New York State United Teachers), to
whom we pay affiliate dues for every member. It seems like
this process make take a bit of time to work out, but it is a top
priority which the PSC takes very seriously. I remain hopeful
that implementation of agency fee will be coordinated with
reduction in dues for the part-time faculty.

Finally, a reminder: currently adjuncts are NOT paid to
maintain office hours, and MUST NOT be required to
do so. If your department insists that you keep office hours
against your will, and without compensation, please contact
me as soon as possible.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions,
concerns, or suggestions. I can be reached at the PSC office
on Mondays and Thursdays during the Fall term. And don’t
forget to join the PSC!

CAU! CAMPUS CONTACTS
Baruch _, Sylvia Rackow 212-410-2455
BMCC Shirley Rausher 212-721-0099
Bronx CC Costas Panayotakis 718-622-3456
Brooklyn Vinny Tirelli- 718-850-0551
CCNY Rob Wallace 212-650-8606
CSI Libby Garland. 718-875-0005
Hostos Ana Lopez 212-427-3874
Hunter Mark Halling 718-596-0654
Hunter Soc. Susanna Jones 718-243-0660
John Jay Holly Clarke 212-229-9180

Kingsborough Jerry Karol 718-330-0916
La Guardia Chris Knight 212-734-3488
Lehman Susan de Raimo 718-601-7963

718-862-9735
212-982-0097

Medgar Evers David Hatchett
NYC Tech Wendy Scribner

Queens Kristen Lawler 718-997-2827

Queensborough Howard Pflanzer 212-496-6452

York Mike Vozick 212-874-7650
DISTANCE LEARNING

CUNY management has invested more than ten million
dollars in distance learning infrastructure and technology
over the last few years. Over 1000 current courses vary from
simultaneous presentations at four different campuses in real
time to using the internet for on-line offerings. Unlike
fulltimers, adjuncts are not provided with released reassigned
time to develop new courses, nor are they automatically
eligible for grants. If requested to teach in this fashion, they
should be reimbursed at a fair rate (i.e., $3000-5000 per
course). Issues of intellectual property rights are still being
processed in the courts. At York University in Toronto a
three-week strike by unionized faculty successfully gained
contract language that afforded control by individual faculty
members over the introduction of classroom technology.
Chapter 4 of Dan Schiller’s Digital Capitalism: Networking
the Global Market System (MIT Press 2000) discusses the
higher learning industry.