Being an Adjunct is a Dead-End Street Flyer
Item
BEING AN ADJUNCT IS A DEAD-END STREET...
If you're one of the 4,000-plus adjuncts and graduate assistants at CUNY, then you are
working under these intolerable conditions:
* Lack of job security * Inadequate or nonexistent medical insurance
* Low pay * Brief prior notification of employment
* Arbitrary access to unemployment insurance * No right to participate in departmental affairs
BUT NOW YOU CAN DO SOMETHING TO
CHANGE THESE CONDITIONS...
Why Do We Need a New Union? As part-timers, we are supposedly represented by
the full-timers' union, the Professional Staff Congress (PSC). But the PSC has done nothing for
us -- in fact, things are getting worse for adjuncts -- so now it's time to form our own union. The
Part-Time Instructional and Research Staff Union (PTU) is a group of part-time faculty from all the
CUNY campuses: we're ready to challenge the PSC for the right to represent adjuncts. We're
ready to form a new union to fight for adjuncts’ rights. Join us!
How Do We Dolt? The first step toward forming a new union is to get one third of all
the part-time faculty to sign union authorization cards, requesting that the PTU represent them.
These cards must be filed with the New York State Public Employees Relations Board before
November 30, 1986. Once the cards have been approved, an election will be called. Then
adjuncts will finally have a choice -- the PSC or the PTU.
Who Can Join the PTU? _ If you have any of the following titles, you can join the
PTU: adjunct Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Lecturer, Instructor, or College
Lab Technician; non-teaching Adjuncts I, I, III, or IV; Graduate Assistant A or B; part-time
Research Staff or College Assistant. If you work part-time in any instructional, research, or
nonsecretarial capacity and your title is not listed above, sign a card and give us your full title: we
can check whether you are eligible.
* ‘You can join the PTU even if you are already a member of the PSC.
* If you know people who have taught at a CUNY college within the last three years but
are not teaching this semester, tell them about us and give them a card -- they too can join!
* * * YOUR CARDS ARE CONFIDENTIAL * * *
DON'T YOU WANT THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE?
Call for the election of a new union --
sign a card before November 30!
GET MORE INFORMATION FROM SOMEONE ON YOUR CAMPUS...
Call any of the following people:
Staten Island Wendy Hoefler (718) 448-2549 Queens/Baruch Sally O'Driscoll (212) 254-1094
City College Jim Ciment (212) 677-9147 Brooklyn Jeff Gerson (718) 763-0343
N.Y.C.Tech Rocco Serini (718) 624-5000 Brooklyn Ron Lehrer (718) 377-0631
Medgar Evers Harry McArdle (516) 744-5332 BMCC Lorraine Riordan (212) 995-0008
Bronx C.C. and Lehman Pam Ansaldi (212) 543-2978 York Paul Wagner (718) 651-7047
John Jay Michael Seitz (212) 645-7850 LaGuardia Jim McCabe (718) 768-1038
or (718) 626-5577
The nexi meeting of the PTU is on
Friday, October 17, at 5 p.m.
at the Graduate Center, 33 West 42nd Street.
We need as many people as possible at this meeting because we plan to stuff
envelopes for a major mailing while discussing our organizing strategy.
PTU Part-Time Instructional and Research Staff Union
P.O. Box 2314, New York, N.Y. 10009 (212) 254-1094
If you're one of the 4,000-plus adjuncts and graduate assistants at CUNY, then you are
working under these intolerable conditions:
* Lack of job security * Inadequate or nonexistent medical insurance
* Low pay * Brief prior notification of employment
* Arbitrary access to unemployment insurance * No right to participate in departmental affairs
BUT NOW YOU CAN DO SOMETHING TO
CHANGE THESE CONDITIONS...
Why Do We Need a New Union? As part-timers, we are supposedly represented by
the full-timers' union, the Professional Staff Congress (PSC). But the PSC has done nothing for
us -- in fact, things are getting worse for adjuncts -- so now it's time to form our own union. The
Part-Time Instructional and Research Staff Union (PTU) is a group of part-time faculty from all the
CUNY campuses: we're ready to challenge the PSC for the right to represent adjuncts. We're
ready to form a new union to fight for adjuncts’ rights. Join us!
How Do We Dolt? The first step toward forming a new union is to get one third of all
the part-time faculty to sign union authorization cards, requesting that the PTU represent them.
These cards must be filed with the New York State Public Employees Relations Board before
November 30, 1986. Once the cards have been approved, an election will be called. Then
adjuncts will finally have a choice -- the PSC or the PTU.
Who Can Join the PTU? _ If you have any of the following titles, you can join the
PTU: adjunct Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Lecturer, Instructor, or College
Lab Technician; non-teaching Adjuncts I, I, III, or IV; Graduate Assistant A or B; part-time
Research Staff or College Assistant. If you work part-time in any instructional, research, or
nonsecretarial capacity and your title is not listed above, sign a card and give us your full title: we
can check whether you are eligible.
* ‘You can join the PTU even if you are already a member of the PSC.
* If you know people who have taught at a CUNY college within the last three years but
are not teaching this semester, tell them about us and give them a card -- they too can join!
* * * YOUR CARDS ARE CONFIDENTIAL * * *
DON'T YOU WANT THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE?
Call for the election of a new union --
sign a card before November 30!
GET MORE INFORMATION FROM SOMEONE ON YOUR CAMPUS...
Call any of the following people:
Staten Island Wendy Hoefler (718) 448-2549 Queens/Baruch Sally O'Driscoll (212) 254-1094
City College Jim Ciment (212) 677-9147 Brooklyn Jeff Gerson (718) 763-0343
N.Y.C.Tech Rocco Serini (718) 624-5000 Brooklyn Ron Lehrer (718) 377-0631
Medgar Evers Harry McArdle (516) 744-5332 BMCC Lorraine Riordan (212) 995-0008
Bronx C.C. and Lehman Pam Ansaldi (212) 543-2978 York Paul Wagner (718) 651-7047
John Jay Michael Seitz (212) 645-7850 LaGuardia Jim McCabe (718) 768-1038
or (718) 626-5577
The nexi meeting of the PTU is on
Friday, October 17, at 5 p.m.
at the Graduate Center, 33 West 42nd Street.
We need as many people as possible at this meeting because we plan to stuff
envelopes for a major mailing while discussing our organizing strategy.
PTU Part-Time Instructional and Research Staff Union
P.O. Box 2314, New York, N.Y. 10009 (212) 254-1094
Title
Being an Adjunct is a Dead-End Street Flyer
Description
Created by the Part-Time Instructional and Research Staff Union (PTU) in October 1986, this flyer bemoaned the status of adjunct faculty on CUNY campuses and argued for the election of the developing part-timers' "union". While acknowledging that the Professional Staff Congress (PSC) had made an effort to increase part-timer participation, the PTU argued that part-timers would be best represented by their own union.
The Part-Time Instructional and Research Staff Union (PTU) was a group of part-time faculty from across CUNY who challenged the Professional Staff Congress (PSC) for the right to represent adjuncts.
The Part-Time Instructional and Research Staff Union (PTU) was a group of part-time faculty from across CUNY who challenged the Professional Staff Congress (PSC) for the right to represent adjuncts.
Contributor
Professional Staff Congress
Creator
Part-Time Insturctional and Research Staff Union
Date
October 1986
Language
English
Rights
Obtained from Contributor - Copyright Unknown
Source
The Tamiment Institute Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Part-Time Insturctional and Research Staff Union. Letter. “Being an Adjunct Is a Dead-End Street Flyer.”, CUNY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE, accessed March 10, 2026, https://stephenz.tailc22a4b.ts.net/s/cdha/item/1496