"BHE Freezes Salaries August 31"
Item
Professional Staff Congress/City University of New York
PSC /CUNY
BHE Freezes Salaries August 31
Offers Abolition of Increments--A Wage Cut--in New Contract
The Board of Higher Education has frozen all instructional staff salaries
for 1972-1973 at August 31, 1972, levels, barring all increments.
The Professional Staff Congress challenged the freeze as an improper
practice before the Public Employment Relations Board on August 28.
At that hearing, the Board's attorneys spent most of the day arguing
that, despite the overwhelming vote of the instructional staff and the
memberships, the PSC was not really the successor of the UFCT and LC and
therefore we had no authority to challenge the salary freeze.
The freeze, which affects community college personnel September 1 and
senior college personnel January 1, is the same freeze vote’ by the Board April
24. On May 11, Vice Chancellor Newton told the instructional staff in a flyer
headed "It's a Fact": "No increment was frozen. No salary was frozen. .
Not one person has suffered any financial loss as a result of the Board's
resolution -- nor will anyone."
He's not saying that any more.
In fact, he's trying to incorporate the freeze into the new contract--
offering no salary increases and the abolition of all salary increments.
The freeze typifies the conduct of the Board's negotiators since we
started bargaining June 19--offering us a degrading, retrogressive, abusive
contract.
We have modified our proposals substantially since then in the hope of
reaching an agreement by August 31. But the Board has not budged an iota from
its contemptuous positions on matters of major importance to the instructional
staff, such as workload, job securit academic freedom, facilities and due
process.
We will soon report more fully to you on the status of the negotiations.
Meanwhile, we must stand together and present a united front toward the
Board's intransigence--its insistence on wiping out professional rights and
destroying the quality of the University.
b
Bellé Zeller Israel Kugler
9/1/72 President Deputy President
PSC /CUNY
BHE Freezes Salaries August 31
Offers Abolition of Increments--A Wage Cut--in New Contract
The Board of Higher Education has frozen all instructional staff salaries
for 1972-1973 at August 31, 1972, levels, barring all increments.
The Professional Staff Congress challenged the freeze as an improper
practice before the Public Employment Relations Board on August 28.
At that hearing, the Board's attorneys spent most of the day arguing
that, despite the overwhelming vote of the instructional staff and the
memberships, the PSC was not really the successor of the UFCT and LC and
therefore we had no authority to challenge the salary freeze.
The freeze, which affects community college personnel September 1 and
senior college personnel January 1, is the same freeze vote’ by the Board April
24. On May 11, Vice Chancellor Newton told the instructional staff in a flyer
headed "It's a Fact": "No increment was frozen. No salary was frozen. .
Not one person has suffered any financial loss as a result of the Board's
resolution -- nor will anyone."
He's not saying that any more.
In fact, he's trying to incorporate the freeze into the new contract--
offering no salary increases and the abolition of all salary increments.
The freeze typifies the conduct of the Board's negotiators since we
started bargaining June 19--offering us a degrading, retrogressive, abusive
contract.
We have modified our proposals substantially since then in the hope of
reaching an agreement by August 31. But the Board has not budged an iota from
its contemptuous positions on matters of major importance to the instructional
staff, such as workload, job securit academic freedom, facilities and due
process.
We will soon report more fully to you on the status of the negotiations.
Meanwhile, we must stand together and present a united front toward the
Board's intransigence--its insistence on wiping out professional rights and
destroying the quality of the University.
b
Bellé Zeller Israel Kugler
9/1/72 President Deputy President
Title
"BHE Freezes Salaries August 31"
Description
In this memorandum to CUNY faculty and staff, the Professional Staff Congress (PSC) attacks the tactics of the Board of Higher Education as the parties sought to negotiate the first contract following the merger of the Legislative Conference (LC) and the United Federation of College Teachers (UFCT) in April 1972. One major issue during negotiations was the annual increments in salary received by faculty and staff. CUNY had unsuccessfully sought to eliminate the incremental wage increases during the negotiations of the initial contracts with the LC and the UFCT in 1969. It revived the demand in the negotiations of 1972-1973, and as a tactic toward that objective froze all increments. The PSC protested that their action was in violation of the existing contracts. Ultimately a contract was agreed to in July 1973, and increments remained in force.
Creator
Zeller, Belle
Kugler, Israel
Date
September 1, 1972
Language
English
Rights
Obtained from Contributor - Copyright Unknown
Source
Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Original Format
Flier / Leaflet (1 or 2 page handout)
Zeller, Belle, and Kugler, Israel. Letter. “‘BHE Freezes Salaries August 31’.”, CUNY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE, accessed March 10, 2026, https://stephenz.tailc22a4b.ts.net/s/cdha/item/456