Professional Staff Congress/City University of New York ( | 4 2)

PSU / CUNY

CONTACT: Aaron Alexander
354-1252

June 7, 1972 wav

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: oh Gm, oy OX

Chancellor Rebuffed:
FACULTY ELECTS UNION TO NEGOTIATE
PACT FOR ALL 16,000 ON CUNY STAFF
In an unprecedented election, the City University faculty today chose
the Professional Staff Congress--the largest university union in the country
--as its collective bargaining agent and created a major new force on the
New York labor scene.

Split since 1969 into two units nepresented by ganareee unions, the
faculty voted for a single union to represent the entire 16,000-member
professional staff of the 21-campus CUNY system.

It was a stunning blow to CUNY Chancellor Robert J. Kibbee, who was
inaugurated last Thursday (June 1) in the post he has held since September.
Voting for one unit, the faculty abolished the prevailing two-way
division between full-time and part-time staff which was favored by Kibbee,
and rejected a new segregation of nonclassroom personnel which was proposed

by Kibbee.

The election was unusual in that it allowed the employees themselves

to determine not only their bargaining agent but also the shape of their

bargaining unit.

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The vote on the unit question significantly affirmed the role of
nonclassroom professionals--librarians, counselors, laboratory technicians,
et al.--in the University's overall program.

The victorious union, the Professional Staff Congress, had campaigned
vigorously for a single unit.

The ballots, counted today by the State's Public Employment Relations
Board in Albany, asked each staff member whether he wished to be represented
(1) in one unit and (2) by the PSC.

The vote in favor of a single unit was 8,258 to 942,

The vote in favor of the PSC was 8,789 to 538,

The Professional Staff Congress was formed April 14 through the merger
of the United Paderakiek of College Teachers and the Legislative Conference.
It is affiliated with the National Education Association, the American
Federation of Teachers (AFL-CIO), the newly merged state-wide New York
Congress of Teachers, the New York State AFL-CIO, and the New York City
Central Labor Council.

But the University had refused to recognize PSC, to accept a single
bargaining unit, or to negotiate a new contract. The present contracts
expire August 31. :

Instead, the University had petitioned PERB to divide the instructional
staff into full-time faculty, part-time faculty, and nonclassroom
professionals.

The faculty's rejection of this position and its election of PSC augur
a couch negotiating stance by the union, which has charged the University

with stalling negotiations and with massive violations of the present

contracts.

Its negotiating demands will be made public at a news conference shortly.

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STATEMENT

In a statement issued today, PSC President Belle Zeller and Deputy
President Israel Kugler hailed the outcome as "a victory for our students
and a victory for the staff."

They continued:

"It affirms our conviction that the University's responsibility to its
students, especially in the context of Open Admissions, extends beyond the
classroom--to the libraries, to the counselors' offices, to the laboratories
--into every aspect of academic life."

Dr. Zeller and Dr. Kugler contended that hundreds of the University's
16,000 eligible voters did not receive ballots because of faulty lists
furnished PERB by the University.

They said today that the total response and the majorities recorded on
both questions "greatly strengthen our hand at the negotiating table."

BACKGROUND

Today's election outcome was seen by the union's leaders as a vote of
confidence in its battles with the University arid a clear rejection of
Administration policies.

The union is currently fighting the nies ser in scores of individual
grievances and allegations of major contract violations. They include three
charges of Improper Practice due to be heard by the Public Employment
Relations Board June 15, which challenge:

*the Board of Higher Education action of April 24 which froze salaries
at present levels, effective September 1, 1972, thus canceling the increments
provided in the present contracts;

*the Board's adoption of a multiple positions policy at the same

meeting; and

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*the implementation of student evaluation systems at the various
colleges.

The union claims that all three policies were effected by the University
without the bilateral negotiation called for in the present contracts.

The PSC has also accused the University of failing to implement the
minimal staff facilities and the minimal percentages in professorial ranks
called for in the present contracts.

The University's attempt to freeze the $1.5-million Faculty Research
Program at 2/12 of its contractual level for the coming year was overturned
in an arbitration won by the union May 26.

In addition, the union has beer critical of the Administration, as well
as the City and the State, for failing to adequately fund the Open Admissions
Program. The union has contended that the Program has become a ''revolving
door" for thousands of students deprived of the individualized instruction
they need to overcome scholastic handicaps.

Collective bargaining is still relatively rare in higher education.

Of the approximately 2,500 colleges and universities in the country,
only 254 have faculty -unions.

Many outside New York are watching the progress of the CUNY faculty,
which became the first major university staff to organize and negotiate
master contracts in 1969.

= a

At that time, the United Federation of College Teachers represented the
part-time staff and lecturers, and the Legislative Conference negotiated for
the rest of the full-time staff.

Their merger into the Professional Staff Congress on April 14 ended

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--MORE--


On April 17, the merged organization petitioned PERB for recognition
as the successor of the two previous unions and asked for a single unit.

The University opposed it on both issues, but on May 12 agreed to let
the faculty decide in an election.

Today the faculty decided.