CUNY ALLIANCE

The Bowen/ London Bridge is Falling Down

Dear Colleague:

President Obama's stimulus package calls for providing millions of jobs through the rebuilding of the nation's infrastructure. By rebuilding the nation's crumbling bridges and roads he believes that this will create millions of jobs and stimulate the economy. Like most Americans, I am weary of bailouts, but I hope the President succeeds.

Just as our nation faces difficult challenges, so does our union. After 9 years in office (one year longer than George Bush), Barbara Bowen and Steve London's bridge is falling down. I always suspected that the New Caucus was highjacking the union's mission and goals by taking the union on a trip across a "bridge to everywhere" as is made apparent by their concentrated and extended battle to help workers in every corner of the earth. In so doing, they have diluted and wasted our resources at home, and have failed miserably to focus more on bread and butter issues pertinent to the membership. These unfocused strategies have left the state of the union in shambles and has eroded the basic principles for which our union exists.

A good example of the New Caucus not focusing on bread and butter issues is the current contract that the leadership often boasts as a "good" contract, yet when compared to contracts reached by SUNY's faculty union and other municipal unions in New York City, the contract leaves a lot to be desired. Our wage increases have not kept pace with the cost of living, and our dental benefits are horrible. I often remind my faculty colleagues that our "Dental Plan Has No Teeth." Just as former President George Bush gutted the surplus that he inherited from Bill Clinton, the New Caucus has gutted the PSC Welfare Fund of millions of dollars and failed to improve the financial strength of the fund despite an injection of givebacks from raises we received in the previous contract. Bottom line: The Welfare Fund continues to operate in the red.

I am convinced that after 9 years of failure we need new blood to stimulate our union, to build a stronger union that focuses on improving dental benefits, better wages, more desirable working conditions, job security, and improved shared governance. We must rebuild our infrastructure and repair the road that will lead us to a better contract in the future.

My message to the New Caucus has always been and continues to be: "You cannot be everything to everybody and nothing to yourself." You need to stop diverting our financial and intellectual resources to every cause, no matter how just, that comes your way. The PSC needs to focus on taking care of the needs of the PSC membership.

I am thoroughly convinced that the union is in need of its own stimulus package, one that the CUNY ALLIANCE can deliver for CUNY faculty and staff. We will not allow the Bowen/London bridge which is rusting and in disrepair to stop the CUNY ALLIANCE from building a new bridge that will reconnect us to the bread and butter issues of our union.

Professor James Blake
Candidate for 1st Vice President
CUNY ALLIANCE

CUNY ALLIANCE thanks you for your support

President: Frederick Brodzinski

First Vice-President: James Blake

Secretary: Thea Pignataro

Treasurer: Rina Yarmish

To contact us via email write to: ca@cunyalliance.org
www.CUNYALLIANCE.ORG