WE ARE CARU:
THE CUNY ALLIANCE FOR RESPONSIBLE UNIONISM

• The PSC walks rather than talks. At the contract negotiations of December 1, 2004, CUNY presented its initial economic offer. Like the union, we at CARU consider the offer woefully inadequate. The PSC's reaction, however, helps explain why we don't yet have a contract: the union boss called the offer obscene and immediately left the session. Leaving negotiating sessions in a huff impresses no one, and only delays the inevitable reasoned negotiations that are required to reach a bargain acceptable to both sides.



• The PSC favors disruption over discussion. For example, on November 29, 2004, the PSC, chanting for a new contract, disrupted a meeting of the monthly meeting of the CUNY Board of Trustees. We all want a new contract, but disrupting the meetings of the Board is a childish and ultimately empty gesture that needlessly antagonizes management. The PSC's public tantrums are a poor substitute for diligent negotiations.



• The PSC demonizes management. The PSC claims through local actions, such as its demonstration at the Colombian consulate, "we join forces against a common enemy" and that murderous attacks on educators in Colombia are "really designed to crush teachers' resistance to the same conservative agenda against public education we are fighting in New York." Linking political disagreements in New York with murders in Colombia is disingenuous. When the PSC demonizes management with intellectually embarrassing claims, the union undermines its credibility at the negotiating table.

The PSC's failure to perform with due diligence in negotiations is just a symptom of the larger problem: the union's focus on political issues that have little to do with work-related issues. Indeed, that problem garnered the CUNY Board's attention at last month's meeting, when Trustee Jeffrey S. Wiesenfeld expressed concern that PSC management may be abusing its discretion by spending union dues on superfluous political activities. The Chair of the Board indicated that he would ask the University's General Counsel and Vice Chancellor Brenda Malone to investigate the Board's responsibility in this matter. We commend Trustee Wiesenfeld for addressing this important matter, and, in the spirit of democracy and openness, we urge PSC management to cooperate wholeheartedly with the investigation.

The bottom line:

CUNY workers need a union leadership that focuses on the economic well being of its members, rather than global politics, and that takes a tough yet reasoned approach to bargaining. The PSC leadership's tactics of demonizing, disruption, and delay undermine the interests of its members.