Vol. 28, No.1                                                      January 01, 2006

"FOGGY" BLOWS SMOKE

If we can't trust PSC management's honesty with basic facts, how can we possibly trust them on broader matters?

Between their so-called 'round the clock negotiations and their time on the NYU, TWU, and random additional picket lines ("The PSC---coming to a picket line near you!"), it's a wonder the union bosses can do anything else. Of course, since the contract releases PSC management from all teaching and research responsibilities, they do have lots of free time.

Anyhow, it's come to our attention that a recent edition of The Patriot Returns particularly perturbed PSC VP Steve "Foggy" London. In it, we revealed that PSC management has been playing fast and loose with PSC membership totals. U.S. Department of Labor figures, revealed under penalty of perjury, indicated a membership of between 17,000 and 18,000 for each of the past three years. (According to a Labor Department document dated Nov. 28, 2005, the total was 17,897 people.) But in the midst of their never-ending krazy kontract kampaign, "Battlin' Barb" Bowen and Friends asserted "the Professional Staff Congress represents 20,000 faculty and professional staff at the City University of New York..."

A friend forwarded to us a response to our newsletter from the Hunter PSC list-serv. In it, Foggy blows some smoke and says that the Department of Labor figures reflect a low point in membership (three years in a row?!). The "accurate" total, he asserts---citing a non-public database---is 22,090.

Now, for anyone who believes that the PSC membership has increased by a total of 4,193(!) in the last few months, we have a bridge in Brooklyn we'd like to sell you. So how did he reach his figure? We hear that Foggy counts people who act as substitutes for a day---computer techs brought in from the outside to fix software and hardware problems staff can't handle, and so on. He may even count guest lecturers who get paid a speaking fee by the University. He has consistently used this "Foggy" math to inflate the number of people in the bargaining unit.

But don't take The Patriot's word for it. Let's look at what the PSC itself has said, before we revealed their membership inflation:

• June 2005: New York State Appellate Court, 1st Division: "Petitioner Professional Staff Congress-City University of New York (PSC) is the certified collective bargaining representative of approximately 17,000 instructional and administrative employees of the City University of New York (CUNY)."
• September 2004: The PSC's own house organ, The Clarion , p. 11: "With a membership of 17,000 scholars, artists, professionals, ad teachers, the PSC is beautifully positioned to draw . . ."
• June 2004: "Foggy's" friends at Workers World: "The PSC, American Federation of Teachers Local 2334, represents 18,000 faculty members, adjunct professors and some technical staff at the City University of New York."
• December 2002: PSC Vice President for Part-time Personnel Marcia Newfield: "It would be only fair for adjuncts to have more than one representative on the EC, since adjuncts make up 8,000 of the 17,000 people in the PSC bargaining unit."
• June 2002: "Guv'nor" Stanley Aronowitz campaign press release: "Aronowitz, a distinguished professor at CUNY Graduate Center and an official of the Professional Staff Congress, the 17,000 member union of CUNY faculty and staff . . ."
• 2001: Foggy and the Dear Leader themselves publicly used the 17,000 figure.

We admit: it sure sounds a lot better to tell the Village Voice or the Chronicle that the Dear Leader "represents" 20,000 people. But if we can't trust PSC management to be honest on a basic issue like how many people the bargaining unit contains---information that is easily verifiable through Department of Labor databases and, it turns out, in the PSC's own 2005 filings before the Appellate Court ---how can we possibly trust the Dear Leader on any other matter?

HAS FOGGY LOST HIS WAY?

LISTEN FOR THE FOGHORN

We recently received a phone call from a former strong supporter of the Dear Leader who has grown disillusioned with what Mayor Bloomberg might call the union's "thuggish" tactics.

The news? Be prepared for a broadside from "Foggy" attacking The Patriot Returns. (Apparently the PSC bosses are none too pleased about the revelation of these inconvenient facts.) Another reason for Foggy's aggressiveness? According to our Confidential Informant, he needs to "prove his value" to the Dear Leader---who, as we've reported before, is considering replacing him on the next ticket with someone less inclined to hog her spotlight.

Well, we can only say to Foggy, "Welcome to the reality-based community." We're sure that your attacks will be treated with a level of skepticism appropriate for someone who claimed that the PSC's membership skyrocketed by more than 4,000 in a matter of days, between Nov. 2005 and Dec. 2005. And here we thought that you had lost members. Nice goin', Steve!

And some unsolicited advice to Foggy: try telling us how, if we can't trust union management about information contradicted by material from the PSC's own 2005 filings before the Appellate Court, we should trust you on broader matters?

Happy New Year from all of us at The Patriot Returns!

Sharad Karkhanis, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus

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