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THE PATRIOT RETURNS |
Vol. 57, No.3 - January 16,2012
DO YOU WANT TO DONATE TO THE WORKING FAMILIES PARTY?
As we revealed in our most recent newsletter, the PSC leadership—prodded by our Dear Leader, Barbara Bowen, and her trusty sidekick, Steve London—pushed through their rubber-stamp Delegate Assembly a plan to give at least $30,000 annually of our dues money to the Working Families Party. We fully support the right of each and every PSC member to donate as much of their own money as they want to the Working Families Party. But what's the justification for the PSC leadership making that decision for all of us, especially since the donation seems almost certain to make no difference in the positions that the WFP takes? PSC members have no ability to prevent Drs. Bowen and London from giving union dues money to the WFP. But each and every one of us can, at least, get our share of the donation back, by filing for agency fee status. Once a person switches status to that of “agency fee payer,” one is no longer a union member. Since the agency fee goes to the union (the same place to which dues are paid by members) the fee payer is still covered by the contract and is entitled to all the same benefits as union members, including all Welfare Fund medical coverages, and the right to legal representation via grievance. However a fee payer loses the right to vote in union elections. It's easy to become an agency fee payer. Here's what you need to do: 1. A member just submits a letter to the union asking for a change in status. That can be done at any time. 2. But getting a yearly refund requires that a fee payer submit a letter to the PSC president during the month of May, specifically objecting to his/her use of the agency fee for political purposes. For your protection, send each letter “Return Receipt Requested” AND simultaneously write an email to Barbara Bowen (bbowen@pscmail.org) stating that the letter was sent and reproducing its content. (Return Receipts aren't evidence of content, but an email is.) The letter should include the following statement: "I write as an agency fee payer to register my objection to the expenditure of any part of my union fee in aid of activities or causes of a political or ideological nature only incidentally related to terms and conditions of employment. Please remit to me my portion of those expenditures." The Patriot asks that if you do in fact send the letter and email to Barbara Bowen requesting Agency Fee status and a refund, please forward those communications to us at patr@patriotreturns.com. This will enable us to report on the number of objectors in the future, and to provide help, support and updates on subsequent decisions in these cases as they unfold. We will also advise you, should you encounter any problems with getting the appropriate percentage back from the PSC. If you have filed for Agency Fee/Objector status in the past and wish us to apprise you of future happenings related to fee payers, we likewise suggest that you inform us via email. The full procedure for objectors is outlined on the PSC website, although they make it hard to find. But here's the link to the procedures:
PATRIOT NOMINATES SEIDEMANN FOR PSC AWARD Please know that members of the faculty and instructional staff who care can make a difference! As a result of the courageous efforts of Dr. David Seidemann (Professor of Geology, BC), an agency fee payer in New York State, Connecticut or Vermont now need only write one letter objecting to political expenditures (during May in the case of the PSC) and a refund or pre-bate comes automatically each year thereafter. Prior to Dr. Seidemann's suit against the PSC, fee payers in the union had been required to re-file every May, an undue burden which discouraged many from making the refund request. [Seidemann vs Bowen]
A MULTIPLE CHOICE QUIZ A multiple choice quiz to kick off the new year. At least $30K annually in our dues money will be forked over to the Working Families Party. How long will it be before some of these funds are kicked back to Drs. Bowen and London for service as WFP “consultants”? • By June 30, 2012 • By June 30, 2013 • By June 30, 2014
In an interview with The Chief , our Dear Leader said that she “absolutely” agreed “that CUNY is desperately under-funded. We are always concerned about the lack of funds. CUNY has lost $300 million in cuts over the last three years and that's on top of 20 years of disinvestment.” Last fall, there were three funding options for CUNY. Option one was for the state legislature to boost taxes on New Yorkers earning more than $1 million, and then allocate those funds not for politically popular programs like unemployment insurance or public works projects, but instead for aid for CUNY. Option two was for the Board of Trustees to enact a modest increase in CUNY tuition, with all of the acquired funds going back into the CUNY budget. Option three was to do nothing, and see the resulting budget shortfall almost certainly lead to some adjuncts losing their jobs. As part of their commitment to a “progressive” agenda, Drs. Bowen and London favored the first option. But the first option was never viable politically, since the Republicans who control the state Senate made clear they wouldn't take this approach. The Dear Leader might have figured this out but for her policy of refusing to speak to legislative Republicans. So in the real world of fall 2011, the only options available were the tuition increase or a funding cut that would cause some adjuncts to lose their jobs. Yet Dr. Bowen and her minions did everything in their power—including engage in what they termed civil disobedience—to block the tuition increase. Fortunately for CUNY adjuncts, they failed, funding was stabilized, and no layoffs were necessary. The lesson sent to adjuncts, however, was perfectly clear: if the PSC leadership has to choose between embarrassing the Chancellor and making sure that all current CUNY faculty keep their jobs, the choice will always be advancing the New Caucus ideological agenda.
Sharad Karkhanis, Ph.D.
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