Furloughs Coming to CUNY!

Dear Commons Community,

In recent days, the PSC and CUNY administrators have been warning that Governor Patterson has proposed one-day a week furloughs for all faculty and staff.  According to the NY Times, it appears that a furlough has been approved by the NYS Legislature that  would require all faculty and staff to take one day a week off without pay.  The PSC is challenging this as a breach of the collective bargaining agreement and is seeking a court injunction.   This is not the first time that this has happened at CUNY.  Those of us who were here during the fiscal crisis in the 1970s, remember when all CUNY personnel were furloughed for two weeks.  The two weeks lost pay was returned about ten years later.  Below is an email from Manfred Philipp, CUNY’s University Faculty Senate representative on the CUNY Board of Trustees.

Tony

Manfred Philipp’s email

Dear Colleagues,

According to the NY Times, the legislature approved the furlough bill

by party lines, most Democrats in favor, most Republicans opposed.

see http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/nyregion/11furlough.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Some believe that the legislation, which provides for a 1 day furlough

in the week from May 17 through May 23, will be repeated each week.

How the furlough will be implemented in CUNY is unclear, and it is

unclear if the court challenges will succeed in preventing the

implementation of the furlough.

Here is PSC President Barbara Bowen’s statement on the legislation,

issued yesterday:

http://psc-cuny.org/BBletter050910.htm.

To repeat, VC Allan Dobrin’s statement is on the CUNY web site at

http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/forum/2010/05/10/update-furlough-proposal-for-state-employees/

Here is the posted furlough bill, which exempts managerial employees

from the furlough.

(see http://www.state.ny.us/governor/bills/pdf/gpb_250.pdf )

Dear Commons Community,

The NY Times is reporting that the NY State Education Department and New York’s teachers’ unions have reached a deal to overhaul teacher evaluations and tie them to student test scores. This would be a major shift in the position of teachers unions that have steadfastly resisted any attempt to tie evaluations to student performance especially as measured by standardized tests. The agreement represents some compromise and does not entirely base evaluations on one test but on multiple tests. A major rationale for the agreement is to allow New York State to qualify for federal education funds that require among other things, tying teacher evaluations to student outcomes. The article accurately concludes that this agreement requires the approval of the NYS Legislature.

The full article is available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/nyregion/11teacher.html?th&emc=tha NY Times

Tony