Frustrated by a lack of progress over a new contract, faculty members and employees at the City University of New York voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if a mediator was unable to broker a deal with the administration, their union said on Thursday.þþAny strike would not take place until the fall, according to Barbara Bowen, president of the Professional Staff Congress, which represents 25,000 CUNY employees. State law makes it all but illegal for public employees to go on strike, so union leaders could face arrest and union members could face fines if they walk out.þþStill, out of more than 10,000 ballots cast over a two-week period, 92 percent of union members said yes to a possible walkout.þþ“It sends an extraordinarily clear message to the CUNY chancellor and also to Albany,” said Ms. Bowen, who is also a professor of English at Queens College and at CUNY’s Graduate Center. “We feel that we have pursued vigorously every other avenue.”þþUnion members have been without a contract since 2010 and have had no salary increases in that time. Last year, the university made an offer for a six-year contract, beginning in 2010, which would include salary increases totaling 6 percent, but it fell short of the increase the union had been seeking.þþCUNY asked the state to intervene, and the New York State Public Employment Relations Board selected Kim Moore-Ward, the chief regional mediator and director, to handle the talks.þþComplicating the negotiations was Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s original budget proposal earlier this year, which called for New York City to pick up more of the cost — $485 million, to be exact — of funding CUNY. While that proposal was not included in the final budget, state officials did not allocate any funding for a new contract. As a result, any deal would require the approval of the Legislature and would have to be signed by the governor.þþWith the legislative session scheduled to end in mid-June, Ms. Bowen said the need to hammer out a deal was urgent. Union workers have also looked on, with dismay, as New York City public employee unions have negotiated new contracts with the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio, she said.þþWhen asked about the vote on Thursday, Michael Arena, a CUNY spokesman, said in a statement: “There have been three mediation sessions as well as additional meetings, including earlier this week. Settling the contracts with our faculty and staff is of the highest priority. CUNY continues to work with state and city officials to secure a fair and equitable contract settlement.”þþMs. Bowen said she hoped the ballot results would accelerate the process. The last time the union weighed a strike proposal, in 1973, it was approved by a far smaller margin of 4 to 1. A settlement was reached within two weeks.þ
Source: NY Times
