Kingsborough PSC Chapter

3 Year Averaging of Workload: The teaching load reduction is the result of the latest collective bargaining agreement, and its implementation was negotiated between the PSC and CUNY. The full text of the agreement can be found here. In pondering the challenges facing faculty and the college in implementing the new teaching load, and particularly the transition period, your newsletter editor had the following thoughts. Under the old 27-hour teaching load, a faculty member at... KCC who taught 3-credit hour courses taught nine courses per year, five classes in one semester, four in the other. Once the full reduction in teaching load has been implemented, starting in the 2020-2021 academic year, the faculty member will teach four classes in each semester. In the next academic year (2018-2019), the teaching load will be reduced by one hour, to 26 hours for the year. 26 does not divide evenly by three. (Colleagues who teach 4-hour courses have worked with the problem of 27 hours not being evenly divisible by four for years.) Class scheduling should be a conversation between the faculty member and the department chair. The union encourages all faculty members and chairs to work together to reach a mutually agreeable schedule that facilitates the departmental needs along with the faculty members’ scholarship and service commitments. Remember, the total teaching load includes reassigned time and all teaching in your department, including teaching above the contractual teaching load limit in order to meet the obligations of 3-year averaging. Teaching assignments outside your department are subject to the University’s Multiple Position Policy. Some thoughts about how to manage the teaching load reduction over the next two years: A faculty member teaching 3-credit courses could teach (or have a total teaching load of) 27 hours during 2018-2019 and carry over the 1-hour reduction to the next year when an additional 2-hour reduction will be implemented so that the faculty member could have a 24-hour teaching load during 2019-2020. A faculty member teaching 3-credit courses could teach (or have a total teaching load of) 24 hours during 2018-19 resulting in a 2-hour underage and then have a 27-hour teaching load in 2019-2020 when the obligation is 25 hours, eliminating the underage. Faculty who teach 4-hour classes probably already have to apply 3-year averaging since 27 hours do not divide evenly by four. The good news is that by 2020-2021, 24 hours divide evenly by four. These are merely examples and do not represent an exclusive list of approaches. By the third year (2020-2021), the full 3-hour per year reduction will be in place.

Collective Bargaining Update: On May 15th the bargaining team met with CUNY management for a negotiating session. At this meeting CUNY presented its list of proposals which the union is reviewing. The majority of the meeting was spent by the union presenting its demand for across-the-board salary increases. Sadly, CUNY did not present an economic offer. For summary and complete lists of our contract demands, click here. The PSC bargaining team will be meeting with CUNY a...gain on June 29th. The following update was provided by the central PSC on June 8th: Contract Negotiations to Continue Through the Summer The PSC bargaining team is aggressively pursuing contract negotiations throughout the summer. At the last bargaining session, the union presented comparative data on full-time faculty salaries regionally and nationally, revealing the lack of competitiveness of CUNY salaries. Upcoming sessions are expected to address the salary needs of the lowest-paid full-time faculty and staff positions and the urgent need to raise the minimum adjunct salary to $7K per course. Meanwhile, United University Professions (UUP), the faculty and staff union at the four-year SUNY colleges, reached a tentative agreement with New York State. See more

Labor Management Report Our collective bargaining agreement requires each college president to meet with the respective chapter executive committee at least once per semester. At each meeting the PSC and the President discuss issues of local importance. Our final meeting of the year took place on Monday, June 11th. The following agenda items were brought up and we have included the administration’s responses: 1. Pay check distribution. We again request that the college se...Continue reading

No decision today from the Board of Trustees on KCC's next President.

Here's the link to our June Newsletter: https://www.dropbox.com//Spring%202018%20Newsletter%202.pd