From: NYSUT History
Published: Spring 1998

Threats to tenure protection and periodic threats of campus closings. Workload issues, health insurance benefits, and pension preservation. Budget restorations to save the very life of public higher education.

These issues and more have all been successfully battled over the past 25 years by New York State United Teachers and its higher education affiliates: the Professional Staff Congress of City University of New York; United University Professions representing academic and professional faculty at the State University; all the locals representing employees at the state's community colleges and a number of private colleges.

Educators learned the value of unions

UUP President William Scheuerman spoke about the strength of UUP, but his comments reflect the accomplishments of all higher ed unionism: "Consider what the state of public higher education in New York would be like without unions. Under what conditions would faculty and staff work? How devastating would have been the budget cuts? How many positions and programs would have been lost? And what of academic freedom, professionalism and individual benefits?"

Lou Stollar, president of United College Employees of Fashion Institute of Technology and the community college representative on the NYSUT Board, noted that young people who wonder why a union is necessary need only look at the demands administrations place on the table to see what life would be like without union protection. "The union has always been a voice for equity and fairness," Stollar said. "It allows us to speak with the voice of thousands, which is always more effective."

Strength in numbers was a common theme in the early years as higher education unions followed the precedent set at the state level in 1972 with the merger of the statewide American Federation of Teachers affiliate and the National Education Association affiliate to form NYSUT.

The State University Federation of Teachers and the Senate Professional Association merged to form SUNY/United, later renamed UUP. At the City University, the Legislative Conference and the United Federation of College Teachers merged to form the Professional Staff Congress.

PSC President Irwin H. Polishook noted the LC and UFCT were rival unions who put aside their significant differences in the interest of more effective representation for CUNY staffers.

"Many observers did not believe the fledgling union had much chance to make a go," Polishook said. "But through perseverance, dedication and hard work, the PSC has succeeded beyond the expectations of its creators. We have repeatedly broken new ground for academic unionism."

At the state community colleges and several private colleges, mostly in New York City and Long Island, the UFCT, with close ties to the K-12 teachers of the United Federation of Teachers, was instrumental in organizing and establishing new union chapters.

Higher ed unionism was spurred, initially in New York City, by a strike in 1965-66 at St. John's University, which dismissed 31 faculty without charges or hearings. Faculty throughout the region were stirred to activism, and the union spirit quickly spread to other campuses throughout the state.

The close relationship between the already strong UFT, led by President Al Shanker, was a boon to the fledging higher education locals. At Fashion Institute of Technology, for example, early union activists met with Shanker to get help in their first contract negotiations. The efforts resulted in FIT winning a contract in 1967 - becoming the first public higher education union in the state to gain a contract. FIT's contract, in fact, was only the second public higher education contract in the country. "It was telling that a very powerful K-12 local was very willing to help a higher ed local get started," Stollar said. "It set the tone for cooperation between higher ed and K-12."

Key is solidarity

This connection continues. "Even though the number of higher ed people are small compared to the K-12 members, we still feel integral," Stollar said. "We always feel tremendously supported by the entire organization." As chapters at community colleges grew in size and confidence, they gradually spun off from the UFCT to become locals affiliated directly with NYSUT and AFT. The UFCT, a NYSUT affiliate, is still the umbrella organization for a chapter at Pratt Institute.

The Yeshiva decision of 1980 effectively stopped organizing efforts, however, at the private colleges. That U.S. Supreme Court decision ruled that faculty at private colleges were managers who did not have collective bargaining rights. Cooper Union faculty successfully challenged the ruling and became probably the last private college to unionize in the early 1980s. The Cooper Union Federation of College Teachers was aided by public college faculty who donned their academic caps and gowns to picket the campus.

The future holds more work for higher education unions which must build on their strength. "As NYSUT and its higher education affiliates mark their 25th anniversaries, we take pride in our achievements and look forward to still greater progress in the next quarter century," Polishook said.