 
|
Dante Morelli
Okay, FA obviously stands for Faculty Association but taking stock of all our union has done so far this semester, it seems to me that “fierce advocates” also fits. Your union has been advocating on multiple issues that affect our members, our profession, our students and our institution—both externally and internally, as shown below. You will also see elsewhere in this issue of The WORD that we have been working diligently to provide input on the end-of-course student experience surveys, Beacon and the credentialing handbook as well as to work on ways to address adjunct colleagues’ concerns, community concerns and better serving all of our students, including military-connected students. Fix Tier 6
We held a successful Fix Tier 6 rally on October 6, at which nearly 1,000 union members across Suffolk County and Long Island joined us on the Grant Campus to advocate for retirement tier equity. Who are we out there rallying for? Our colleagues! There are more than 500 colleagues at the college who are in Tiers 5 and 6. That includes our full-time members and adjunct faculty members who enrolled in a retirement plan. Unions attending the rally included many K-12 NYSUT unions, Suffolk Association of Municipal Employees (AME), Suffolk Police Benevolent Association (PBA), Suffolk County Correctional Officers Association (SCCOA), Suffolk Superior Officers Association (SOA), Suffolk County Detectives Association, Suffolk County Probation Officers Association (POA), Suffolk County Detective Investigators PBA, Suffolk County Deputy Sheriffs PBA, SCCC Guild of Administrative Officers, Long Island Federation of Labor (LI Fed), Public Employees Federation (PEF) and Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA). All these unions showed up in force, with Brentwood Teachers Association bringing the largest group of members. These loud voices, advocating and mobilizing together, is what is affecting change for our members. I thank President Lou Civello of the Suffolk PBA for donating the PBA’s canteen truck that provided drinks and snacks for attendees. I also thank SCCOA President Lou Viscusi for donating two sign trucks that displayed Fix Tier 6 messages. The rally was well attended by several elected officials representing both the New York State Assembly and Senate. Speakers included: NYS Assembly Deputy Speaker Phil Ramos; former labor leader NYS Senator Mario Mattera; retired NYSUT teacher and NYS Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni; retired NYSUT teacher and supporter of labor NYS Senator Dean Murray; former NYSUT teacher and supporter of labor Higher Education committee member Assemblyman Doug Smith. Thanks also go to other elected officials who attended the rally, NYS Assemblyman Mike Durso, NYS Assemblyman Steve Stern, and a representative from NYS Senator Monica Martinez’s office. Fixing Tier 6 is important because there is currently inequity between many members who are Tier 4 compared to those who are in Tiers 5 and 6. For one, members in Tiers 5 and 6 have to contribute for the lifetime of their career (3.5% for Tier 5 and 3-6% for Tier 6 members, depending on their salary). Additionally, members working in Tiers 5 and 6 must work longer: age 57 with 30 years for members in Tier 5 vs. age 63 for Tier 6. Both the FA and our state union NYSUT are fighting for tier equity for members who are enrolled in Tiers 5 and 6. There has been initial success in fixing Tier 6 by which both tiers’ final average salary was changed from five years to three. But the fight continues. We encourage you to learn more and help the nearly 200 FA and Guild members at SCCC who are currently in Tiers 5 and 6. No Kings Rally
FA leaders and members attended No Kings rallies to protest cuts and threats to higher education. As I have stated before, the federal administration is coming after our profession, our students, our labor and our institution, and I’ve highlighted cuts to healthcare and SNAP benefits that could affect our state budget contributions. The current cuts to many programs in the federal budget is already causing ripple effects in New York State. Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office has estimated that with the current cuts, NYS will face a $39 billion shortfall between now and 2029. Since my last article, it was announced that the Department of Education closed their TRIO office with the latest firings and cuts. We have hundreds of students who receive resources from TRIO and we have full-time faculty who are paid by TRIO grant funds. It’s too early to tell what repercussions will come from this, but these cuts put our students and members at risk.
I stated at our Executive Council meeting that we are in a long first quarter of an even longer four-quarter football game. The next 3 1/2 years of this federal administration promises to be full of cuts and policies that will negatively affect our profession, our students, our labor and our institution, which we have already seen. As leaders of your union, we feel that we need to demonstrate a level of advocacy to show that we are not okay with the policies and decisions impacting students and members. For example, we spoke up when SCCC student Sara Lopez Garcia was detained and deported despite following the existing laws and rules for obtaining green card status. Even though she was steps away from completing this legal process, the federal administration did not care about Sara’s Special Immigrant Juvenile legal status. Please know that we didn’t attend a No Kings Rally to be anti-Trump. We attended the rally to protest the actions that are negatively affecting our profession, our students, our labor and our institution. The FA has done likewise in the past as well; you may recall that the FA led a protest in 2017 when President Trump came to speak at the Grant Campus, when there were far fewer issues affecting the work we do. VOTE-COPE Your union has a strong voice with the help and assistance of NYSUT, AFT, NEA and the AFL-CIO. These unions have litigated cuts that threaten union labor and public education. We need to continue our advocacy efforts, and VOTE-COPE is one of the vehicles by which we can have our voice heard at the local and state levels. A biweekly VOTE-COPE contribution, in any amount, enables us to continue our advocacy efforts both at the county and state level. This also helps to ensure that we maintain strong, fair contracts and affordable healthcare. I stated earlier in this article that mobilizing large groups of union members can help affect change, especially when it comes to Fixing Tier 6. When it comes to other issues, it sometimes feels overwhelming that we cannot affect change. However, by bringing all of our voices together, whether through advocating or pushing back against threats to our labor, we can make the change that is needed move our labor and our students forward. |
