Posts tagged CUNY

    Radio / Pod Cast Research ● Labor Unionization Unions

    Challenging Exclusive Representation: A Fight for Free Speech and Union Accountability; Disunion: The Government Union Report podcast

    November 14, 2024 // Osborne and McGrath delve into the legal implications of exclusive representation, where a union speaks for all employees in a bargaining unit, including non-members, and restricts individual negotiations. They discuss how exclusive representation in New York grants significant union power, even allowing the union to pursue anti-Israel stances as part of its collective bargaining scope. This case, they suggest, could reshape public sector labor rights and potentially dismantle exclusive representation if the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case and finds that it infringes on employees’ rights to free speech and association.

    anti-Israel Antisemitism Avraham Goldstein collective bargaining contract negotiations CUNY exclusive representation Fairness Center First Amendment free speech Goldstein v. Professional Staff Congress Goldstein v. PSC/CUNY Labor Law Nathan McGrath National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation New York Public Sector Supreme Court union election

    Op-ed / Commentary Research ● Labor Unions

    NEW YORK: Hochul Report Whitewashes Teachers Union Antisemitism; Commentary

    October 31, 2024 // Months before Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, a CUNY Law commencement speaker delivered what one commentator described as a “Nuremburg-style screed” against Israel, accusing it of murder and lynchings. CUNY’s administration called the speech “unacceptable.” Meanwhile, the PSC, led by Davis, demanded that CUNY — not the speaker — retract its statement. After the Oct. 7 attacks, the union allowed “CUNY4Palestine” to promote anti-Israel rallies on the union’s email list and later condemned Columbia University for dispersing a pro-Hamas student encampment.

    AFT anti-Israel rally Antisemitism Bill Cassidy boycott collective bargaining CUNY CUNY4Palestine First Amendment Goldstein v. PSC/CUNY James Davis Kathy Hochul New York New York City Council private sector pro-Hamas Professional Staff Congress professors Supreme Court

    Radio / Pod Cast ● Labor Unions

    ‘A Hotbed Of Anti-Semitism’: Jewish Professors Take Their Case To The Supreme Court

    October 8, 2024 //

    anti-Israel Anti-Semitism boycott Boycott Divestment and Sanctions collective bargaining condition of employment CUNY discrimination Fairness Center First Amendment Freedom Foundation Goldstein v. Professional Staff Congress/CUNY Hamas Holocaust Janus Jeffrey Lax Jewish Kingsborough Community College Marxist Nathan McGrath National Right to Work New York October 7 Professional Staff Congress professors S.A.F.E. Campus Supreme Court

    News Article ● Labor Unionization Unions

    More Workers Are Filing For — and Winning – Union Elections Than in Any Year in the Past Decade

    September 12, 2024 // A surge in union activity since the COVID-19 lockdown shows no signs of stopping, though it’s still not enough to reverse the two-decade downward trend in union membership in New York and across the nation.

    academics automobile industry Barnes & Noble Contract Faculty United COVID-19 CUNY CUNY State of the Unions report doctors federal labor law film industry Gen Z Great Recession labor activity Labor Market millennials New York New York University NLRB nurses NYC Central Labor Council NYU Occupy Wall Street petition to unionize private sector student debt UAW unionize young people

    Op-ed / Commentary ● Labor Unions

    Josh Shapiro rescued me from Soviet antisemitism, can continue fighting for Jews – opinion

    August 15, 2024 // How can a union that broadcasts its hatred for Jews also negotiate in my best interests? The idea is absurd to me, and I’m far from alone. Public employees throughout New York and across the country are, likewise, unable to represent themselves or choose a different representative no matter what their union says or does in their name. But in America, the First Amendment protects our rights of free speech and association. So, I joined with five of my colleagues, four of whom are also Jews, to file a lawsuit to gain complete freedom from a union we see as antisemitic. Now, the US Supreme Court will soon decide whether to hear our case.

    adjunct university faculty anti-Jewish Anti-Semitic Labor Union Anti-Semitism CUNY Goldstein v. Professional Staff Congress/CUNY Jewish Josh Shapiro Pennsylvania Professional Staff Congress/CUNY University

    News Article ● Labor Unionization Unions

    Beleaguered CUNY Professors Appeal to SCOTUS for Relief from Union They Claim Is Antisemitic

    August 6, 2024 // The cert petition says the heart of their complaint is the question, “Can the government force Jewish professors to accept the representation of an advocacy group they rightly consider to be anti-Semitic?” They claim that various Supreme Court rulings, including Janus and NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co., articulate their First Amendment right to “eschew association for expressive purposes” and “boycott entities to express a message.” The petition charges the lower courts have misinterpreted Knight, saying that ruling “did not sanction a state forcing Jewish faculty members who are ardent Zionists to accept the representation of a union that supports policies they consider anti-Israel,” and urges the Court to grant to petition to “clarify Knight and make clear that the First Amendment protects individuals’ right to dissociate themselves from advocacy groups that support policies contrary to their deeply held beliefs.”

    Anti-Semitic Avraham Goldstein City University of New York CUNY Fairness Center First Amendment Frimette Kass-Shraibman Goldstein v. Professional Staff Congress/CUNY Janus Jeffrey Lax Maria Pagano Michael Goldstein Minnesota Board of Community Colleges v. Knight Mitchell Langbert NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co. Nathan McGrath National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation New York Professional Staff Congress professors Public Employees public-college public-sector union Religious Freedom SCOTUS Taylor Law

    Research ● Corruption Labor Unions

    CUNY profs appeal to SCOTUS to leave anti-Semitic public sector union

    July 31, 2024 // The National Right to Work Foundation (NRTW) and the Fairness Center, which are representing the professors, recently appealed to the Supreme Court to hear the case. The groups argue that compulsory union representation violates citizens’ right to freedom of association. The professors each resigned their membership from the union, CUNY’s Professional Staff Congress (PSC-CUNY), following that group’s issuance of a pro-Hamas, anti-Israel resolution in 2021.

    Anti-Semitic Avraham Goldstein compulsory unionism CUNY Fairness Center First Amendment freedom of association Frimette Kass-Shraibman Hamas Jeffrey Lax Jewish Maria Pagano Michael Goldstein Mitchell Langbert Nathan McGrath National Right to Work Foundation New York Professional Staff Congress (PSC) professors Public Sector public-sector union Supreme Court Taylor Law

    Press Release ● Labor Unionization Unions

    CUNY Professors Ask U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Case Challenging Forced Association with Antisemitism-Linked Union

    July 23, 2024 // “Knight did not sanction a state forcing Jewish faculty members who are ardent Zionists to accept the representation of a union that supports policies they consider anti-Israel,” the petition continues. “The Court should grant this petition to clarify Knight and make clear that the First Amendment protects individuals’ right to dissociate themselves from advocacy groups that support policies contrary to their deeply held beliefs.”

    African-American anti-Israel Antisemitism bargaining units City University of New York CUNY Fairness Center First Amendment Janus v. AFSCME Jewish Maria Pagano Minnesota State Board for Community Colleges v. Knight New York Professional Staff Congress professors Public Sector Workers railway workers Steele v. Louisville & Nashville Railway Co Supreme Court Taylor Law

    Press Release ● Labor Unionization Unions

    Circuit Court Keeps CUNY Professors Trapped in ‘Anti-Semitic’ Union; Appeal Promised

    March 20, 2024 // Six profs, five of whom are Jewish, are suing for the right to reject the representation of a union they view as anti-Jewish and anti-Israel. The Supreme Court could decide their case.

    anti-Israel anti-Jewish Anti-Semitic Anti-Semitic Labor Union appeal Avraham Goldstein bargaining unit CUNY exclusive representation First Amendment Janus decision Janus v. AFSCME Jewish National Right to Work Foundation New York professors public-sector union Second Circuit Court of Appeals Supreme Court Taylor Law

    News Article Video ● Unions

    NYC profs see Supreme Court as ‘only hope’ in fight with ‘antisemitic’ teachers union

    January 26, 2024 // In 2021, one such teachers union, Professional Staff Congress/CUNY (PSC), adopted a "Resolution in Support of the Palestinian People" which the group of six professors viewed as antisemitic, anti-Jewish and anti-Israel. These professors chose to then resign from the union, but under state law are still required to affiliate with and be represented in bargaining by that same union. "My family and I suffered severe anti-Semitic harassment and persecution at the hands of the Soviet Union for over fifteen years," professor of mathematics Avraham Goldstein said in a statement. "I hoped it was all in my past. But now I am forced to associate with a union that makes anti-Semitic political statements in my name without my permission or consent."

    14th Amendment bargaining unit benefits City University of New York collective bargaining collective bargaining unit CUNY Fairness Center First Amendment Israel Janus v. AFSCME Jeffrey Lax Jewish National Right to Work Legal Foundation New York State law Palestinian Professional Staff Congress/CUNY professors raises Second Circuit Court of Appeals Supreme Court Taylor Law union dues union fees