March 28, 2016

The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo

Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224
Leader John J. Flanagan
New York State Senate
Room 330, State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12247
Speaker Carl E. Heastie
New York State Assembly
LOB 932
Albany, NY 12248

Dear Governor Cuomo, Leader Flanagan and Speaker Heastie:

We write as the executive director of AFSCME District Council 37 and the president of The
Professional Staff Congress/CUNY to urge you to ensure that the enacted State budget for FY
2017 includes at least $240 million for retroactive raises for CUNY employees and that it
provide a structure for annual maintenance of effort for public university funding.
We thank the Governor for his announcement on Thursday that New York State will fully fund
the $485 million that was initially part of a cost-shift to New York City, but restoration of
those funds simply returns CUNY to its prior position of inadequate State support. Without
additional funding to support retroactive salary increases for the 35,000 CUNY employees we
represent, the labor contracts at CUNY will be impossible to settle; the quality of education for
CUNYs half-million students will suffer; and tens of thousands of working New Yorkers will
find it increasingly difficult to support themselves and their families.
The employees we represent have not had a raise for at least six yearsseven years for those
represented by DC 37. Top-quality faculty and staff have begun to leave CUNY for other jobs,
endangering the value of a CUNY education. More than 8,000 workers represented by DC 37
are paid less than $15 an hour. The proposed one-time investment of $240 million for retroactive

raises must remain in the enacted budget even now that the State has committed to funding the
full $1.6 billion for CUNY. Officials in the CUNY administration have stated that the true cost
is $330 million.
New Yorkers from every county in the state attend CUNY and rely on its unbeatable
combination of high quality and affordable access. Maintaining academic quality and a stable
labor force at CUNY is vital for the health of the whole state. We call on you to make the onetime investment needed to fund retroactive raises at CUNY and allow the labor contracts to be
settled.
The FY 2017 budget should also include a provision that stabilizes annual State funding for
CUNY (and for SUNY) through language similar to that in the Maintenance of Effort legislation
passed overwhelmingly by both houses of the Legislature in the last session. As a leader in the
knowledge economy, New York State should show the way in investing in our public
universities and ending the annual scramble for funds. State support for CUNY has still not
recovered from the 2008 recession; any vision of a strong future for our state must include stable
funding for public higher education.
Thank you for the attention you have given to the issues we raise and for your commitment to the
future of New York State. It is a commitment we share. The financial well-being of ordinary
New Yorkers is essential to that future. In the name of the 35,000 New Yorkers we represent
and of the families that depend on them, we urge you to make a one-time investment in CUNY
labor agreements and provide fiscal stability to CUNY as part of the enacted budget.

Yours sincerely,

Henry Garrido, DC 37
Executive Director, AFSCME DC 37
125 Barclay Street, NY, NY 10007

Barbara Bowen, Ph.D.

President, Professional Staff Congress/CUNY
61 Broadway, Suite 1500, NY, NY 10006