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NYC profs see Supreme Court as 'only hope' in fight with 'antisemitic' teachers union
A group of City University of New York (CUNY) professors are suing a teachers union they say promotes antisemitism, waging a legal battle in which they believe the Supreme Court could be their “only hope.”
New York State law requires that even if one chooses to leave a teachers union, they still have to remain members of a collective bargaining unit represented by the union.That unit effectively controls pay raises, benefits, leave and other policies both for union and nonunion faculty.
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.”
GRANDSON OF HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS BLAMES COLLEGES AFTER STUDENTS PROTEST AT VIGIL FOR SLAIN ISRAELIS
CUNY Professor Avraham Goldstein is one of six professors challenging New York’s law that forces him to be represented by a union. (Credit: The Fairness Center)
The Supreme Court in 2018 issued a decision in a case called Janus v. AFSCME, which said nonmember public employees could not be forced to pay fees to a union, as doing so would violate their First Amendment rights.
But right before the high court decided Janus, New York amended what’s known as the Taylor Law – the law governing public-sector collective bargaining in the state – to reduce the duties public-sector unions owed to nonmembers.
Prior to the Taylor law, unions were required to fairly represent both members and nonmembers.
The Fairness Center, a nonprofit public interest law firm representing the professors, says that with amendments to the Taylor Law, “unions like the PSC are free to treat nonmembers, like these professors, as second-class employees, offering them inferior services compared to members.”
“Plaintiffs’ forced inclusion in their bargaining unit does a disservice to them and causes them to be disadvantaged in their terms and conditions of employment and in their relations with their fellow employees and the general public,” the professors’ brief states.
The professors, all but one of whom are Jewish, are suing the union, the university and the city, citing the First and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
“[T]he ongoing deprivation of rights… caused by state statutes and Defendants’ contracts, policies, and practices that designate PSC as Plaintiffs’ exclusive bargaining representative with their Employer, force Plaintiffs into a defined bargaining unit with others who do not share the same interests, and require some Plaintiffs to continue to financially subsidize PSC’s speech even though they have resigned their membership in the union,” the legal filing reads.
CUNY PROFESSOR RIPS GRADUATION SPEAKER’S ‘DISGUSTING’ ANTI-ISRAEL, ANTI-POLICE TIRADE: ‘WORST’ I’VE EVER HEARD
A protester stomps on an Israeli flag during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Midtown Manhattan on Nov. 2, 2023, outside the CUNY chancellor’s office. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)
“PSC’s designation as exclusive bargaining representative and Plaintiffs’ mandatory inclusion in a bargaining unit violate Plaintiffs’ speech, petitioning, and associational rights under the First Amendment,” it continues.
The case was filed in a district court in 2022. In November of last year, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the case, and is expected to issue an opinion in the coming weeks. If it doesn’t go their way, the professors say they will appeal their case to the Supreme Court.
“I think our only hope is the U.S. Supreme Court,” Professor Jeffrey Lax told Fox News Digital in an interview.
“And my message would be to the Supreme Court… we’re not just trying to take a position that’s different than the union’s. We’re not just saying that the union’s views towards Jewish people are abhorrent to us. That’s not why we’re saying we want to leave this union,” said Lax.
Lax, a descendant of Holocaust survivors, said he believes the antisemitic underpinnings of the union are based on Marxist teachings, to which members of the union subscribe.
CUNY LAW STUDENT BREAKS SILENCE ON ‘EVIL’ ‘ANTI-AMERICAN’ COMMENCEMENT SPEECH: ‘WOULD NOT CHANGE SINGLE WORD’
The Fairness Center is representing six CUNY professors fighting their teachers union. (Credit: The Fairness Center)
Lax said he is “not surprised” to see the uptick in antisemitic activism on college campuses following the devastating attacks in Israel on Oct. 7 carried out by Hamas terrorists, because antisemitic ideology has been simmering on campuses for years. And he says the unions are in part to blame, promoting anti-Israel demonstrations on campus.
“These unions have almost limitless funds. They’re not using it to bargain, they’re not using it to help their employees’ better salaries or working conditions… they’re doing it for political and ideological gain and to indoctrinate students.” Lax said.
Returning a request for comment Friday, a spokesperson for the union told Fox News Digital in an emailed statement that “[t]he Goldstein lawsuit is meritless.”
“It has been brought by members of the CUNY faculty who are not members of the PSC and who are funded by the anti-union National Right to Work Legal Foundation in another attempt to eliminate unions,” the statement reads. “Representing every worker in a shop is fundamental to a union’s power. It’s what makes the workers’ power collective and gives them the combined strength to win better pay and working conditions.”
“The core question of the suit has been answered,” the statement added.
The resolution at the center of the suit adopted by the union in 2021 termed “the continued subjection of Palestinians to the state-supported displacement, occupation, and use of lethal force by Israel,” and required chapter-level discussion of possible support by PSC for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions – or BDS – movement.
Lax said that while “it is true the union’s opinion about Jewish people, and Zionism and Zionist Jews are abhorrent to us,” that’s not the main crux of his case.
“The main thing is that by forcing us to be part of the bargaining unit, they force us to allow them to bargain for our working conditions, and they don’t care about the pervasive antisemitism that we’re all seeing that’s going on right now at universities across the country, and it is the worst at my university,” he said.
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The North Haven Police Department is continuing to investigate after a male was shot while riding a moped on Sunday night.
According to police, a 20-year-old male was shot in the area of Whitney Avenue near the Hamden town line.
The victim sustained non-life-threatening serious injuries and was transported to the hospital.
No other information has been released.
Police are continuing to investigate, and say that there will be a heavy police presence in the area of Whitney Avenue and Skiff Street.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the North Haven Police Department.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WABI) – Maine veterans returned home Sunday after a weekend in Washington, D.C.
Giving local veterans and their loved ones a visit to the capital of the nation they dedicated their lives to is the aim of Honor Flight Maine.
Marking their second trip of the year, the nonprofit provided about 70 Pine Tree State veterans a free trip to Washington to visit the memorials and monuments dedicated to their service.
For many, this was this first time seeing the capital in person.
“Unreal,” “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” and “tear-dropping” were among the sentiments shared by veterans about the Honor Flight. Others remarked on the memories revived by visiting the ceremonial spaces.
“I have some friends that’s over there, so it really was nice,” said Edward Lee, a Vietnam veteran from Bangor.
Lee was able to find one friend’s name engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Using graphite and a piece of paper, he made a rubbing of the name to take home.
Rose Marie Curtis, a Navy nurse who served in Vietnam, said seeing the three nurses depicted at the Vietnam Women’s Memorial sent her back in time.
“For so many years, you don’t think about something. You’re doing this and doing that and having children, whatever. But this really brings you back,” Curtis described.
Not only does the trip give veterans the opportunity to see these sites, it allows a chance to connect; with perhaps a past or present self, and with fellow veterans.
“It’s what makes Honor Flight Maine special because you’re with your own kind,” explained Charlie Paul, a Vietnam War veteran who has been involved with Honor Flight Maine for a decade. “We’re a segment of society, they remember us on Memorial Day. They remember us on Veteran’s Day. They remember us on Armed Forces Day. But then they forget about us. And so for us as an organization to take them down here and see their memorials, it just lets them know they’re that special.”
For Lincoln veteran Richard Rollins, the visit gave him “closure,” considering, “…when I got out of the service, I mean, to be honest, even in ’79, I was never thanked.”
Among former servicemembers of all ages, father-son veterans James and Michael Sherman said the trip opened up conversation, sharing stories they had never told each other about their service.
“It means the world that people care, and we shouldn’t wait a moment to tell the people that are important to us what they mean to us,” Michael Sherman remarked.
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U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, a moderate Massachusetts Democrat, secured enough delegate support Saturday to appear on the state’s primary ballot as he challenges incumbent U.S. Sen. Ed Markey in this year’s Senate race.
Yet even though Moulton cleared a key hurdle to continue his Senate bid, it was Markey who won the party’s endorsement after winning more than 50% of the delegation’s support.
“You have a choice, you have to decide what the future looks like and what you’re going to demand,” Markey said Saturday in front of more than 4,000 delegates.
Markey won nearly 73% of the delegates’ support, while Moulton won nearly 27% of the vote. Massachusetts Democratic Party rules require statewide candidates to get at least 15% of delegate support to appear on primary ballots.
In heavily Democratic Massachusetts, the Senate primary contest is one of the most closely watched in the country as Moulton, 47, has centered his campaign on changing the status quo and demanding a generational shift in leadership.
If reelected, Markey would be 80 before his third six-year term would begin. While Markey has touted his stamina and embrace of progressive policies, questions about age have continued to swirl around Democratic candidates as they fight to take back control of Congress.
Incumbent Sen. Ed Markey is leading Rep. Seth Moulton, but if Rep. Ayanna Pressley were to enter the Democratic primary, it would change the picture, according to a new poll from Suffolk University and The Boston Globe.
In his nomination speech, Moulton argued that the Democratic Party needed more than “incremental change” and needed to start anew.
“It’s time for the generation that grew up with the internet, and will have to live for decades with AI, to lead our way through it,” Moulton said.
Moulton only addressed his opponent briefly during his nomination speech, giving a passing nod on not waiting another six years for generational change and later calling on Markey to participate in multiple debates before the September primary. Currently, the two candidates have agreed to participate in one debate later this summer.
Markey, instead, took a more critical approach by attacking Moulton’s previous comments about transgender kids and accepting corporate PAC money.
“Massachusetts deserves better than a senator who scapegoats trans kids,” Markey said to loud cheers.
In 2024, Moulton caught flak from some members of his party for saying he didn’t want his daughters playing in sports against transgender girls. Critics said Moulton echoed Trump’s talking points against allowing transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports.
Moulton has since said his intent with that statement “was to point out that, as a party, we need to be willing to have difficult conversations.”
Moulton, who enlisted in the Marines after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and served four tours of duty in Iraq, was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014. He briefly launched a 2020 presidential campaign, but he dropped that bid after a few months.
Markey served as a Massachusetts congressman for nearly 40 years before winning the Senate seat in 2013. He fended off a challenge in 2020 from Rep. Joe Kennedy III in the Senate primary by turning to his progressive allies to overcome a challenge from a younger rival from America’s most famous political family.
The Massachusetts primary is Sept. 1.
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