Faculty at the City University of New York (CUNY) won a landmark victory this summer when a court ruled intellectual property rights should be part of the collective bargaining process.

The ruling from the appellate division of the state Supreme Court overturned an earlier decision by the state Public Employment Relations Board (PERB). The court has jurisdiction over PERB.

Faculty at CUNY are frequently immersed in research that not only identifies them as professionals but carries the financial impact of copyrights and patents. "The question of who owns, controls and profits from intellectual work is both a material and an ethical issue for college faculty," says Barbara Bowen, Professional Staff Congress/AFT president and an English professor at Queens College. "It's as basic for us as wages and hours."

While the point of the court ruling is the right to bargain, Bowen adds that the PSC will seek an intellectual property (IP) policy that gives members control over their own intellectual professional creations. Since the PSC contract expired two years ago, CUNY has drawn up intellectual property policy that gives more access to the university, and less to faculty. "The right to intellectual integrity and professional standards are at stake," says Bowen.

The ruling reaches beyond IP, as the court decision addresses CUNY's adopting any employment policy. While CUNY has the right to implement policy unilaterally, the court confirmed PSC's right to negotiate those issues, even if they have not previously appeared in union contracts. Such issues might include use of facilities, or workplace violence protection, says Bowen.

Additionally, the IP ruling reaches beyond CUNY to all state workers. Instead of narrowing the issues that could be bargained, this expands them. "Public employee unions in New York State potentially stand to benefit because this upholds the rights of workers to bargain," says Bowen. [Virginia Myers Kelly]

July 19, 2005