When the bargaining committee and University reached a tentative agreement last Saturday, the agreement consisted of a series of documents, emails, and bullet points, each referencing one another. The University's team consolidated all of these into a single, tentative agreement document, and sent this document to the bargaining committee earlier this week.

Before voting on whether or not this tentative agreement becomes our next union contract, it is critical that all part-time faculty have the opportunity to read the text of the final tentative agreement itself, not just the highlights.

At midnight last night, our strike on the New School ended and faculty resumed their work. We are finally back together with our students after long days apart. 

In solidarity with the students currently occupying the University Center, and in the absence of official guidance, we are sharing students’ demands for the end of the semester: 

Moments ago, the bargaining committee reached a tentative agreement with the University's team. The bargaining committee unanimously endorses the agreement. The tentative agreement represents significant achievements for part-time faculty.

The bargaining committee and University are very close to an agreement. The University made significant movement in mediation yesterday. The bargaining committee worked past midnight last night and picked up work at 7am this morning.

The committee met with the University from 9am to 12:30pm today and is scheduled to resume mediation tomorrow at 3pm.

The major outstanding issue is health insurance.

Part-Time Faculty Strike Continues at The New School as University Attempts Healthcare Cuts

Facing a boycott of all New School events by world-renowned performers, designers, and authors; a potential class action lawsuit by 1500 parents; and an onslaught of bad press after attempting to hire scab replacements, the university has at last seen fit to make some movement on part-time faculty pay.

Last night, the New School’s lead negotiator presented our bargaining committee with an updated “last, best, final offer”. We were encouraged by this movement and worked through the night reviewing management's offer. This morning, we are meeting with the university to share our response.

President McBride’s email, sent just moments after we received the university’s updated offer, used the word “compensation” to mean salary. While we are encouraged by these gains, under the latest “last, best, final offer”, some of our members would still lose healthcare, and those who are on the healthcare plan might see all their raises wiped out by increases in the plan’s costs.

Yesterday, when the New School sent certification of work forms to part-time faculty and other members of the university community, we believe that the University broke the law.

The University’s negotiation team violated federal labor law in two different ways.

Today marks day 22 of our strike on the New School. Due to the tireless efforts and solidarity of part-time faculty, full-time faculty, staff, students, and parents alike, we have shut the university down as we demand not only a fair contract for part-time faculty but also a university system that truly reflects the incredible people held within it.

This groundbreaking moment is proof of the transformative power of community.

When we stand together, hand in hand, we cannot be broken. We will not be broken. 

This moment is also proof that the New School is broken, although we do not believe it’s beyond repair.

The New School administration announced on Monday night that, starting Wednesday, the university will withhold the wages, including contributions to healthcare coverage, for all faculty who continue to strike.

In response to these aggressive moves against workers, the academic and cultural community at large is boycotting The New School: refusing to appear at any events at or affiliated with the university. Those who have pledged to boycott The New School include Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Judith Butler, Naomi Klein, and Art Spiegelman.

We are still on strike. Do not resume classes or grading. This strike could have been over weeks ago if the University offered us a fair deal.

Instead, the University’s team needlessly prolonged the strike by cutting off negotiations and trying to unilaterally implement its offer on faculty.

After 1,821 faculty voted the offer down, the university has returned to the bargaining table.

It is critical that we keep the pressure on the University by continuing the strike until we reach a deal.

We are striking because our working conditions are our students’ learning conditions.

It is critical that we continue to withhold our labor, including not grading, until a fair contract is reached. This is our source of leverage in negotiations. There is no precedent for students’ visa status being affected by such a strike. Nor is there a precedent for students being penalized with poor grades.

Adjunct faculty at universities such as NYU, Barnard, and CUNY all have the right to the union’s assistance in bringing a grievance adjudicated by a neutral arbitrator. Even other unionized employees at The New School–including academic student workers, custodians, librarians, clerical staff–have this right.

Last Sunday, the university walked away from the bargaining table, demanding that part-time faculty accept a deal that does more harm than good. The offer’s provisions on health insurance are the most extreme.

On Sunday, November 21 the university’s negotiations team walked away from the bargaining table, demanding that part-time faculty accept a deal that does more harm than good.

This “last, best, and final” offer by the university is an incredibly aggressive union-busting tactic that one would expect from employers such as Amazon, Starbucks, and John Deere, not a progressive, social justice institution like The New School.

Though adjunct faculty across the country have gone on strike countlessh times, The New School's level of aggressive union-busting is unprecedented in higher education.

An overwhelming majority of part-time faculty have voted 97% “YES” to authorize a strike, sending a clear message to The New School’s negotiations team. If the university's negotiations team does not make significant movement to meet the bargaining committee's key demands on Tuesday, then: We strike starting on Wednesday.

A glimpse into what part-time faculty are proposing vs what the university is willing to give us (hint, it’s not enough!!)

At our bargaining session today, the university continued to make proposals to strip faculty of accrued paid sick leave and health insurance. The university continued to propose hiking premium and out-of-pocket healthcare costs. The university proposed paltry raises. And the university continued to reject the bargaining committee’s proposal to provide part-time faculty, who are 87% of the teaching staff, real curricular input.

This past week, The University continued to simply reject most of the bargaining committee’s proposals. There are, however, some bright spots where the bargaining committee and university’s team are beginning to move towards agreement.

This past week, the part-time faculty bargaining team responded to the cruel proposals that the university made earlier in October. We made clear that we are willing to make compromises to reach a deal that works for faculty, our students, and the university as a whole. The university’s negotiations team, however, continues to simply reject many of our proposals without offering alternatives.