Bargaining Session 2 | July 15, 2022
On July 15, representatives from the New School and the Part-Time Faculty Union met for the second time to bargain the part-time faculty union contract.
For the Union:
Annie Lee Larson, Part-Time Faculty Unit Chair
Zoe Carey, President ACT-UAW Local 7902
Over 40 part-time faculty participants and observers from the bargaining team (as part of open bargaining).
What's open bargaining? It means you get to sit in on the bargaining session, hear the part-time faculty bargaining team make its proposals, and hear the university respond. This is YOUR contract; YOU deserve to know what it will look like. If you are a union member, you can come! Sign up here to attend a session.
Lead Negotiator For the New School’s Administration:
Jenifer Penley, Senior Director Employee & Labor Relations
Ground Rules
We rejected the university's proposed bargaining ground rules which would have unnecessarily restricted the bargaining team and committed to a respectful and collegial atmosphere at the table throughout negotiations, as was the case at the first two sessions.
Union Proposals
The Union presented seven proposals, all amendments to existing articles in our contract:
Article 23: Health and Safety
Article 17: Unpaid Leaves of Absence
Article 14: Evaluation and Faculty Development
Article 12: Notification of Full-Time Positions
Article 26: Dispute/Grievance and Arbitration Procedure
Article 24: Payday
Article 11: Labor-Management Committee
Summary of Article 23: Health and Safety
Our health and safety proposal addresses a variety of issues that are even more important after the past two years with Covid-19. One is the health of faculty and their household members who are susceptible to negative outcomes from Covid-19 and other such infectious diseases like older faculty, faculty who are immunocompromised, and faculty who cannot receive a vaccine. We propose that the university accommodate such faculty by allowing them to teach online. Another is the safety of faculty who teach late at night or otherwise have dangerous commutes in light of the recent spate of racist attacks; the university should provide a safe walk/safe ride program. Finally, we proposed conformity to OSHA standards and other city, state, federal regulations to keep health and safety requirements in line with the law.
Summary of Article 17: Unpaid Leaves of Absence
The bargaining team proposed making changes to the unpaid leaves of absence section of our contract to ensure that faculty will not be penalized for taking an unpaid leave or for accepting a temporary, full-time position at the university outside of the part-time faculty bargaining unit.
Summary of Article 14: Evaluation and Faculty Development
Our evaluations proposal is meant to transform the evaluation process from one that can be punitive to one meant to support faculty development. Faculty should be evaluated by their peers, other part-time faculty who know and understand the subject matter that you teach. Faculty newer to teaching should have the opportunity to be paired with another, more experienced part-time faculty "mentor."
In addition, we proposed that the university acknowledge the well-documented role of bias in student evaluations as it pertains to LBTQIA+ Faculty, Faculty of Color, Women Faculty, and Faculty whose first language isn't english. Evaluations that can be biased and inaccurate should not be weaponized against Faculty.
Finally, we proposed that faculty be able to anonymously evaluate the university and their supervisors for factors that impacted faculty's experience teaching their courses. Didn’t have access to equipment or space that you needed to teach your course? Did your supervisor issue you unclear directions or not reply to your emails? This would be the place to let the university know.
Summary of Article 12: Notification of Full-Time Positions
This proposal seeks to make the full-time position notifications and the full-time hiring process more transparent for part-time faculty.
Summary of Article 26: Dispute/Grievance and Arbitration Procedure
The Union proposes a 365-day window for grievances and arbitration in cases involving discriminatory harassment, which matches the student workers’ union contract.
Summary of Article 24: Payday
The new payday proposal aims to ensure faculty are paid sooner, more frequently, and in a more transparent manner. Waiting a month to be paid at the start of the semester is far too long, in many cases months after you’ve done the work to plan and prepare your course. Faculty should receive a $1,000 up-front advance on the first day of class so faculty do not have to wait a month for their first paycheck; faculty should be paid bi-weekly rather than monthly, and paychecks should be itemized clearly.
Caucus & Ensuing Discussion
After Annie presented the union proposals, both sides went into a caucus (separate meetings to discuss the proposals).
Upon return from caucus, the discussion turned to a proposal related to protection against harassment and discrimination that the union made at the June 30th bargaining session.
Harassment or Discrimination Proposal
Currently, faculty who experience harassment or discrimination have two options:
File a Title IX complaint with the university. In this scenario, there is a conflict of interest because the individual adjudicating the dispute is an employee of the university.
Sue the university in court. This can be prohibitively expensive because doing so would require hiring a lawyer. Additionally, it can result in years-long delays.
The Union proposed that faculty who experience harassment or discrimination have the right to file a grievance with the support of their union, as faculty have the right to do for nearly every other workplace issue. This would be the best option for recourse for many faculty. Under the grievance procedure, a neutral, third-party arbitrator can hear the case and make a binding decision. Unlike filing a lawsuit in court, the Union foots the legal bills and the process is faster.
The university has agreed to this policy for Teaching Fellows, graduate student workers at the New School who teach their own classes. Given that the university has already accepted this for workers at the university who perform the same work as us, we did not anticipate that the university would object to our proposal or that it would require lengthy discussion.
Discussion of Proposals & Counter Proposals
The university did not commit to making counter proposals on August 4th.
The part-time faculty bargaining team is interested in achieving a strong and fair contract as soon as possible. In order to do so, we need to know where the university stands on our proposals because doing so allows for dialogue and compromise.
Though we requested to start bargaining in April, the university did not agree to start bargaining until June 30th. Though we’ve been in bargaining with the university for over 20 days, and have made 14 proposals, the university has yet to issue a single counter proposal or even commit to issuing a counter-proposal.
The longer the university goes without issuing counter-proposals, which let us know where they stand on the various proposals that we’ve made, the harder it becomes to reach a deal.
The part-time faculty bargaining team is making a good faith effort to reach a deal with the university — one that works for faculty, students, and the rest of the university community. We've spent months drafting proposals. We want the university to reciprocate. Thus far, they have not.
We expect the University to bargain in good faith as an equal partner at the negotiating table.
The bargaining committee alone cannot win the part-time faculty a strong contract. They need YOUR HELP! If you believe that the part-time faculty deserve to earn a living wage, reliable healthcare, real recourse against harassment, and job security, then pitch in and help make it happen. Fill out this form and an organizer will be in-touch.
Attend the Next Bargaining Session
The next bargaining session will be Thursday, August 4 at 3pm.