Bargaining Session 4 | August 12, 2022
On August 12th, we held our fourth session with The New School via Zoom conference and the university administration made its priorities very clear: they intend to delay this process as much as possible, while insisting that the union is not moving quickly enough.
After four months of inviting the university to the table, three bargaining sessions, and over twenty contract proposals passed to them, The New School finally responded by offering some prefatory remarks, introducing new members of their bargaining team, and outlining a handful of counter-proposals — several of which were incomplete.
Open Bargaining
The UAW 7902 bargaining team consisted of our Unit Chair, Annie Lee Larson (Lead Negotiator), UAW 7902 President, Zoe Carey, unit organizers Dan Echikson and Molly Ragan, and approximately 40 members of The New School Part-Time Faculty.
Be present at the next bargaining meeting - every Part-Time Faculty member is invited to these sessions! Sign up here to attend a session.
The New School Adds to Their Bargaining Team
The University’s lead negotiator, Jennifer Penley (Senior Director Employee & Labor Relations), was joined by returning members of TNS’ bargaining team:
Sonya Williams, VP of Human Resources
Maggie Koozer, Vice Provost of Curriculum and Learning
Geycel Best, Director, Labor Relations
Kate Evanishyn, Assistant Provost for Part-Time Faculty Affairs
Jennifer began by introducing seven new members of the university’s team:
Riva Kivar - Vice Dean (Lang)
Noreen Leddy - Director of Faculty Affairs (CPE)
Stephanie Szitanyi - Associate Dean, Academic and Curricular Strategies (SPE)
Kiril Glavev - Associate Director,Faculty Affairs & Curriculum - (NSSR)
Sarah Bogucki - Associate Manager Part Time Faculty (Parsons)
Matthew Sullivan - Vice Dean for Finance and Administration (CoPA)
Valerie Feuer - Former Vice Dean for Finance and Administration (CoPA)
University Statement
Next, the university’s lead negotiator shared a statement on behalf of TNS’ bargaining team.
The statement emphasized these points:
“This process is too important to rush.”
TNS indicated their goal is to take this process slowly. Faculty have been working without a new contract and without raises since 2018. The University would prefer to keep it that way as long as possible.
“The university can’t stop the every-day faculty, student, staff, and operating needs to fully focus on this."
This was said by the Senior Director of Employee and Labor Relations to 40 Part-Time Faculty volunteering their time to ensure fair pay, benefits and working conditions. Part-Time Faculty represent 87% of the university’s teaching staff. No one understands the every-day duties of the university more than we do. A new contract is a priority for us. Why isn’t it a priority for the full-time administrators that oversee Labor Relations, Human Resources, and Part-Time Faculty Affairs?
“Where we might agree in spirit, we may not be able to agree to your proposals because of transcendent considerations.”
This euphemism “transcendent considerations” came up often during the fourth bargaining session. “Transcendent considerations” means “higher priorities.” Those higher priorities? Austerity, cost-cutting, and preserving the status quo that has left many Part-Time Faculty behind.
Counter-proposals and Responses
TNS shared seven responses to the 15 proposals that the union has passed to them. Five of these were formal counter-proposals. Of those five, two were incomplete:
Article II - Bargaining Unit Information (Incomplete)
Article VI - Bulletin Boards
New Article - Meeting Space
Article VII - Non-Discrimination
Article XI - Labor management Committee (Incomplete)
TNS also shared two informal responses to proposals:
Professional Development - The university is considering this proposal “economic” and will not respond with a formal counter at this time.
Grievance Procedure - The New School has not agreed to give Part-Time Faculty the right to bring discrimination cases under the union grievance procedure. This is a right that is already afforded to student workers in the SENS contract.
New Proposals
Annie outlined eight additional proposals that were passed to the university. These were initially met with frustration by TNS, with Jennifer saying she thought the union was done presenting non-economic proposals and now it seemed to her like the union had been “withholding information” at the last three bargaining sessions. Annie made it clear these were proposals developed since the last session. Outlines of these proposals can be found HERE.
New Article: Curriculum Participation Rights
Article XXXI - Retirement Benefits
Article XXII - Classroom Related Expenses
Article XX - Emergency Instance / Sick Leave / Paid Family Leave
Article XXXVI - Tuition Benefits
New Article - Mentorship
New Article - Jury Duty
New Article - Caregiving
Next Steps
When asked why so many of the university’s responses were incomplete or informal, Penley stated that the university can’t respond fully until they understand the “complete universe” of non-economic proposals from the union.
When Annie asked whether the university was expecting a response to their small number of counters and incomplete responses, Penley said yes.
The union has now passed 23 proposals to the university.
The next bargaining sessions are Wednesday, August 24th from 1:30-4:30pm and Thursday, September 1st on Zoom.