Bargaining Session 8 | September 15, 2022
The university has hired a corporate law firm, signaling they would rather spend thousands of dollars on outside counsel than give part-time faculty equitable pay. This marks a stark shift in the collective bargaining process, but no matter what curveballs the new team may throw, part-time faculty remain committed to bargaining a strong, new contract.
After the significant progress made on a number of proposals in last week’s bargaining session, part-time faculty showed up to session #8 expecting to continue moving forward. However, the university showed up with no responses despite explicit indication that they would.
Instead, they offered us a meager pandemic financial recognition bonus (details below) in exchange for extending the current contract until bargaining is complete, which means that the university could drag out negotiations indefinitely and prevent part-time faculty from receiving the real pay increases already proposed by the bargaining team.
In June, full-time faculty and non-union staff received a pandemic financial recognition bonus of $3,500 with no strings attached. What the university presented to part-time faculty today was $200 per semester taught from 2020 to 2022 with the stipulation that our current contract and the stalled raises that come with it would be extended essentially indefinitely. On top of that, the bonus wouldn’t even be paid out until the end of bargaining.
This insulting offer and the ensuing discussion kept us from negotiating any real proposals that directly impact members. Part-time faculty expect timely negotiations and a fair contract now.
Read on for more information about the university’s offer and the bargaining team’s response.
Why the university’s offer is not good for part-time faculty:
It extends the current part-time faculty union contract indefinitely. The bargaining team does not want to draw out contract negotiations. Part-time faculty need raises NOW! The university is trying to draw the process out and demoralize faculty - but it’s not going to work!
The offer does nothing to ease the very real and immediate financial burdens many part-time faculty face because of the pandemic.
By linking bonuses to semesters worked, many of the faculty who lost their classes because of the pandemic would receive as little as $200 and it wouldn’t even be immediate. Payouts would occur when the new contract is complete.
It ignores the work that part-time faculty, 87% of the teaching staff, did to ensure the New School’s world class education continued throughout the pandemic.
The offer attempts to distract the bargaining team from their duty to part-time faculty members: to bargain a new contract.
The university presented this offer knowing how the bargaining team would respond. The bargaining team believes the goal was to goad them into rejecting the bonus offer outright. This would allow the university to create a false narrative about bargaining intending to sow division amongst members. This is union busting at its finest.
This offer is a red herring. There is no reason financial recognition of part-time faculty members’ work during the pandemic should have anything to do with contract extension.
The bargaining team is not rejecting the bonus. They’re asking for more!
The bargaining team spent over an hour debating how to respond to the university’s “generous” offer. After careful consideration, our response is as follows:
Part-time faculty members deserve pandemic bonuses, but the ones proposed here are a fraction of the $3,500 full-time faculty received. The bargaining team stands firmly behind their initial compensation proposal, which asks for equal pay.
The bargaining team will not agree to a proposal that hurts part-time faculty by extending a contract that already fails to meet their increasingly urgent needs. Extending the contract indefinitely will delay much-needed raises, better benefits, and stronger job security even further. A meager bonus is not worth continued precarity.
The bargaining team sees no need to extend the contract at this time. The university has failed to respond to over half of our proposals. Part-time faculty need to hear more from them before discussing extending the contract. The bargaining team was ready to bargain in April, knowing there would be time to conclude negotiations by the contract’s November 13th expiration date. The university refused to meet for two months, until June 30th. The university has been delaying the process and continues to do so with this offer.
Your presence is needed in the negotiation room!
After the inspiring turnout at the Rally for Respect, the university knows that members like you are paying attention. Keep showing up by being in the room during contract negotiations. Bargaining happens every Thursday at 11:30am. Now more than ever, our strength lies in numbers. Show up and show the university that enough is enough!
RSVP for Sept 22nd Bargaining
The union is also hosting a BYO Picnic in Central Park on Saturday, September 17th. Bring your family, friends, and a snack or two and chat with your union colleagues!