Strike Deadline: Wednesday Morning (11/16)
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.
We are united. We demand respect. We deserve a fair contract.
1,307 YES (97%)
34 NO (3%)
80% of the approximately 1,678 part-time faculty teaching this semester participated in the vote.
Update from The Bargaining Committee
We, the bargaining committee, came to the table. We fought for and continue to fight for an equitable contract, one that holds our institution accountable, to embody the politics synonymous with its origins, legacy, and brand.
We continue to bargain in good faith on behalf of you, our colleagues—the majority of the faculty body at The New School. We have met with The New School’s negotiations team nearly all day for six of the last seven days. The committee met from 9am to 11:00pm with The New School’s team on Sunday 11/13.
Despite our continued efforts to adjust our proposals to address the concerns that the university’s team has expressed in bargaining, the university made little movement in bargaining over the last several weeks.
What are we fighting for?
🔥 Real raises that reflect the work we perform as teachers outside of the classroom.
🔥Affordable healthcare for which MORE faculty are eligible.
🔥Meaningful input on our departments’/programs’ curricula.
🔥Real Recourse against harassment and discrimination.
🔥Stronger job security for new and long-time faculty alike.
📓 Side-by-side comparison of where we stand with the university 📓
What’s Next?
There is still time for the university's negotiations team to avoid a strike.
The part-time faculty bargaining committee remains willing to make compromises with the university to reach a deal. However, the proposals currently put on the table by the university don't suffice. Read full proposal details.
If the university remains unwilling to make movement on our key demands at our bargaining session on Tuesday, a strike will begin on Wednesday, November 16.
If a strike is called, we will notify you via email late Tuesday or early Wednesday morning.
What Does Striking Mean?
STOP ALL WORK
JOIN THE PICKET LINE*
Picket Shifts will run in two segments:
Morning Shift: 8:30am - 12:30pm
Afternoon Shift: 3:30pm - 7:30pm
Meet outside the University Center
*If you are unable to attend the picket line for health reasons or because you work remotely you can sign up for a remote strike duty in the form below, and an organizer will reach out to you directly.
If you can, it is critical that you sign up for a Wednesday shift.
Strike FAQ
Q: Can I cancel class but continue to assign work to my students?
A: No. Striking on some of your work but not all of it is called a partial strike. Partial strikes are not allowed under U.S. labor regulations. If you cancel class but continue to do grade and assign work, you are engaging in a partial-strike.
Q: Can I teach on Zoom?
A: Teaching on Zoom is still teaching, and is crossing the picket line. You should not teach on Zoom.
Q: Can the university retaliate against me for going on strike?
A: No. Your right to strike with your colleagues is protected by federal law. Moreover, you will be joining a super-majority of your colleagues on strike. You will not be doing this alone. We are in this together. There is strength and safety in our solidarity.
Q: Is this fair to our students?
A: Our students understand that our working conditions are their learning conditions. We can’t teach if we are sick and don’t have health insurance. We can’t teach if we can’t afford to pay rent. Our students stand behind us. Read the Student Senate’s solidarity statement here.
Q: Can the university stop paying us if we go on strike?
A: Yes. The university has the right to do this. If this occurs, you will be eligible for $400 a week in strike pay. To receive strike pay, you must complete at least one strike duty each week. For many faculty, this entails attending the picket line at least one time. For others unable to be on the picket line, this means performing a remote strike duty.
Detailed Strike FAQ
You've probably seen the university's emails
In recent days, university administrators have been sending so-called “important HR Updates” at all hours of the night. These are pre-scheduled to land in your inbox for maximum impact. When you receive these false, divisive emails, ask yourself:
Why is the university using its resources to spread false information and treating the very people who make the school run with disrespect and hostility?
Why doesn’t the university simply use its time and resources to work on an equitable contract with its educators?
In contract bargaining sessions, the highly-paid corporate lawyer that the university hired as its lead negotiator has continually shown disrespect and hostility toward the part-time faculty, as well as displaying a lack of knowledge about faculty working conditions at the university. As one of our part-time faculty wrote in a recent post “it is a strange strategic choice to make — hostility toward the very people you are supposed to be working with to achieve cooperation and consensus.”
Why is the university choosing to invest in smears, cruelty, and untruths? What do they have to gain? Ask yourself this (and then read their emails with a grain of salt.)
So here are some facts:
The university’s initial proposals included stripping faculty of healthcare coverage and accrued paid sick leave.
What the university is priding itself on “giving” the part-time faculty in several proposals are actually rights the part-time faculty already have or which are simply New York State law.
The part-time faculty bargaining committee believes it is fair for the university to commit to devoting 12% of its budget to pay the 87% of the teaching staff whose work is the essential function of the university. The New School spends 2.3 times the national average on administration relative to instruction and research, yet prides itself on being a social justice institution.
Over the past few weeks, the university has demanded that the part-time faculty bargaining team, who are unpaid volunteers, spend hours in bargaining sessions every single day, (weekends included) in order to bully them into exhaustion and capitulation. It hasn’t worked! The bargaining committee has faced the university every day while also managing the coursework, grading, and midterm evaluations that all part-time faculty are fighting to be paid fairly for.
Our strength as a community lies in numbers, in our mutual support and solidarity. Now is our moment to unite for just, fair, and equitable working conditions for all of us.
For further support deciphering the New School’s late night and early morning emails, a part-time faculty member logged additional unpaid hours creating a handy guide to the university’s union busting terminology.
In Conclusion
Let us remember the words of James Baldwin:
The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.
Let’s keep this light ablaze.
In solidarity,
Your Bargaining Committee:
Alice Eve Cohen, SPE
Angela Hanks, Lang
Annie Lee Larson, Parsons
Dianca London Potts, Lang
Elizabeth Torres, Parsons
Erika Doering, Parsons
Greg DePaul, SPE
Jaclyn Lovell, Parsons
Jason Hudspeth, Parsons
Jerzy Gwiazdowski, Drama
Lee-Sean Huang, Parsons
Laura Mount, Mannes
Mary Barto, Mannes
Oliver Kellhammer, Parsons
Peter Mallo, Parsons
Stanley Dorn, Mannes
Steven Sacco, Mannes
Victoria Manganiello, Parsons