Q: If there is a strike, how long will it be?

A: If a strike is called, the bargaining committee will decide on a length in consultation with members (that’s you!). A strike could be as short as 1 day or could be indefinite.

Q: What does it mean to go on strike?

A: It means stopping all work you perform at The New School in your capacity as a part-time faculty member. No teaching, no responding to student questions related to academic matters, etc. Striking could also include walking on a picket line, being a picket captain, coordinating with the press, soliciting support from elected officials, preparing food or water donations for picketers, and more. There will be remote strike duties for those not in New York City or those otherwise unable to attend in-person due to health reasons.

Q: Can the university stop paying us if we go on strike?

A: Bad news: Yes. The university has the right to do this. Good news: If this occurs, our parent union, the UAW, will issue you $400 a week in strike pay. This is more than many of us make per week working at the university.

Q: If I go on strike, can the university stop my health insurance?

A: The university has the right to stop your health insurance coverage if you are on strike. If this occurs, our parent union, the UAW, will step in to pay your healthcare premium. The UAW will mirror the coverage that the university offers via covering COBRA premiums or via other means.

Graduate Instructors and Faculty at universities across the country have gone on strike many times over the last half-century. There is not a single instance of which your organizers are aware of in which their university cut off their healthcare. Multinational companies such as John Deere and GM have threatened to cut off striking employees’ healthcare coverage only to back down in the face of tremendous public pressure.

Q: What happens to our students?

A: Since the pandemic, our class sizes have increased; our students are experiencing higher levels of stress and anxiety; and with rapid inflation, many of us have had to take on extra work outside the university to make ends meet. These factors have made it more difficult to teach and to devote time to our students

Part-Time Faculty are taking this step, in part, for our students – to ensure that we receive the support from the university necessary to be the best educators that we can be.

Students’ classroom experiences will be interrupted. But at the end of the day, whether or not a strike occurs is in the university’s hands. If the university begins bargaining with urgency and offering fair counter-proposals, a strike becomes much less likely.

Q: If there’s a strike at the end of the semester, will students be able to graduate?

A: Over the last couple of years, graduate-student instructors at NYU and Columbia have gone on strike at the end of an academic term. In each instance, the university has figured out ways to ensure students graduate.

Q: I’m currently on an F-1 Visa, OPT Visa Extension, STEM OPT Extension, or other similar such visa or visa extension. Could I face visa consequences for participating in the strike authorization vote or strike?

A: In 2018 student-workers at The New School voted to and went on strike. A majority of them were on F-1 visas. No one faced any visa consequences. This is because you have the same right as every U.S. citizen does to participate in the vote and, if necessary, a strike. This right is protected by the Wilberforce Act, a federal law passed in 2008.