Monday marks the fifth day of a strike by unionized part-time faculty at The New School, which includes Parsons School of Design, who walked out en masse after their contract expired on November 16.
According to a statement from the labor organizing union, ACT-UAW Local 7902, faculty will continue to strike until they receive a new contract with “meaningful pay increases, no health care cuts, and third-party protection from harassment and discrimination.”
More than 1,300 active assistant professors — about 80 percent of the faculty at NYU — are participating in the strike. A statement announced prior to the planned strike noted the university’s “intransigence at the negotiating table”, with a major point of contention being the salary disparity between part-time faculty and administrators. Although they make up a large percentage of the school’s students, their salaries account for only 8.5 percent of the school’s budget.
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“Part-time faculty members play an important, vital role in the New School community, and we look forward to reaching a fair and equitable agreement that works for all,” the university said in a statement. statement. “We deeply respect our part-time faculty and remain committed to a renewal agreement that provides competitive compensation, exceptional benefits, and protected vacation.”
New School faculty have been part of United Auto Workers Local 7902 since 2005 and entered contract negotiations in 2014. That contract expired in 2019 but was extended due to the pandemic with the consent of both sides. Faculty members have not received a raise in 4 years and have demanded a 10 percent wage increase. The union rejected the 3.5 percent wage increase offered by the university, saying that this figure does not accommodate the rising inflation in New York City and the rise in the cost of living in general.
“No one is going to do that for what the new school has to offer in terms of wages,” Zoe Carey, president of the union’s chapter and a doctoral candidate at the university, said in a statement. within higher education. “[Teaching at the New School] It truly is a labor of love.”
Last week, the dean’s office at New School released a Google document with guidance for students and faculty, encouraging them to “follow the syllabus requirements for their courses even if faculty choose to honor the strike by not teaching and/or meeting with their classes.” The demonstration outside the school’s main building near Union Square in Manhattan.
Adjunct faculty at the new school have joined a wave of protests over stagnant wages and job insecurity. In November, unionized adjunct faculty at NYU voted to strike, but reached a contractual agreement only hours before their previous contract was due to expire. Last week at the University of California and its diverse campuses, thousands of workers represented by the UAW went on strike to protest better wages.
“Our New School struggle is part of a larger movement across the country,” the union wrote on Twitter today. “It is about more than a salary increase. We need a paradigm shift of respect… Our working conditions are the learning conditions of students. Our democracy needs an educated public. Those are the stakes.”
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