UPDATE: The part-time faculty union, ACT-UAW Local 7902, officially announced Tuesday night that its members will be striking beginning Wednesday.
The part-time faculty union has called for a strike to start Wednesday if negotiations with the university on Tuesday fail.
In the event of a strike, classes taught by part-time faculty and full-time faculty supporting the strike will not take place. Part-time faculty make up 87% of the university’s teaching staff. Union members have been instructed to cease all communication with students and to not engage with any type of academic work, i.e grading, updating Canvas, or recording lectures. A physical picket line outside university buildings would start Wednesday, running from 8:30 AM to 7:30 PM with a break from 12:30 to 3:30 PM.
“The part-time faculty bargaining committee remains willing to compromise with the university to reach a deal. However, the proposals currently put on the table by the university don’t suffice,” ACT-UAW Local 7902, the union representing The New School part-time faculty, stated in an email. “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.”
The university said on Sunday that the union was “unwilling to present proposals to the university on issues of great importance to part-time faculty, like wages.” The university has also stated that they have offered and encouraged the use of a mediator, which the union rejected.
However, the union has since stated that they have not rejected the offer of mediation. Rather they feel the point of a mediator is moot in light of the university’s final offers on points of contention such as compensation and health and safety.
“If the university were to indicate openness to moving off what it is calling its final offers on these articles, the part-time faculty elected to the bargaining committee would give strong consideration to mediation.”
Just over 1,300 of the approximately 1,600 part-time faculty members who are teaching this semester voted to authorize a strike if deemed necessary in negotiations with The New School. The voting period ran for two weeks and ended at midnight on November 13th when the current contract expired. Thirty-four voted no; all votes were anonymous.
The university has stated that if a strike is called, they will be communicating with students about “the importance of continuing to do assigned work for their courses,” including the establishment of an asynchronous educational model.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, faculty at The New School were left struggling to adapt to virtual learning. As their contracts were about to expire, the university extended the part-time faculty’s current contract to November 13th, 2022. Under that contract, part-time faculty gave up pay raises (the interim contract was negotiated under a different union) and saw their retirement benefits suspended. Part-time faculty members haven’t had a raise since 2018.
In February, the part-time faculty union elected a new bargaining committee, consisting of 20 part-time faculty union members, which started negotiating with The New School’s chosen representatives for a new contract. Their demands, according to the union’s website, include;
- Updated pay to accurately reflect the amount of work they put into teaching classes (from both inside and outside the classroom)
- Job security for new and existing faculty
- Affordable, accessible, and reliable healthcare
- Curricular input on the department’s offerings
In an email to faculty on Monday morning, the university said it has been “responsive” to the union’s proposals while balancing the school’s “very real financial constraints.”
During the pandemic, things quickly shifted for writing professor Sharon Mesmer (she/her). Her class cap went from 17 to 22, meaning she had 44 students combined in her two classes. Mesmer says she was spending upwards of eight hours a day on Canvas alone.
Because part-time faculty are paid for contact hours, meaning the time they spend in class with students, the hours that Mesmer was putting in outside of class are essentially unpaid. One of the union’s demands is to get either an immediate 10% raise or get paid $140.64 per contact hour, whichever is greater, with an additional $2,110 per studio course and $4,220 per seminar to account for work done outside of the class. The union is also requesting a $3,500 pandemic bonus that full-time faculty and non-union staff already received.
The university has responded with an offer of an immediate 3.5% raise and a 2% raise in subsequent years (4.5% for studio courses), and no additional pay for work done outside of class. They are also offering a variable pandemic bonus based on the number of semesters a part-time faculty member has worked.
Alice Eve Cohen (she/her), another writing professor and a member of the bargaining committee, describes how contact hours discredit the actual amount of labor that she puts into her classes. She’s calculated that she’s placed between 250 and 280 hours of work into her classes.
“I don’t get paid a penny to read my students’ work, to write responses to them, to prepare for discussions in in-class workshops,” said Cohen. “Anytime we get a request from a student for advice, or to respond to a question, or ask for help by email, by phone, in person we’re not paid to advise, we’re not paid for any of that.”
Mesmer and Cohen both emphasized how the strike was a last-resort option. The faculty each describe the strike as forcing the university’s hand, and not an effort to disrupt students’ education.
Students who want to stand in solidarity with part-time faculty are advised to not cross the picket line should a strike take place. This would include not showing up to university buildings, attending classes (whether in-person or digital), or using university facilities.
The student-faculty solidarity group has also put together a strike plan, that is being updated to reflect new information. It contains a detailed FAQ for students who want to know what they should/shouldn’t be doing.
“In the event of a strike, students are encouraged to ask [their] teachers and reach out to [their] classmates about what [their] strike plan will be. Students can and should strike in solidarity with your part-time faculty. Get a group chat going, reach out to your classmates on Instagram, and see whether or not any group action could take place amongst yourselves.”
Emily Li (they/he/she), the founder of the Student Faculty Solidarity Group (and sole coordinator of Instagram @studentfacultysolidarity) wants students to know that all they have to do to get involved is reach out.
“I think a lot of people struggle from like this transition from okay, I re-shared this post, to now what. The truth is just DM us, I’ll put you in a group chat, I’ll put you in contact with someone, we’ll put you in groups.”
Students can also follow the Instagram accounts @act_uaw7902 and @studentfacultysolidarity for updates from the union regarding bargaining.
“The university does care about [students] the most because we’re the consumers. We pay the tuition, we pay for this school to exist,” said Li.
Obviously the people who have said that the pay teachers now receive is sufficient have never spent time teaching. Therefore, they should not be commenting, since they know nothing about the topic.
Regarding the comment, “The fact that they are striking and get $126 per hour currently is honestly embarrassing. They should be thankful for what they get to begin with and keep their mouths shut.”
The point is that this is a misrepresentation of actual compensation. This compensation is only for time in the class. It does not include developing classes, preparing lectures, grading papers, responding to emails. Anyone who has taught in higher ed knows that in-class time is a small fraction of the labor. If you take into account all the work that is needed, pay is often below minimum wage.
The services provided by educators is what we’re paying for, I would hope they are being paid the time it takes to provide the best possible service. Given the high prices of education already, this should be non negotiable.
The fact that they are striking and get $126 per hour currently is honestly embarrassing. They should be thankful for what they get to begin with and keep their mouths shut.
This article clarified so many things for me. Thank you so much for writing.
Well said, very informative.