A mediator joined the table for the first time yesterday as collective bargaining between The New School and its part-time faculty union resumed.
Members of ACT-UAW Local 7902 have been on strike since Nov. 16 in an effort to obtain a fairer contract with the university. Representatives from the union and the university are now negotiating with the help of Bill Domini, a mediator from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the university and the union confirmed in emails to The New School Free Press.
The university’s return to the bargaining table comes after 95% of part-time faculty members voted “NO” to the university’s “Last, Best, and Final Offer,” which the union announced Tuesday morning in an Instagram post.
Union President Zoe Carey, a graduate student at The New School, said in an email to the Free Press that the university agreed to return to the table with a mediator within two hours of receiving confirmation of the vote.
“The New School remains committed to finalizing a contract that is fair, equitable and financially responsible — and that ends this strike,” Amy Malsin, the assistant vice president for Communications and Public Affairs at The New School, said in a statement to the Free Press this morning. “We are pleased that the union agreed to bring in a mediator.”
The union is open to movement and would like to come to an agreement quickly, Carey said.
“However, we cannot agree to significant regression in our rights and benefits, which is what their last offer would introduce,” Carey said.
The union’s priorities include pay for out-of-class work, the right to independent recourse for harassment and discrimination, better job security and more control over their healthcare, according to Carey.
Negotiations with the mediator continued today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. In an Instagram post this evening, the union said that a new package of “supposals” was presented to the university, who said they would need time to review it. They will meet again from 2-6 p.m. on Sunday and starting at 12 p.m. on Monday. Classes are not expected to resume on Monday.