The New School’s Student Health Employees union (SHENS) voted 17-1 on Friday to authorize a strike, following four months of contract negotiations. If the unit strikes, students would not be able to receive healthcare from these providers.
A strike authorization does not mean that the unit will strike immediately. It indicates that a majority of the unit’s 18 employees, physical and mental healthcare providers at Student Health Services (SHS), have voted to allow the bargaining committee to call a strike if or when they see fit. Because they provide medical care, they must give the university at least 10 days notice prior to striking.
Low wages, understaffing, and frustrating contract bargaining sessions with university administration have motivated the union’s strike authorization vote, said Bill Groth, a SHENS bargaining committee member and mental health counselor for SHS.
The unit, which is part of ACT-UAW Local 7902, has been working under an expired contract since June 30 and has held seven contract bargaining sessions with the university since July 17.
The university did not provide a comment on bargaining. The Free Press was told to refer to the school’s Labor Relations Page, which characterizes the university’s initial contract offer to SHENS as “strong.”
But Groth described bargaining sessions as bizarre, frustrating, and unproductive. Both he and Zoe Carey, the president of Local 7902, emphasized that the union’s current working conditions and the university’s offer make it difficult for healthcare providers to properly serve students, which is why the unit is considering a strike.
SHENS has two future bargaining sessions scheduled with the university on Nov. 20 and Nov. 27.
“We hope not to strike,” Groth said. But, if negotiations with the university don’t improve significantly over the next two sessions, he says they likely will.