The New School froze two union library jobs, leading to cuts in operating hours, gaps in service, and student workers filling in. Library staff say leaving the positions open violates their contract. 

The two jobs already had candidates chosen when they were halted by a university-wide hiring freeze announced and implemented on Aug. 20. The freeze blocks staff positions that are currently vacant or approved but not yet filled. It’s a plan to generate savings in the face of persistent financial loss across university operations.

The staff members who fill the position primarily work at the service desk. Officially known as the Assistant to the Librarian for Circulation and Student Employment, they are responsible for supervising student workers during evening and weekend hours. Without the two jobs, the libraries had to cut evening hours and close entirely on the weekend since the start of the semester. 

On Oct. 6, the university expanded hours closer to normalcy, including opening on the weekends.

Now, without the additional staff, the new hours “go beyond what current union staff are able to cover,” said a unionized library staff member who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution from library administration. There will be over 40 hours per week when only students cover the service desk.

Library staff members say the university is quietly eliminating and reorganizing the two jobs. They said the shake-up will cause gaps in coverage and strain service.

“The university, like any other employer, is always going to try to paint a rosy picture,” Nelson Nuñez, president of Teamsters Local 1205, the union representing librarians, library clerks, and librarian’s assistants at The New School, said. 

“But we’re not naive to think that just because they happen to be an institution of higher learning and [promote] themselves as the bastion of liberal thought and progressive ideas, that they’re not going to use the same tactics as other union busting employers,” he said.

Library staff say leaving students covering desks alone is also at odds with the staff members’ union contract with the university. Schedule B defines library service desk duties as bargaining unit work. Articles V and VII require the university to bargain with the union before reorganizing or reassigning that work.

“It’s certainly an issue that we are bringing up to the university and we will utilize whatever resources we have to defend our positions and our jobs,” Nuñez said. “Whether it’s a violation of the contract or not, we just don’t think that it’s viable to ask people to do work that they’re not qualified to do, just so you can have extended hours, and then also to try to obligate our current members to do additional work that they … were not initially hired to do.”

In a comment to the New School Free Press, Vice President of University Communications Amy Malsin said, “A staff member is scheduled to be on campus during all library open hours. There may be times when a more experienced student worker is at one branch while the staff member is at another, but the staff is always on call. This has always been the case and is not a new practice.”

“As one of the staff that is required to supervise multiple locations at a time, I do not believe it is logistically possible to provide good service while doing this,” the unionized library staff member said. “And it also leaves the student employees without proper support.”

They said there will also be coverage gaps as student workers are moved from what they are doing to watch the desk.

“All of this over two positions that make roughly $27 per hour,” the unionized library staff member said.

Library administration may sometimes cover the desk, too, they said.

Malsin said in the comment that that situation “would only occur in an emergency such as an illness or a weather delay.”

In response to staff members’ concern that leaving the union positions unfilled and sometimes covered by others amounts to their effective elimination, Malsin said, “We aren’t able to comment on a hypothetical situation.”

The New School Labor Relations did not reply to a request for comment. Andrew Toulas, Director of Access and User Services declined an interview request. Ed Scarcelle, Associate Provost for Libraries, Collections & Academic Services, did not reply to a request for comment.

Teamsters Local 1205 first learned of the freeze and its impact from library staff members, not the university, according to Nuñez. The union then arranged a Labor Management Committee meeting with the university to discuss their concerns, which was held Sept. 22.

In the meeting, the university explained their financial constraints and that the positions were not going to be filled soon, the unionized library staff member said.

“[The meeting] wasn’t actually like a venue for … collaborative building,” they said. “We were just presented with a plan and told that this was what was going to happen.”

Nuñez, who has represented workers at The New School for over 21 years, is skeptical the university is going to give in to their concerns. He said fallout from the hiring freeze is likely university-wide, impacting other services and unions, and meetings like those are only meant to placate.

“So as they say, ‘You gotta suck it up buttercup,’” Nuñez said. “And that’s not acceptable.”

In a statement, Malsin said, “[The hiring freeze] is a difficult but necessary step that will preserve the university’s flexibility and improve our ability, to the extent possible, to respond to the continued likelihood of change. We understand the impact that this decision has on our community and will regularly assess how we are progressing and whether adjustments are needed.”

Library staff have already been functioning on reduced staffing since Oct. 2020, when several unionized library positions were eliminated during the laying off of 122 university staff members amidst the pandemic and a projected $95 million deficit for fiscal year 2021. The actual deficit was $66 million, according to the university’s financial statement for 2020-2021.

Many pre-pandemic services were cut, including 24/7 hours for the University Center Library.

“I think we have seen, in my view, the shift from an institution that really followed their creed to just another institution of higher learning who’s more interested in the bottom line, enrollment numbers, and having a persona,” Nuñez said, “but not necessarily practicing what they preach.”