ACT-UAW – Part-Time Faculty Successor Contract Negotiations Update: Sessions #14 and #15
Additional progress on a PTF contract – university provides initial responses to all union proposals – good faith negotiations continue Thursday
The New School and representatives of ACT-UAW, Local 7902, earlier today finished four consecutive weekdays of good faith bargaining as the parties advanced their efforts to enter into a strong and fair successor agreement for our part-time faculty.
After jointly discussing 15 proposed contract articles on Wednesday and Thursday last week, the union and the university made important headway on 10 additional articles today and Friday, including those dealing with critical financial terms. The university outlined its compensation proposal, which provides across the board pay increases for all part-time faculty for Academic Year 22-23 and aims longer term to reduce pay inequity for similar types of work. As the university outlined its economic offer and the extensive market research it conducted while designing it , it also highlighted the price associated with the union’s economic proposals.
The union and the university also had productive conversations on professional development, emergency and sick leave, expanded access to and affordability of healthcare benefits while continuing to pay a portion of total premium costs, paid and unpaid leaves of absence, retirements, disability rights, and caregiving benefits. In addition to those items the university agreed to include a new contract provision on jury duty.
As promised, The New School has provided detailed responses to all of the union’s proposed contract articles, the most recent of which we received from the union’s bargaining committee just a few weeks ago.
The bargaining teams are scheduled to return to the table this Thursday, October 20 with additional sessions scheduled for Tuesday, October 25 and Thursday, October 27.
While there is still a way to go to reach a contract, we look forward to further good faith progress in these upcoming meetings. And we look forward to working together with the union to reach a new contract as quickly as possible that delivers strongly, responsibly, and sustainably for our part-time faculty, our institution, and the entire New School community.