ACT-UAW – Part-Time Faculty Successor Contract Negotiations Update: Session 19
The New School and representatives of ACT-UAW, Local 7902, spent the afternoon of Monday, October 31, discussing key non-economic proposals.
The session began with housekeeping and planning. After our previous session on October 27 the union considered the university’s request to bargain each day as we near the expiration of the contract and offered several dates. In a show of good faith, the university accepted all dates that the union offered for bargaining during the week of 11/7, including weekends.
The university then presented a series of proposals that included Classroom Expenses, Bulletin Boards, Access to Services, Faculty Rights & Responsibilities and Curriculum Participation – showing its movement on each to help reach agreement.
After caucus, we were pleased to see positive momentum from the union as well, presenting a response on Access to Services that accepted some of the university’s language, and additionally, a response on Bulletin Boards that accepted the university’s proposal in part and offered to withdraw a pending grievance in exchange for the university agreeing to part of the union’s proposal.
At the end of the session, a member of the union bargaining committee asked when the university plans to respond to economic issues. Our lead negotiator, Genaira Tyce, shared comments that are worth sharing with the broader community:
“We want to resolve non-economics first. I can give you a broad overview tomorrow of our view on your economic package in sum; hopefully that will be a foundation for a fruitful discussion on economics. The reality is that we’re working with limited resources. We understand your asks, but we’re challenged with a lot of economic realities. We want to work with the union, we want to collaborate and do what we can to demonstrate value. But we need the union to understand the very real economic position of the university and what our capabilities look like.”
Tomorrow, we look forward to hearing more responses from the union on non-economic issues, including Classroom Expenses and Faculty Rights & Responsibilities, and we’ll present further proposals of our own. Though there is still a way to go, each bargaining session moves us closer to a successful outcome. We trust in and respect the collective bargaining process and look forward to continuing our discussions this week.