ACT-UAW–Part-Time Faculty Successor Contract Negotiations Update: Mediation Session 2
The New School and Local 7902 met with the federal mediator for a second day on December 2, 2022. The mediation session began at 9:00 am and concluded shortly after 4:00 pm. We greatly appreciate the mediator’s efforts to bring both parties closer together in our positions while the university continues to negotiate in good faith.
Today, the union provided the university with an outline of conceptual movement that they would be willing to make on several outstanding issues, including compensation and medical benefits. While we await the union’s submission of full counter proposals, the university is carefully considering these concepts and will provide complete responses during our next scheduled meeting. The parties agreed to reconvene with the mediator on Sunday afternoon and again on Monday in an effort to work towards an agreement.
The university remains hopeful that in advance of Sunday’s session, the union will be able to use the first part of the weekend to finish preparing full counter proposals in response to the last, best, and final package the university presented to them nearly two weeks ago, on November 20, 2022.
As a reminder, many aspects of mediation are confidential, and we are not at liberty to divulge all of the content of these sessions. Furthermore, while the negotiation and mediation process continues, the university urges the part-time faculty to return to the classroom to support our students and to ensure that they have a strong end to the semester.