Update On Latest Bargaining Session with SENS-UAW Local 7902, Academic Student Workers
A Message from Sonya Williams, Vice President for Human Resources
On Friday, December 1, the university bargaining team and SENS-UAW Local 7902, the union representing our Academic Student Workers, met again to make progress towards a renewed agreement.
During the session, tentative agreements were reached on several items: Union Security and Checkoff, V-CAP, Union Access, Bulletin Boards and Posting, Employment Income and Verification, Maintenance of Benefits, and Conformity to Law and Intellectual Property.
The university asked clarifying questions regarding certain union proposals and recent requests to better understand the union’s positions. This included a request for more information on the data the union has cited in support of its economic demands, as well as information that will be key to calculating the total economic impact of these requests. Adjustments to the economic benefits for one group of workers cannot be made in a vacuum, so it is important that the university has this data so we can consider the proposals holistically and make decisions that are in the best interests of our community as a whole.
The university was responsive to the union’s recent information request, sharing details on The New School’s inclement weather policy. The union has yet to provide the university with responses to a number of outstanding non-economic university proposals, including health and safety, labor management committee, nondiscrimination and harassment, disability rights and access, management rights, discipline and discharge, meeting space, and academic student worker rights and responsibilities. We look forward to hearing the union’s responses soon.
The university would like to meet again before the end of the calendar year, and has asked the union to provide dates. We have also agreed to meet with the union for a series of future bargaining sessions on January 10, January 26, February 9 and March 8, and proposed that those sessions each last four hours so that the parties have the time necessary to have meaningful discussions. We await the union’s response. The university remains eager to meet sooner, more frequently and for longer sessions so that we can quickly come to mutual agreement, as we did with the union representing our Student Health Employees.
Links to observe bargaining sessions will continue to be posted on our Union Negotiations page prior to each session. You can stay updated by signing up for email updates here and by following @KnowOurNewSchool on Twitter/X and Instagram.