At our September 14 bargaining session with the university, adjunct faculty from several schools described their commitment to students and pointed out that NYU does not share that same commitment to its adjuncts.
“We’ve dedicated ourselves to building the most engaging and nurturing learning environments, which requires making ourselves available to our students for many more hours than the ones we are compensated for in the classroom,” Effie Rieper, an adjunct faculty member who teaches at the Tandon School of Engineering, told the university administrators in the bargaining session. “This complete dedication, paired with this poor compensation, has left many of us too exhausted to split our time pursuing additional outside employment.”
Eight adjunct faculty members gave testimony on Wednesday. Another eight adjuncts observed the bargaining session.
“I love my students. When I see them in class, I am energized to teach them. I see them respond with enthusiasm, gain skills and confidence, and I know I’m doing my job well,” said Gordon Beeferman, an adjunct faculty member who teaches in the music department at the College of Arts and Science. “Then I think about how much NYU disrespects me, how it doesn’t pay a wage that reflects my abilities and expertise, and doesn’t reflect the actual cost of living in New York City, the city that gives NYU its identity, its name brand, and its financial status.”
In 16 bargaining sessions, NYU has responded to the union’s proposals without making a single original proposal. Meanwhile, we have submitted 27 proposals, including a robust article on compensation, and a counterproposal in which we made a significant move.
NYU initially refused to respond to our counter because we held to 10 percent pay increases each year of the contract. Then, with great fanfare, NYU announced on Wednesday that it had increased its offer for a first-year pay hike from 4 percent to 6.5 percent.
“That’s roughly $9,” said Zoe Carey, the president of ACT-UAW Local 7902 and our lead negotiator. “That’s not the level that we’re looking for. We’re not here to bargain for the same contract that we’ve bargained before.”
While we have signed eight tentative agreements with NYU, and we are pleased with some recent proposals NYU has offered — including the 30-day extension of our existing contract through September 30 — we have yet to see meaningful movement on the issues that matter most to adjuncts: pay, reappointment rights, pay for training and other duties, and health insurance.
In response, we have scheduled a strike authorization vote for September 26 through October 7. This does not mean we are going on strike. We hope to avoid a strike, but that depends on NYU getting serious in bargaining. The Bargaining Committee is urging all adjunct faculty to vote “Yes” on strike authorization in order to pressure NYU into making a fair deal for all of us.
You can read more about strike authorization in our FAQ here.
You can follow the Bargaining Committee’s progress here. If you want to join our Organizing Committee and support the work of the Bargaining Committee, please sign up here. If you want to attend a bargaining session or testify at a bargaining session, please contact organizer Brian Allen at nyu_organizer@actuaw.org.
In Solidarity,
The NYU Bargaining Committee
