In a show of overwhelming support, the adjunct faculty gave the Bargaining Committee the power to set a strike date if NYU continues to refuse to meet our demands in bargaining. With 1,571 adjunct faculty members eligible to vote, 1,137, or 72 percent, voted. Of those voting, 1,075, or 95 percent, supported strike authorization and 62 opposed it.
Our current contract is set to expire on Oct. 31, and strike authorization will add more pressure on the university to engage in meaningful bargaining. We have not yet set a strike date, but strike training begins this week on Zoom on Oct. 25 and on Oct. 27, both at 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84726940629
We have been bargaining since April 14 and we had our 22nd bargaining session with NYU on Oct. 21. We have signed 14 tentative agreements that secure important components of our next contract. But on compensation, health insurance, and pay for the work we do outside of the classroom, we remain far apart from the university’s offers.
• NYU took six months to agree to pay adjuncts in the Nursing School and adjunct teaching Performing and Studio Arts courses at the same rate as adjunct faculty teaching Lecture and Lab courses. Worse, that alignment will take six years under NYU’s proposal. The union’s proposal gets that done in three years.
• Our compensation proposals raise the floor for all adjunct faculty in all pay categories. The university’s proposals fund some raises by continuing to underpay adjunct faculty in too many pay categories.
• NYU will not discuss our administrative hour proposal that pays adjunct faculty one contact hour per course per week for class prep, grading, office hours, and the other work we do outside of the classroom.
• On health insurance, the union has proposed making health insurance affordable for more adjunct faculty in particular for those with spouses, domestic partners, and children. The university’s proposals keep health insurance out of reach for too many adjuncts.
More than 100 adjunct faculty members have joined our bargaining sessions to show their support or to testify about their working conditions and their pay. NYU has heard one compelling story after another. With this strike authorization vote, the university is hearing the voices of every member of the adjunct faculty.
If you wish to join our next bargaining sessions on Oct. 26 at 3:45 pm or Oct. 28 at 11:45 am, please contact David Palmer at davidpalmer1304@gmail.com These bargaining sessions will be at 105 E. 17th Street. You may attend these sessions on Zoom if you can’t make it in person.
In Solidarity,
Jared Silberman
Jason Tomme
David Palmer
Steven Rinehart
David Vinjamuri
Barry Greenhut
Jeff Stark
Duncan Osborne
Scott Burkhardt
Cate Fallon
Lizzie Olesker
Joe Gilford
Linn Cary Mehta
Kade Friedman
Anthony Freire
Wendell Thomas
Lisa del Rosso
John Santoro
