Happy Labor Day! I’ve been involved in organizing our union for many years, and I have never felt more optimistic about what we can win. This time last year, the NYU administration was ignoring our majority support. Now, they’ve agreed that we have the right to a union, and they’re working with us to come to agreement on a fair election.

We were able to make real progress last semester by coming together — in our departments and on the street outside Bobst — to demand that NYU leadership recognize us and respect our right to collective bargaining. We gathered enough signatures, turned out enough people, and made enough noise to bring the administration to the table. We can win a fair election agreement, and we can win an election — but we all need to stay in touch, and we all need to find ways to bring more colleagues into our union to build our collective strength. This week, as we settle into the new semester, I invite you to join me in doing three quick and painless things that will set us up to build on last semester’s success. LET’S:

• Reach out to new contract faculty in our departments, encourage them to sign up online, and to make ourselves available if questions come up. Once we win our union, we can make NYU to share employment data and more easily find new hires to bring them up to speed. Til then, we need to keep orienting new colleagues one-on-one: it’s their union too! (Reply to this email to be put in touch with a contract faculty organizer in your school if you have questions!)

• Bring a colleague to our union happy hour, this Thurs. 9/7 at 5:00 pm at The Scratcher (209 E 5th St. off Cooper Square). We’ll have cards for new hires, CFU swag, pizza, and plenty of animated conversation about the best ways to build power this semester.

• Wear our CFU buttons and display our CFU posters on office doors and department bulletin boards. Winning a fair election agreement (and a union election) will be easier if we all get into the habit of being visibly and vocally supportive. Let’s make pro-union sentiment the norm on NYU’s campus!

Need a poster or a button? Click here to get stocked up for fall semester!

We’re not the only campus union gearing up for an active fall. Just like us, our postdoctoral, graduate, and staff researcher colleagues are seeking to turn their majority support into union recognition. This Saturday, Sept. 9th, CFU will join NYU Researchers United, NYU grad workers, and adjunct faculty to march with other UAW members from across the city in the New York City Labor Day Parade. I’ll be there, and all are welcome  — RSVP here to join our contract faculty contingent!

Finally, please save the date for our next Planning Assembly, Friday September 15th at 12:00 pm on Zoom, when we’ll convene to discuss our ongoing talks with the NYU administration and make decisions about our union’s fall priorities. As we learned last semester, when a broad range of contract faculty from across NYU schools get involved in crafting and carrying out strategy, our union wins. I’m excited to meet more of you in the weeks ahead.

In Solidarity,

Elisabeth Fay
Clinical Associate Professor (FAS)
Organizing Committee, Contract Faculty United – UAW

P.S. Our organizing committee is open to all CFU members. If you’d like to be looped in about upcoming meetings, reply to this email. You’re needed!