RSVP for our next bargaining session on Aug 26th
Our next bargaining session is on Tuesday, August 26 from 10AM-1PM in person and zoom. It’s been a year and a half since we voted overwhelmingly to form our union, but the NYU administration is dragging its feet. It has failed to respond adequately to the vast majority of our non-economic proposals — and in the responses it has made, it has proposed to radically curtail shared governance. But we can win the strong contract we need and deserve. The more of us who participate, the stronger message we send to the NYU administration.
In our last bargaining session, the administration’s first economic offer was very disappointing: the proposal would leave nearly 80% of us without an increase in pay. Not only are they rejecting the principle of parity with tenure-track colleagues, they have so far rejected any improvements to our benefits package.
We need a contract that defends the integrity of an NYU education. By seeking to enshrine strong protections for academic freedom and shared governance, we aim to ensure that it is faculty experts who determine how and by whom students are taught, which is more critical than ever given the attacks on the academy from the federal government. If NYU is to live up to its purported values of equity and inclusion, the administration must urgently address gendered salary gaps and the rights of international faculty and agree to ban abusive conduct in our workplaces. It must agree not to misuse generative AI and to protect our privacy and our intellectual property.
Contract faculty drive the mission of the university through our teaching, our scholarship and creativity, our service, and the immense amounts of work we perform. We deserve a first contract that reflects the value of our contributions to the university. The NYU administration should have a shared interest upholding standards of parity, equity, and academic freedom, but it won’t unless we demand it.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or thoughts.
In solidarity,
CFU-UAW Organizing Committee