Currently, NYU cuts our benefits without consulting us in advance, and in some cases, without informing us directly. Over the past five years, contract faculty have lost several valuable benefits like tuition remission and green card eligibility. During the pandemic, many fringe benefits were suspended as part of NYU’s pre-emptive austerity program. Over two-thirds of faculty across the country are now contingent, and face increased precarity. With a union, our benefits are protected in a legally binding contract that we bargain with the University:

• We would elect a bargaining committee from our ranks to sit across the table and negotiate NYU, and we vote to approve proposals that best reflect our priorities.
• Once a majority of contract faculty vote to ratify our contract, NYU cannot change the terms and conditions of our employment.

Benefits and salary are often opaque and inconsistent. Right now, we have some of the same core benefits as tenured faculty (healthcare, retirement, childcare), but many other significant benefits (research funds, sabbaticals, office space, housing subsidies) depend on the favor of individual deans and chairs. With a union, we can bargain for fair minimums for salary and benefits:

• Bargaining as a group and in alliance with contract faculty senators and representatives gives us more power to push for changes we’ve been waiting for.
• NYU is required to share salary and employment data, allowing us to better understand how our benefits are structured and determine our priorities.
• As graduate and adjunct colleagues have already won, we can secure the right to use neutral arbitration to resolve grievances.
• A union contract sets minimum expectations to ensure that everyone has decent benefits and knows how to access them. A union contract won’t eliminate differences between faculty in different ranks and schools; it won’t prevent individual faculty from negotiating offers above established minimums.

Building a strong union will take all of us; to get involved, please contact us.