Summer greetings to all current and soon-to-be members of our  Contract Faculty Union at NYU!

While nature has turned the heat up on all of us, know that the CFU’s work continues. Our duly elected Bargaining Committee (BC) is preparing themselves to turn the heat up on the NYU administration once bargaining starts, but we all have an important part to play in this preparation. Here are some ways help:

1. Complete and submit the Bargaining Survey. You should all have received a link to fill out the Bargaining Survey, but in case you didn’t or have lost track of it, click on the link below. This is the first tool the BC will use to begin to shape our initial bargaining goals, which we will vote to approve before sitting down with the administration and beginning to negotiate our contract. Because we are a big, diverse unit, delivering education in different ways and in need of different kinds of support, your input is critical to making sure the bargaining committee has as much information as possible about the needs of your department or program to guide them in negotiations. Help your representatives help you.

Click Here to Take the CFU-UAW Bargaining Survey

2. Join us at an organizing training, Monday July 22, at noon by zoom. Many of you have voiced your willingness to get involved in our union and help build a strong contract campaign. Not sure where to start? Join us on zoom on Monday for a one-hour training session that will give you the tools and the confidence you need to speak to your colleagues. UAW staff and experienced colleagues will conduct the training. Sign up here:

RSVP here for the Organizing Training

3. Keep the Organizing and Bargaining Committees informed. What should you pass on?

• During this interim time between CFU’s being recognized by the NYU administration and securing a contract through bargaining, NYU is obligated not to make substantial changes to our working conditions. If you are experiencing such shifts in your circumstances, please respond to this email to contact the Organizing Committee with as much detail as possible so that we can intervene.

• Most departments are scrambling to address the credit-hour shortfall that NYU has been told to correct by the state of New York. We want to make sure the “fixes” don’t unfairly burden contract faculty, so we’re looking to catalog the various ways different departments and programs are attempting to make up the shortfall. The union can help ensure revisions are the least burdensome possible. Please let the OC know how your department or program is approaching the problem, especially if the plan is liable to produce a great deal more work for faculty.

• If you experience workplace discrimination of any kind, follow the usual institutional procedures, but please report the incident to the OC so that the union can support you with its resources.

To provide information regarding any of these concerns, email cfu.uaw@gmail.com.

Again, summer is a time to relax and focus on your own projects, but the union effort has to keep pushing. We want to enter the semester with momentum as we develop our bargaining goals and embark on negotiating a strong contract that will improve life for all contract faculty at NYU.

In solidarity, 

Mark Braley for the CFU-UAW Organizing Committee