BARGAINING FAQ

According to a 2021 report, the average time to negotiate a first collective bargaining agreement is 458 days after a union election. However, the median number of days is 372. The median is significantly lower because union-busting employers like Starbucks and Amazon drag out negotiations for years as a matter of course, inflating the average. Well-meaning, high-road employers choose to negotiate in good faith and come to terms with their workers quickly.

As a recent example, graduate and postdoctoral researchers at Caltech won their union election on January 31st, 2024 and ratified their first contract on January 30th, 2025, exactly 365 days.

We won our union election on February 28, 2024.

The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) is a federal law that governs most private employers, protects the rights of workers to engage in concerted activities and improve working conditions, and sets the policy of the United States to encourage collective bargaining; the NLRA and, especially the independent agency that enforces it, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”), are under a sustained attack from employers and the Trump administration. Companies like Amazon and Starbucks and companies owned by Elon Musk are arguing that the NLRA is unconstitutional. Donald Trump has fired one of the members of the NLRB so that it does not have enough members to decide cases, and he has nominated a management lawyer to be the General Counsel of the NLRB. 

In January 2024, Contract Faculty United – UAW reached a groundbreaking agreement in which the NYU administration guaranteed that it would voluntarily recognize and negotiate with the union after an election overseen by the American Arbitration Association — not by the National Labor Relations Board. The administration has already agreed that all members of the bargaining unit as defined in the agreement are employees for the purpose of collective bargaining, regardless of whether or not they would have been included under the NLRA. This agreement means that while the principles of the NLRA govern our negotiations, our relationship with the administration does not rely on the NLRA and is not overseen by the NLRB. Under the agreement, any disputes that arise will be decided by neutral, third-party arbitrator, and the enforcement of our rights will not depend upon what happens to the NLRB. Under the law, the arbitrator has the authority to enforce our agreement even if the attacks on the NLRB are successful.

Beyond our agreement, the New York State constitution guarantees the right to collective bargaining, and if the whole NLRA is ruled unconstitutional or otherwise repealed, a New York State law called the State Employee Relations Act would come into effect for private sector workers.

The NYU administration has recognized Contract Faculty United – UAW as the exclusive bargaining representative of contract faculty at NYU. This means that the administration can negotiate only with the colleagues whom we have elected to our bargaining committee, not with any other group, over the terms and conditions of employment. This protects faculty members from giving up the benefits of collective bargaining and being forced to bargain individually over their terms and conditions of employment. In our eventual union contract, we intend to set floors, not ceilings, so that individuals may always ask for raises or other improvements to their working conditions.

One of the principles from federal labor law that we adopted in the election agreement is that parties must bargain with each other in “good faith” with respect to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. Good faith doesn’t mean that either the administration or the union must agree to any specific proposal, make concessions, or to reach an agreement, but it does mean that both sides must negotiate with the intent of reaching an agreement. It also means that the employer must provide answers to “requests for information” that the union submits seeking information that’s relevant to negotiations and the administration of the contract. The obligation to bargain in good faith also means that the administration cannot unilaterally impose changes to our working conditions without first negotiating. It also bans “surface bargaining,” which is when the employer pretends to bargain but does so without intending to reach an agreement.

All CFU-UAW members have Weingarten rights: the right, upon request, to have a union representative present during any meeting that we reasonably believe could lead to discipline or dismissal. We also have the right to stop any meeting in which discipline comes up and reschedule. Say: “If this discussion could lead to discipline or termination, I request union representation, and that the meeting be postponed until my union representative arrives.” We have to ask for a representative — administrators won’t offer one to us — so you should contact cfu.uaw@gmail.com before any meeting you believe might be disciplinary. Contact cfu.uaw@gmail.com to be connected with a union rep. 

We also all have the right to engage in concerted activities related to our jobs. That means, for example, that we have the right to wear union buttons and to put up union posters in places where we can put up other posters. We can speak about the union in any context where we can speak about other things. If your dean or department chair tries to discriminate against you for union activities or to prevent you from engaging in concerted activities, again, please be in touch immediately.

When the NYU administration agreed to bargain in good faith with the union, it was promising, among other things, not to make any unilateral changes to our working conditions without negotiating over them first. That means that if a school or department changes your working conditions, it could be a serious breach of the agreement. If you believe that your school, department, or program is violating the agreement by imposing a unilateral change, please be in touch immediately by emailing cfu.uaw@gmail.com. Already, we have successfully prevented the unilateral withdrawal of a program director stipend in SPS, and we are currently bargaining over other proposed changes to the status quo, including how grievances are adjudicated under the Faculty Handbook. We can’t fight for our rights unless you tell us what’s going on in your school and department, so when in doubt let us know.

A bargaining unit is the group of workers represented by a union, who will be covered by our contract. Everyone in the bargaining unit is represented by our union, regardless of whether they have joined the union by signing a membership card. That means that your elected representatives have the duty to fairly represent everyone in our negotiations and in things like disciplinary proceedings. But only people who have chosen to join the union take part in governing it; for instance, only people who had signed cards voted in our Bargaining Committee elections.

In our case, contract faculty decided our bargaining unit through ten months of negotiations with the administration, with both parties agreeing that it would comprise the full-time continuing contract faculty at NYU with three groups of exceptions. The first, broadest exception is that the Medical Schools (both in Manhattan and Long Island), the School of Law, the College of Dentistry, and the Stern School of Business, are excluded from the bargaining unit. 

The second level of exclusion, known as the A(2) exclusions for the paragraph of the election agreement where they’re listed, are those who are categorically excluded: all ranks of provosts, chancellors, or deans; full chairs and heads of academic departments, divisions, or programs; executive directors; directors of global academic centers; the director of the Marron Institute; and directors of degree-granting academic programs in FAS and GPH who do not report to a chair and whose programs employ full-time continuing contract faculty, including the directors of XE, International Relations, Museum Studies, Hellenic Studies, and Public Health Nutrition. 

The third level of exclusion is known as the A(3) exclusions, and it’s more complicated. The paragraph lists a specific group of “Specified Administrative Positions”: vice, associate, and assistant chairs; directors of institutes (other than the Marron Institute); directors of cultural houses; directors of degree-granting academic programs (other than those listed in A(2) above); directors of undergraduate studies and graduate studies outside of FAS and Courant; academic directors in CUSP and SPS; faculty with administrative titles in the Libraries; the coordinator of the Westchester and Rockland Campuses in Silver; and directors of studios in the Tisch School of the Arts. If those positions are at least half of your job, as measured through course releases or salary, then you’re excluded from the bargaining unit for the time you hold that position. If you get less than half of your salary or devote less than half of your time to your specified administrative position, you’re in the bargaining unit — but the terms and conditions of the specified administrative position are at the discretion of the administration and not covered by our union.

The exclusions in A(3) are very narrow, and they apply to a small number of people. If you have any other sort of administrative or service role other than those listed above, you’re fully in the union. And if you are in a specified administrative position for less than half of your job, you’re in the union. If you have questions about your position, or if your dean tries to tell you that you’re excluded, please email us at cfu.uaw@gmail.com.