CFU-UAW Tentative Agreement Highlights
Our agreement with the NYU administration includes historic economic improvements and establishes important new workplace rights for all contract faculty. It not only improves our lives as faculty, but also makes NYU a more equitable, stronger, and freer university.
You can read the articles and side letters that comprise our full tentative agreement here. Here are some key highlights:
The highest minimum salaries for full-time non-tenure-track faculty in the country, plus major raises, especially for our lowest paid and longest-serving colleagues:
- An immediate $6,000 raise for all contract faculty this year.
- Effective September 1, 2026, minimums for newly hired faculty: $91,000 (assistant), $100,100 (associate), $110,110 (full)
- Effective September 1, 2026, increase to salary based on rank and years of service to NYU. All Contract Faculty Members will receive the higher of the following:
- A $14,000 raise to your AY25-26 salary OR
- The applicable salary in the chart on page 5 and 6 of this document.
- 3.5% annual raises each subsequent academic year
- Use the CFU salary calculator to see what your salary is projected to be.
New benefits including:
- An annual $1,000,000 family care fund ($4,150,000 over life of our agreement) to cover the costs of dependent care expenses, including children up to age 13.
- $2,500 or greater annual independent development accounts for all contract faculty to support teaching, research, artistic, and professional development.
- A phased retirement and voluntary window retirement buyout benefit.
- Access to “paid professional development leave” (AKA sabbaticals) for faculty not currently entitled to such a benefit (plus protections for existing sabbaticals where they exist).
- A $200,000 annual fund for international Contract Faculty Members to assist with costs associated with obtaining visas, permanent residence, and naturalization for themselves and their families.
Academic freedom and presumption of reappointment:
- After two successful reappointment reviews, we no longer have to reapply for our jobs — we keep them in the absence of major misconduct or poor performance. This applies retroactively; if you have already completed two reviews, you are set.
- Contractually guaranteed academic freedom protections, including the right to grieve if our academic freedom has been violated.
- Academic freedom applies in the conduct of our classes and our choice of teaching materials, in exercising our professional judgment in university service, and in the library.
Preserve and defend shared governance
- Elected peer review committees for reappointment and promotion
- Preservation of department-specific academic criteria for promotion and reappointment
- Guarantee of continued participation in shared governance as full members of the faculty in our departments, schools, and university. (But terms and conditions of employment are now governed by the contract, not shared governance.)
Skip down to a section:
Appointment/Reappointment, Promotion, and Evaluation
See Below for a Summary of Each Article
Compensation and Benefits
Preserves access to health insurance and other miscellaneous benefits on the same terms as tenured/tenure-track faculty members.
An immediate $6,000 raise for all contract faculty this year. Effective September 1, 2026, increases to salary based on rank and years of service to NYU; Contract Faculty Members will receive the higher of a $14,000 raise to AY25-26 salary or the applicable salary in the chart on page 5 and 6 of this document. Moving forward, minimums for newly hired faculty will be $91,000 for assistants, $100,100 for associates, $110,110 for full professors. These minimums increase by 3% each year, while faculty members’ salaries will increase annually by 3.5% beginning September 1, 2027 (effectively a 3% annual raise and .5% longevity increase). Additionally, the salary minimums for faculty members on 12-month contracts in schools that also have faculty on 9-month contracts (e.g. in Nursing and Steinhardt) will be 3/9ths larger than those listed above and in the chart linked-to above.
**Use the CFU salary calculator to see what your salary is projected to be**
Precedent-setting $1,000,000 annual family care fund to support Contract Faculty Members’ children and other dependents. Unused funds rollover and fund increases by $25,000 a year (NYU will contribute $4,150,000 over the life of our agreement).
Individual Development Accounts
Provides guaranteed funding for teaching, research, artistic, and professional development expenses through Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) of at least $2,500 annually for all Contract Faculty Members, with higher existing amounts preserved except under limited circumstances.
Guarantees that written agreements between faculty members and administrators that provide compensation, benefits, or workload arrangements more favorable than those in this Agreement will continue. If you rely on an unwritten agreement with your chair or dean — for instance, a lower workload, special benefits, or an agreement to work remotely — get it in writing today.
Provides Contract Faculty Members with a full range of paid and unpaid leaves—including bereavement, reproductive loss, childbirth, FMLA, illness/disability, jury duty, professional leave, personal, prenatal, and sick and safe leave. New/improved benefits include:
- Eight (8) additional paid days off to care for a seriously ill spouse, domestic partner, child, or parent.
- Faculty will continue to be eligible for workload relief for caregiving of newborn, adopted, foster, or newly-placed children. Both parents may now take workload relief consecutively.
- See also Workload, where we won new paid vacations for Steinhardt and Nursing 12-month faculty and the Workload Side Letter where we protected current vacations for librarians.
Paid Professional Development Leave
Provides a new Paid Professional Development Leave for Contract Faculty Members who have completed six consecutive years of full-time service, allowing one semester at full pay to pursue research, creative work, or pedagogical projects. Up to 15 leaves are granted per year. Faculty in schools, departments, and programs that already offer a sabbatical or similar paid leave benefit will continue to have access to that benefit.
Two new benefits with sign-up starting January 1, 2027, for faculty aged 65+ with 10+ years of service:
- A lump-sum voluntary window retirement payout (VWRP) equal to three weeks per year of service up to 52 weeks. The VWRP is guaranteed in 2026-27, with another possible window in 2028-29.
- A phased retirement option with a 50% course load reduction at 100% pay in the final year of employment. The phased retirement option will be available annually.
Contract Faculty Members who retire will continue to receive retiree benefits on the same terms as those provided to tenured/tenure-track faculty. Includes retiree medical benefits and more.
Appointment/Reappointment, Promotion, and Evaluation
All NYU contract faculty will have presumption of renewal following their second reappointment. Faculty on their first or second appointment (and not yet presumptively renewable) will be reviewed by elected committees of faculty peers. Non-reappointment grievances can be brought to neutral arbitration. Contract faculty are also now protected against “operational” reasons for non-reappointment like layoffs except in very limited circumstances. In the case of layoffs, faculty are now entitled to severance equivalent to up to a year’s salary, and we can demand that the administration prove the facts it claims necessitate layoffs.
Contract faculty with presumptively renewable appointments do not have to apply, write reports, or gather materials. No more reapplying for our own jobs!
This article covers the criteria by which we will be evaluated, both at reappointment and promotion, and for annual performance evaluations.
- Because we now have guaranteed annual raises of 3.5% each year (starting 2027-78), we no longer have the unpredictable and arbitrary AMI. Annual evaluations are now only to evaluate effectiveness of teaching and other required job responsibilities and to support professional development. Annual evaluations may only include the FAR, teaching observations, student teaching assessments, and other relevant material as applicable such as scholarly publications and creative work.
- We won limits on how teaching evaluations can be used: they can only be among several criteria, not the only measure of teaching; they may only be used holistically, with an emphasis on trends; and inappropriate and biased comments will be disregarded. (See also Respectful Work Environment, which bans discrimination.)
- For non-presumptively renewable reappointments and for promotions, we’ve agreed to a system for integrating the school-, program-, and department-level reappointment and promotion criteria developed through shared governance into our collective bargaining agreement.
Contract faculty up for promotion will be reviewed by elected committees of faculty peers, according to the criteria in our contract and local guidance developed through shared governance. The timing of promotion and reappointment are now separated, and if you get a promotion, you get a new appointment at the longer length of your higher rank. Non-promotion grievances can be brought to neutral arbitration.
Outlines the different contract faculty titles and ranks across NYU schools. Current Senior Lecturers, Senior Language Lecturers, and Senior Teachers are now considered equivalent to Full Professors, and get an automatic 10% salary increase as of the date of ratification.
Workplace Rights
Academic Freedom & Side Letter on Library Censorship
- Academic freedom — the freedom to teach our expertise, to publish our research and create our art, and to speak as citizens — is the bedrock of the American university system. Our rights to academic freedom are now contractualized and can be grieved to a neutral third-party arbitrator. Akin to our tenured colleagues, our academic freedom is now protected by our presumption of renewal (see Appointment and Reappointment).
- In addition, we won expanded academic freedom rights — to make pedagogical decisions over our courses and control our classrooms and to follow our professional judgement in university, school, and department service (these provisions are found in Workload and Responsibilities).
- We won an additional protection: faculty “may access and use library materials free from institutional censorship, in accordance with applicable law and University rules, regulations, and policies.”
Faculty may now decline additional administrative or service roles. Those holding administrative positions must receive at least 90 days’ notice if their appointment will not be renewed. Additionally, faculty removed from administrative roles will continue to receive their course release for the remainder of the academic year and maintain access to any resources needed for their faculty responsibilities.
Side Letter on Artificial Intelligence
Guarantees contract faculty the ability to exercise professional judgement, regardless of whether AI is used.
Protects against unjust discipline and discharge and ensures due process protections for faculty accused of wrongdoing, in their schools or departments, and in OEO investigatory meetings.
Affords faculty real recourse against violations of our rights under our contract by allowing contract faculty to take grievances to a neutral, third-party arbitrator who can make binding decisions.
Health and Safety & Side Letter on Health and Safety
- Promises a safe and healthy workplace.
- Acknowledges that student vaccination policy is a matter of our workplace health and safety.
- Creates a union-management committee to discuss health and safety, including among other topics ergonomics.
- The side letter acknowledges the presence of police as a matter of health and safety and promises that the Health and Safety committee will discuss the matter at least three times.
- We were unable to win a guarantee that NYU will sponsor non-citizen Contract Faculty Members for a legally appropriate visa of their choice or for permanent residency. The administration was adamant and implacable in its refusal.
- However, OGS shall meet with a new international contract faculty member to discuss available options (e.g., E-3, H-1B, J-1, O-1, TN) given their individual circumstances to determine which visa status is most appropriate under all relevant circumstances.
- OGS must initiate the sponsorship process in a timely manner and ensure deadlines are met to the best of its ability, and departments must also submit paperwork to OGS in a timely manner.
- If someone can’t get into the U.S. for immigration reasons, the administration must consider their request for accommodation, including (for new hires) holding their job for at least a semester or (for current faculty) granting unpaid leave.
- The administration will fund a $200,000-per-year fund (with unspent money rolling over to the next year) that can be spent for any non-citizen contract faculty member and their dependents’ costs related to visas, permanent residence application, or naturalization.
- Establishes a union-management committee to deal with problems at OGS.
- See also the Privacy side letter, which forbids ’s voluntary cooperation with ICE or other immigration enforcement agents and prohibits the warrantless entrance of ICE agents into NYU buildings.
- We will need to keep fighting to demand that the NYU administration sponsor our non-citizen colleagues for appropriate visas and green cards. This article gives us tools to advocate, but we will need to use them, together, to make NYU do the right thing.
We were unable to win clear contractual guarantees that contract faculty can serve as PIs and PDs without administrative approval, but we resisted the administration’s attempts to force PIs and PDs out of the unit, or into unnecessary co-PI/PD relationships with tenure-track faculty.
Under this tentative agreement, Contract Faculty Members may continue to supervise personnel for grants or awards that have already been made. With new grants and awards, the administration insisted that we no longer supervise other NYU employees. Instead, Contract Faculty Members serving as PI/PDs will continue to be able to “mentor personnel with regard to their academic, scientific, and research responsibilities.” We will need to keep fighting to make sure that the NYU administration doesn’t hobble our ability to win grants and conduct sponsored research.
Non-Discrimination & Respectful Work Environment
At a time when civil rights protections are under national attack, we have won several important victories, including:
- For the first time ever, partial protection against caste discrimination
- Guarantees of disability, pregnancy, lactation, and religious accommodations, and the right to have a union representative present at meetings related to requests for these accommodations.
- A commitment that Contract Faculty Members may use, and have others use, their preferred names and pronouns.
- A university-wide anti-bullying policy, which is now in effect and guaranteed by our contract.
Contract faculty have the right to view, contest, and amend materials in our personnel files.
Clarifies/codifies/explains the interaction between university-wide policies and the terms and conditions determined by our collective bargaining agreement.
Establishes our continued participation in the shared governance in our departments, programs, schools, and the larger university; outlines the areas where shared governance can no longer be used to address the terms and conditions covered by our collective bargaining agreement.
Guarantees that the administration will not disclose our information to government agencies or allow governmental agencies to enter campus buildings without appropriate warrants.
Gives contract faculty the right to make advisory recommendations about technology that affects the terms and conditions of our employment (like generative AI) and to bargain over the effects of technology on our work.
Workload & Workload Side Letter
The Workload article outlines base teaching, research, and service workloads, and establishes a Workload Union Management Committee with the remit of assessing overwork in schools, programs, and departments. The Workload UMC may recommend new policies for adoption, and we may grieve those policies if they are approved by the relevant dean. The Side Letter outlines unusual work arrangements not captured in our Workload article, and work arrangements that should be evaluated by the Workload UMC.
Guarantees us reasonable office space, classroom space, and resources to support our teaching and research.
Union and Management Rights
Ensures that the administration provides our union with basic information about employees in our bargaining unit and establishes that the administration will develop a tracking system for faculty who enter and exit our unit as a result of assuming certain administrative positions.
Contract Faculty Member Representatives
Affords up to six Contract Faculty Members one course release per semester in order to help run our union and represent our colleagues.
Affirms that the Agreement represents the complete understanding between the administration and our union.
States that the faculty handbook will be updated to make clear which sections are now covered by our contract and therefore no longer apply.
Reserves a set of enumerated rights for the administration, except as they are otherwise constrained throughout the rest of our agreement. (A version of this article is in virtually every union contract in the United States.)
States that the contract faculty will not go on strike while our contract is in effect, and that the administration will not lock out contract faculty while our contract is in effect.
Specifies the email and physical addresses of both parties.
Governs who is included in our bargaining unit. During our negotiations, the administration repeatedly proposed removing several individuals from our unit, claiming that they were supervisors and therefore could not be included. We did not agree. The matter will be addressed in an upcoming arbitration.
Makes clear that if the law changes so as to nullify a specific section of our contract, the rest of the contract will remain in effect, and that we and the administration will negotiate to address the issue.
Explains that this contract will conclude on August 31, 2030, and that we will begin negotiating our next contract in just under 4 years (on or after March 1, 2030).
Ensures that the administration provides union representatives (who are Contract Faculty Members) time to orient new Contract Faculty Members about their rights under the contract and membership in our Union and book union meeting space on campus. Also states that NYU will post our agreement on its website. This article helps us have a strong union.
Ensures that our Union has sufficient resources to engage in effective representation. Contract Faculty Members have an obligation to become a union member and pay dues or pay a fee to share the cost of representation. Dues provide the resources for helping our Union handle grievances and to engage in other types of advocacy.
Establishes a joint committee comprising contract faculty representatives and administration representatives to meet every two months to discuss matters affecting contract faculty member working conditions.