SWAN-UAW RAs

CFU-UAW (contract faculty) may go on strike. After more than a year of bargaining with little progress from the NYU administration on the priorities most important to contract faculty, a supermajority of CFU members have voted to authorize a strike, with a deadline of Monday, March 23rd for the administration to bargain in good faith and to agree to a fair contract. You can learn more about CFU’s Strike Authorization Vote here.

When one union at a workplace wins improvements, it raises the standards for everyone. Core demands of CFU’s contract proposals include improvements to compensation, academic freedom, childcare benefits for parents, rights for international faculty, and real support for professional development and research. When the administration attempts to create divisions between different groups of workers to drive these standards down, we exercise our power most effectively by remaining united in our support.  

If a strike occurs, the administration may try to limit its effectiveness by shifting contract faculty’s work onto others or by proposing quiet, individual “workarounds.” In fact, some RAs have already heard requests from the administration about taking over programming or other work normally performed by contract faculty FAs and FFIRs. 

The single most powerful tool for RAs to show solidarity with CFU is to refuse to take on work normally performed by contract faculty, if asked. Hiring substitutes (“scabs”) is a common tactic that employers use to limit the disruption caused by a strike and gain leverage at the negotiating table. In order for CFU to help raise the standards for NYU faculty and win the most improvements possible, it is essential that we do not take over their work. Instead, RAs should politely decline to do struck work, and show solidarity by visiting CFU’s picket line(s).

No. Under our current contract, we cannot strike. We will continue performing our normal assigned duties, but we should not take on struck work that belongs to striking contract faculty FAs and FFIRs.

The NYU administration’s most common strike-breaking tactic is to engineer temporary labor transfers: “Can you just cover this once?” / “Can you help us out for a week?” / “It’s only one event.” That is exactly how strikes get undermined.

If it’s not part of your normal assignment and it fills a gap created by a striking CFU FA or FFIR , it’s almost certainly struck work.

Decline. Keep it simple and boring: “I’m afraid I’m not available to take this assignment.” That’s it. No explanation required. No debate. No bargaining. If you’re pressured, please contact a rep or steward at swan@actuaw.org.

You should still decline. Strikebreaking often comes dressed up as:

• “extra opportunity”
• “short-term bridge”
• “urgent student need”
• “we’re all pitching in”

If the function is to replace CFU labor during a strike, it’s struck work, paid or unpaid.

Continue your normal work. Do not expand your workload to cover FA or FFIR gaps.

Get in touch with the union immediately by contacting swan@actuaw.org. The earlier the union sees the request, the easier it is to help you unwind it cleanly.

Do not handle it alone. Save the message and/or document the conversation, then contact a steward or rep immediately by contacting swan@actuaw.org. Even subtle pressure matters. We want patterns, names, and departments; not rumors.