Several hundred non-tenured full-time faculty members at New York University are on strike after the school failed to reach a tentative contract agreement with Contract Faculty United-United Auto Workers.
Nearly 75% of the union’s more than 900 full-time NYU contract faculty—who teach across the university’s various schools—voted to authorize the strike in February. On Monday morning, a deal seemed possible, with CFU-UAW extending its 8 a.m. strike deadline by three hours after bargaining through the university’s spring break last week. By midday, union members and supporters were on the picket line outside NYU’s John A. Paulson Center in lower Manhattan.
The strike comes after more than a year of negotiations regarding salaries, job security and benefits, according to Washington Square News, NYU’s student-run newspaper. Among the larger concerns are wage discrepancies between tenured and non-tenured faculty members.
“We’ve been negotiating all night, and in some cases we are coming closer, including appointment and reappointment, promotion, grievance and arbitration, performance evaluations,” the union’s bargaining committee told AMNY. “Unfortunately, we are still far from the administration in other areas.”
Following a series of negotiations last week, the union and the university reached tentative agreements on various contract provisions, including on artificial intelligence and protection for international faculty. Provisions on AI include the university committing to ongoing discussions with the union regarding best practices and emerging issues.
NYU spokesperson Wiley Norvell told Fast Company that the university “will continue negotiating in good faith in the hopes of reaching a fair and sustainable contract.” In an emailed statement, Norvell also confirmed that classes will continue today with substitute instructors or alternative plans in place for those affected by the strike.
On its Instagram, the union and allies like New York City Democratic Socialists of America and the school’s DSA chapter have labeled the substitutes as scabs, and is encouraging students to show solidarity with the union members by joining the picket line.
Throughout the day Monday, students and NYU community members joined the picket line, and more than 1,467 people have signed a solidarity pledge, urging the administration to settle a fair contract.
“Contract faculty are essential to NYU’s mission ‘to be a top quality international center of scholarship, teaching and research.’ Their working conditions are students’ learning conditions, and they deserve a fair contract that strengthens academic freedom and makes NYU a better place to work and learn,” the solidarity letter says.
The strike is expected to impact roughly 25% of classes, according to CBS News, with classes taught by tenured faculty unaffected.
Several of NYU’s schools are unaffected by the strike because their continuing contract faculty are not part of the union. The schools include NYU’s Dentistry, Law, Stern Business School, NYU Abu Dhabi, NYU Shanghai, School of Medicine, and the Long Island School of Medicine.