Unions at NYU gathered on Friday, Nov. 4, to celebrate a new preliminary union supplemental agreement with the university in Schwartz Square.
NYU Adjunct Faculty members and supporters celebrate the union’s tentative agreement with NYU last Friday. (Photo by Alexandra Chan)
Cheers erupted from the crowd in Schwartz Plaza on Nov. 4 as NYU union members and the student chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America gathered to celebrate a temporary supplemental union contract with the university. The agreement between the union and the university was reached after a previous contract, signed in 2016, expired at midnight on October 31.
Six years old a preliminary agreement was reached on November 1 after a 15-hour negotiation between union members and the university. The union, known as ACT-UAW Local 7902, won pay increases, compensation for work performed outside the auditorium, health insurance subsidies for adjuncts and their dependents and other benefits. The tentative contract will be voted on by union members in the coming weeks.
NYU union representatives joined the celebration, including the Graduate Student Organizing Committee and the university’s unrecognized contract faculty union.
Anila Gill, Tisha Ph.D. candidate and co-chair of GSOC attended the celebration and is hopeful about the new benefits in the previous agreement, including how pay increases for adjuncts start with a 34% increase in the first year or an 8% increase for those who earn more than minimum rates.
“We’ve heard good things about the 34% raise that this new tentative agreement will provide, and it will be life-changing for all adjuncts as well as graduate faculty,” Gill said.
Kristen Gonzalez, a Democratic candidate running unopposed for New York State Senate District 59, urged the crowd to continue participating in union efforts on campus.
“This is just the beginning,” Gonzalez said. “We’re going to come back and ask for more from NYU, and we’re not going to stop.”
NYU freshman Brandon Wu, a member of NYU’s YDSA chapter, hopes the adjuncts’ win will demonstrate the power that workers wield in higher education and beyond.
“They’ve put in so much effort and they’re the reason why companies work, the country works – everything happens because of the work of these people,” Wu said. “It’s an example to everyone that we can go on, we can do it, and you’re not alone in this fight.”
Contact Kayla Hardersen at [email protected]
