After taking issue with a new healthcare plan introduced in 2021, The New School part-time faculty union won an arbitration ruling against the university.

The New School must institute a new healthcare policy for their part-time faculty after a third-party stated it violated the terms of the part-time professors’ union contract when the university changed policies in 2021.

The union, ACT-UAW Local 7902, took issue with the university changing their healthcare policy to one they considered inferior, eventually leading to a third-party resolving the matter.

Part-time faculty members told The New School Free Press the policy change left them financially burdened, as they were forced to dig into retirement savings and apply for financial aid to make up new out-of-pocket costs stemming from the change. One faculty member said they had to pay six times as much for their medication under the new plan.

Because of the third-party’s ruling, the university must institute a healthcare policy comparable to the prior plan and reimburse faculty for any additional out-of-pocket costs brought about by the new policy, according to ACT-UAW Local 7902 unit chair Annie Larson.

Previously, part-time faculty were under a plan with UnitedHealthcare, though in October 2020 the university announced it would switch providers in January 2021 to Aetna. This was one of a number of cost-saving measures instituted by the university during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to university spokesperson Amy Malsin.

The union circulated a petition in early 2021 asking New School President Dwight McBride to reduce part-time faculty healthcare costs. It garnered more than 850 signatures within two months, according to Larson.

The union filed a grievance — a formal process through which the union and university attempted to work out the issue through a series of meetings — against The New School in November 2020 after the change was announced, due to concerns over the new healthcare plan. Another grievance was filed in November 2021 when the university said they would continue using the plan in 2022. When the two sides couldn’t resolve the issue, they went into arbitration, in which an arbitrator decided the resolution.

When the healthcare change took effect in January 2021, a number of part-time faculty noted deficiencies in the new plan compared to the old one. They noticed hikes in healthcare costs including a rise in out-of-pocket prescription drug prices. They also said some medical procedures were no longer completely covered under the new plan and they faced a 10% coinsurance — in which a percentage of some medical bills were charged to patients, rather than their insurance.

The university removed the coinsurance Feb. 22 following the ruling, according to Larson.

ACT-UAW Local 7902 guide Alexander Robins said some part-time faculty had to pay more for fewer doses of insulin per prescription.

“You were getting less and being charged more under the new policy for something as basic as insulin,” Robins said.

Parsons School of Design assistant professor Anna Fridlis said a procedure she had scheduled went from being fully covered under the old plan to costing more than $500 out-of-pocket under the new plan.

“I happened to have an appointment for a complex procedure in the first few days of the year when the new insurance kicked in,” Fridlis said. “Based on my experience with the old insurance that procedure would have been covered, so I wasn’t worried about it. … Then I found out that it was going to cost me over $500.”

She said the healthcare change coming in the middle of the pandemic made her feel betrayed by The New School. 

“It just felt like there were already so many things happening that were out of control with the pandemic and switching to online teaching,” Fridlis said. “For that to happen in the middle of this was just a shock.”

One New School professor, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from the university, said they were in the middle of cancer treatment when healthcare switched over, increasing their treatment costs. Their hospital bill rose to about $3,500 due to the addition of the 10% coinsurance. Prior to this their bill was entirely covered by insurance.

“I actually had to apply to the hospital for financial aid to pay that bill,” they said. “That’s basically The New School putting faculty on social services.”

A professor at The New School for Social Research, who also asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from the university, said the increased healthcare costs, along with other issues during the pandemic, forced their household to dig into their retirement savings. The medication they required went from $800 to $4,800 out-of-pocket a year under the new plan.

I actually had to apply to the hospital for financial aid to pay that bill. That’s basically The New School putting faculty on social services.

— professor at The New School

“All of a sudden, we’re spending $5,000 more a year,” they said. “I was saving money so I could retire. And that’s gone, and I can’t retire.”

The ruling comes against the backdrop of upcoming labor negotiations between the university and the union. The union expects to begin negotiating its next collective bargaining agreement with the school this spring, according to Larson. 

“It’s really important going into these negotiations to understand the kind of collective power that we have as a union and that when we fight back against the university, we can prevail,” Larson said. 

The university will not appeal the decision and will work with the union to comply with the ruling, Malsin said in a statement to the Free Press.

Professors praised the union and their efforts pushing against the healthcare change. 

“I am so thrilled with this union, I can’t tell you,” the anonymous professor undergoing cancer treatment said. “They have worked so hard. … I’m really, I’m amazed that [the union] won.”

Robins said the ruling has union members feeling confident and united ahead of contract negotiations. 

“Our members now know that when we stand together, and we push back, we can get results,” he said.

A version of this article appeared in the Spring 2022 International Issue of The New School Free Press. Read more stories from the print issue here.