In less than a day, NewSWU, the group working to unionize non-academic student workers, garnered over 100 signatures on a petition asking that the university respect their “right to a fair and democratic union election.” 

NewSWU filed for a union election to vote to unionize with SENS, the union currently representing the university’s academic student workers on Aug. 7, 2023. On Aug. 28, they began an 11-day long union pre-election hearing held by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with the university to make the case that non-academic student workers are legally eligible to hold a union election. The hearing ended last Wednesday. 

The petition was created by NewSWU following the hearing in anticipation of a decision from the NLRB. The NLRB’s decision will determine if non-academic student workers can hold the election they filed for. 

NewSWU’s petition asks The New School not to appeal the decision in the event that the NLRB decides that NewSWU can hold their union election. It states that the university should “accept the NLRB’s forthcoming ruling and allow NewSWU to hold a fair and democratic election,” if they are permitted to do so.

Non-academic student workers continue to call on The New School to “respect [their] right as workers to form a union of [their] choosing.” As of publication time, the petition had 193 signatures. 

The NLRB has not publically provided a date on which they will release a decision on the hearing.