SENS to begin strike authorization vote around Feb 12

Contract negotiations for the Academic Student Employees SENS-UAW, the union representing academic student workers at the New School, have been slow to progress since financial counteroffers were made by the union in October, according to the SENS bargaining blog. The union has reached tentative agreements with the university on nine new articles in their contract, according to recent posts on their Instagram, but the lack of progress on the economic negotiations has led the union to begin voting to authorize a strike. 

Authorizing a strike does not mean the student workers will strike, but it does give the union the ability to strike if negotiations stall. In order to authorize a strike, the union requires a ⅔ majority of members to agree. The union said they would only strike “if necessary.” In the event of a strike, SENS workers will cease their work at the university with the intent to disrupt routine and pressure the university to negotiate and meet the demands for a new contract. 

Among the members of the SENS union are Course Assistants, Research Assistants and Associates, Teaching Assistants and Fellows, and Tutors.

A recent Instagram post by the union said, “We spent the whole of last semester trying to avert a strike…[but] the university has brought us to this point.” 

Members will cast ballots in the coming weeks, likely beginning on Monday, Feb. 12, and votes will be tallied internally by the union to protect the anonymity of voters and ensure maximum participation. 

The university said the school has “refreshed its approach to negotiations,” citing the official statement from December 19. In addition, a university spokesperson wrote that the school is “eager” to reach a new agreement with “excellent benefits and pay increases.” 

An update on negotiations

The articles tentatively agreed upon in the most recent bargaining session on Jan. 26, include issues such as health and safety, space and equipment, labor management, and academic freedom, according to the SENS bargaining blog. All the agreed-upon articles are non-economic, meaning they do not directly cost the university significant amounts of money to adhere to. 

While setting ground rules, the bargaining committee and university team agreed to hold off on negotiating economic articles or any contract section that would require the university to increase spending until all non-economic articles have been discussed. Economic articles proposed by SENS include wage increases on par with NYU and Columbia, higher than the university’s proposition of 29% over five years — a raise of about one or two dollars each year.

According to SENS bargaining committee member Aaron Berman, Philosophy PhD candidate and teaching fellow at Lang, the delay on discussing economic articles weighs heavily on members of the union, who remain unsure what their compensation and benefits will be under the next contract. 

“We are still waiting on economic proposals, and it’s not at all clear that the university side has an understanding of the deep precarity that characterizes SENS worker’s experiences,” Berman said. He added that over the life of the last contract, inflation grew faster than wages increased, resulting in further economic precarity for union members. In addition, job security is difficult to guarantee for academic workers, according to Berman, due to the term-based schedule of the jobs. 

Five of the nine articles agreed on in January remain unchanged from the existing contract. Articles that changed include additional meeting times on campus for the union, more opportunities for academic workers to receive up to $20 of reimbursement for classroom supplies purchased by student workers, and to negotiate class cancellations themselves rather than adhering only to university decisions. 

Berman described the cancellation policy proposal from SENS: “If a government agency, like New York state or the city, puts out a warning and says commuting is not safe for its inclement weather, then instructors should have the discretion to switch their class to Zoom.” 

Under the current contract, instructors must contact their supervisor for approval to move classes online, which, according to Berman, is unrealistic when you have to call them at 7 a.m. for an 8 a.m. class. 

One union proposition yet to be negotiated is a compensation plan with a 40% raise in the first year, and 13.5% percent raises in the subsequent two years for all SENS workers. The other economic articles not yet discussed include a revised healthcare plan for academic student workers and their dependents, and financial support for international student workers. 

For example, the university would be able to act as a guarantor for housing rentals, ensuring timely pay and compensation for outside-the-classroom work. They would also implement  tuition waivers like those in the Part-Time Faculty contract. Under that 2022 contract, tuition is waived for faculty and dependents for a certain number of courses, depending on the amount taught by the faculty member. 

These articles were proposed to the university in October, and according to the union, no response or negotiation has happened.  

The university’s new lead negotiator

Contract talks in January included a new lead negotiator for the university: Peter Jones, of the law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC. “The university has refreshed its approach to negotiations,” said a New School spokesperson. “This includes welcoming Peter Jones to our negotiating team.” 

Jones was the head negotiator for the university when a new contract with the Student Health Services was agreed to last fall, narrowly averting a strike.  According to SENS, the change in head negotiator could signal that the university hopes to avoid a strike. 

Until January, the university’s negotiation team was led by Genaira Tyce, a partner at Akerman LLP who represents employers in labor and employment law and represented the university during the 25-day long Part-Time Faculty strike of 2022. 

Tyce has extensive experience in trial law and according to Berman, her approach of individually arguing each article in the contract rather than proposing an entire contract draft at once led to delays in the negotiations. 

Despite not yet discussing economic articles, Berman attests that “the shift from Genaira to Pete has been tentatively positive. Pete has demonstrated a greater willingness to make compromises and to meet halfway on issues.” 

Despite the university saying it is ready to reach an agreement, SENS members continue to emphasize that, since proposing a contract in October, negotiations have not been held regarding pay increases, child care, healthcare, tuition waiver, or other economic articles important to union members. 

By the next bargaining session on February 9, the SENS strike authorization vote will be nearing, and the union members said they hope the increased pressure will prompt negotiations on the remaining economic articles.