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Part Timers at the New School Negotiate Strong Contract
By Gwendolyn Bradley
Administrators and part-time faculty at the New School University reached a tentative agreement in October that gives significant benefits and job security to the part-timers. The agreement, which must be ratified by the membership of Academics Coming Together, the United Auto Workers-affiliated union that represents the part-time faculty, provides multiyear appointments for part-time faculty with ten semesters of teaching experience at the institution, pay increases, increased contributions by the institution to retirement accounts, and lower fees for health-care coverage. In addition, if expected courses are not offered, the institution must find another course for the faculty member or pay a cancellation fee.
“The advances in job security, multiyear contracts, employer-paid health benefits, pension contributions, course cancellation fees, paid academic leave, payment for extra duties, and no discipline or discharge without cause are impressive,” says Karen Thompson, a parttime faculty member at Rutgers University and a member of an AAUP subcommittee working on policies and procedures regarding due process for part timers. “Other faculty unions across the country will be able to take these examples to their own bargaining tables and faculty senates with hopes of effecting similar change.”
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