Allegro

New School negotiation update

Volume 120, No. 8September, 2020

Todd Byrant Weeks

The Part Time Jazz Faculty at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music are actively negotiating a “Covid-19 Recovery Plan” with management there, in the face of a steep decline in student enrollment and a university shortfall reputed to be over $100 million. The PTF negotiating committee, Junko Arita, Kate Baker, David Lopato, Arun Luthra, Diane Moser, Gene Perla and Matt Wilson, have been working to ensure that job security and health benefits for the Part Time Faculty remain intact and robust. Local 802 continues to provide legal and logistical support to this bargaining unit, which is one of the few groups of jazz educators in the United States with a union contract. The Jazz Part Time Faculty are also working closely with a new on campus New School Labor Coalition, made up of representatives from the Teamsters Local 1205, ACT-UAW 7902, X-Divisional Full Time Faculty, and other on-campus groups. There are over 3,700 unionized employees at the New School, made up of clerical and professional staff, Part Time Faculty, student employees, student health care workers, and building security and maintenance crews.