More than 100 members of NYU’s adjunct faculty union are demanding that the university amend its 2022 contract, currently set to expire in 2028, to include paid family leave. The move was announced earlier this week in a letter delivered to President Linda Mills and Michelle Piekutowski, vice president and chief human resources officer, marking the union’s first public action on the matter.  

Around 20 members of the union gathered in Bobst Library to hand the letter off to Mills’ deputy chief of staff, Gabriel Schnake Mahl, at 11 a.m. on Monday. Unit Chair and Liberal Studies professor David Palmer said university leadership has “ignored” the request thus far. 

The union negotiates on behalf of part-time faculty across NYU through six-year contracts that determine health insurance, unpaid time-off and other benefits. Palmer told WSN that adjunct professors are pushing for their contract with NYU to allow for a 12-week leave at 67% of pay immediately after starting a family, modeling after New York state law.

“We are going public with this,” Palmer said. “Our goal now is to place a little pressure on NYU to do what is in our view.” 

In the letter, union members argued that for faculty who are planning to start families, NYU’s policy poses “an agonizing choice” between their careers and family responsibilities. They also said they requested to meet with university administration “as soon as possible.”

“The university is reviewing the union’s request and will respond directly to the union in due course,” NYU spokesperson Joseph Tirella said in an email to WSN.

The union members also referenced policies at the City University of New York, State University of New York and The New School that provide paid family leave for part-time faculty. They said that the benefit will make NYU a more “equitable and attractive place to work” and support faculty retention.

In 2016, New York state mandated a paid family leave program, which is open to most people who work for private, public and independent employers. The policy, however, excludes those “engaged in a professional or teaching capacity” at nonprofit entities. 

Palmer also said the proposal would reaffirm adjunct faculty members’ reappointment rights, which guarantee reappointment if they either complete two semesters of teaching in the last two academic years or teach one course in the last four academic years — what Palmer called “adjunct tenure.”  These terms came as a result of talks between the union and NYU back in 2022, which currently apply to about 70% of adjuncts, according to Gallatin professor Charles Gelman, one of the union’s joint council members.

Gelman told WSN that providing paid leave would be at a minimal cost to the university because it would only mean a deduction from adjunct faculty paychecks. Each period, less than 0.4% of their gross wages would go to an insurance pool to support faculty on paid leave. 

“The only reason why I can imagine them really protesting against this is because they want to control the terms of employment,” Palmer said. “That really harms adjunct faculty and provides a sense of insecurity.”

The request comes three years into the current adjunct faculty contract, set to expire in 2028. It stipulates that both the university and union members “shall not be obligated to bargain collectively with respect to any subject or matter” until a new contract is drawn up.

About 53% of NYU faculty work part-time. Steinhardt professor Grae Bowen said that the quality of teaching is correlated to the benefits that adjuncts have access to.

“When professors are overworked or when they’re not able to spend the amount of time that each student deserves and is paying for, the students suffer, even if it’s marginally over time,” Bowen told WSN.

Contact Kaitlyn Sze Tu at [email protected].