Part-time faculty at The New School walked out Nov. 16 to protest pay and working conditions, The New York Times reported.
With approximately 200 demonstrators present, the strike was the result of years of tension between adjunct faculty and the private New York City school’s administration.
The New School’s adjunct professors have not received a raise in four years, leaving their real earnings trailing behind inflation and down 18% from 2018, according to A.C.T.-U.A.W. Local 7902, the union organizing the strike.
The union said that the school’s 3.5% wage increase offer was insufficient, given record inflation.
“The New School’s reputation rests on its progressive history and professed values — a reputation with which its treatment of workers fails to align,” the union said in a statement.
Nearly 90% of the school’s instructors are part-time, according to a trade union representing part-time educators.
Teaching staff also complained that administrators’ salaries were high compared to faculty.
