A post-strike coalition at The New School has dreams of transforming the university and higher education more broadly.
Adjunct faculty at the New School in New York City enter their second week of a strike. The university advertises itself as socially conscious but has not raised adjunct pay since 2018, resulting in an effective 18% pay cut adjusted for inflation.
As higher education hires more adjuncts, it also relies on them more. Colleges and universities can’t fulfill their teaching mission without them — which gives part-timers more power, if they choose to use it.
The plight of academic adjuncts, those Ph.D's working full-time at low wages, no benefits and little job security, viewed not just as prototypical exploited gig workers and units of flexibility but also as an advanced contingent of union activists.
Our colleagues who support the contract must understand that this is not enough, just as our colleagues who are against the contract must understand that the fight doesn’t stop here; both groups must recognize that we need each other to move forward.
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The contract at the Jesuit institution includes wage increases of 67% to 90% for a majority of adjunct faculty over the three-year contract.
Like the other low-wage workers that protested yesterday, the ultimate goal of the burgeoning adjunct faculty movement is fair pay and decent working conditions. What yesterday’s demonstrations showed was that this could be a substantial and sustainable struggle that is primed to create waves throughout the labor market. And unifying all low-wage workers—from fast food to faculty—will be an important part of that.
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