The New School’s adjunct professors’ strike shows how even “good” jobs are increasingly precarious

The successful labor fight at the New York college exposed the human cost of one of college administrators’ favorite cost-cutting tactics: eliminating full-time professor positions.

The longest adjunct professor strike in U.S. history concluded earlier this month, and the workers came out on top. It was a bitter 25-day struggle with the New School, a New York City institution whose conduct toward the strikers may have ultimately tarnished its progressive credentials. On December 11, the 1,800 members of ACT-UAW Local 7902 who voted to strike on November 16 reached a tentative agreement with the help of a federal mediator. Pending ratification by the union’s members, the new five-year agreement will boost wages, protect the workers’ healthcare benefits, and add paid family leave and out-of-classroom compensation, among other wins.

Read Full Story