Happy end of semester!

On Tuesday we wrapped up a very productive tenth bargaining session with the SVA administration. We made meaningful progress by coming to an agreement on a couple of articles. Here are a few highlights below:

• Generative AI: Thanks to all our faculty organizing, we were able to agree to a precedent-setting article on Artificial Intelligence that states clearly that SVA will not use AI to teach courses.This underlines our commitment to human instruction in the classroom and creates an enforceable standard for all unionized faculty nationally. You can read our AI Tentative Agreement here.

• Bulletins and Postings: This allows our faculty union to put up posters around campus to spread information.

SVA gave us a handful of counters, including Grievance and Arbitration, Job Posting, Faculty Rights, and Academic Freedom (we are a “word” away from agreeing on this!).

We brought a counter for our Bargaining Unit Information article. While getting closer, we were dismayed by our discussion with SVA’s bargaining team regarding reviewing faculty demographic information to ensure equity and inclusion across our workplace. We are hoping to continue discussing this one and hoping SVA will bridge our differences.

We have gotten this far thanks to organizing and faculty participation, so let’s keep it up! Please join our next session as an observer on May 26th, 3-5pm.

Best,
Mike Falk, Fine Arts, VCS
On behalf of SVA/FAC-UAW Bargaining Committee

Joanne Seador (BFA Photo) and Edwin Rivera-Arias (Humanities & Sciences) give a recap of our recent session.

Earlier this week, we completed our ninth bargaining session with the SVA administration. Due to difficulties scheduling a time that worked for the administration, this was our first session for over a month.

We pressed the SVA administration to respond to a handful of articles they have not responded to for a significant amount of time, including Employment Records, Faculty Appointments, Faculty Rights, Job Posting, and Health and Safety; these address core priorities and must be treated as such.  The SVA administration gave us a few counters on Generative AI, Union Management Committee, Union Security, and Bargaining Unit Information.

While we were unable to come to any tentative agreements, we moved much closer on UMC and Generative AI, and expect to be able to reach an agreement on those in the near future.  Generative AI is a significant topic of conversation at SVA right now and we will ensure it’s addressed in our contract. We also gave SVA counterproposals on Academic Freedom and Grievance and Arbitration.

We are disappointed that the administration has continued to reject a few important elements of our Bargaining Unit Information and Unit Security proposals, including providing welcome materials, and union security clause. These articles currently exist at NYU and The New School, among other unionized faculty contracts, and would ensure that all faculty receive the necessary materials from our union.

If you’re interested in reading more, please check out our proposal tracker on our website — and while you’re there, please sign our petition calling on the administration to bargain more speedily and constructively. Additionally, you can watch our update on Instagram — and join us May 5th from 4-6pm for our next bargaining session:

Click here to watch the video update.

“I’d recommend everyone to be an observer. At the end of the day, ultimately, faculty, the administration, we’re all on the same page wanting to make the school better for faculty and students, and make it thrive.” — George Boorujy, BFA Fine Arts

Best,

Joan Hilty, BFA Comics
On behalf of SVA/FAC-UAW Bargaining Committee

P.S. Thank you to all the students, staff, and faculty who stopped by our table during May Day to discuss our campaign, and the ways we can strengthen our collective voice at SVA and in the arts!

RSVP for our next bargaining sessions on April 29th and May 5th!

Hello,

As we wrap up the Spring semester, there are two additional opportunities to join a bargaining session as a faculty observer, and help win a first contract. Sign up here to attend next Wednesday, 4/29,  from 4-6PM; and Tuesday, May 5th, 3-6PM. The more of us who participate, the more effectively we can negotiate stronger protections and improvements at this crucial time. Remember, our benefits and raises are still suspended, and one way to raise your voice against this is by signing this petition.

You can find a full summary of our current progress online on our website, and our bargaining tracker. Our presence as observers reminds the SVA administration that there are hundreds of faculty determined to improve our working conditions and our students’ learning conditions.

Past and Upcoming Events

• April Faculty Town Hall: SVA faculty met up in person earlier this month to discuss progress on our campaign, next steps, and learn about recent victories with our UAW colleagues at NYU who recently won a first contract.

• Join us to stand for faculty rights this May Day: Join us to head down to the New School at 3pm and support part-time faculty organizing against program cuts. We will also meet up with a larger contingent of NYC union members at Washington Square at 4pm.
• Submit a Testimonial: Why do you support a strong first contract? Reply with a photo and a couple sentences about what matters most to you as a faculty member at SVA.  

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or respond to this email and we can connect you with a colleague in your department.

Best,

Merlin Ural Rivera, Humanities & Sciences

On behalf of SVA/FAC-UAW Bargaining Committee

We are excited to announce that we reached two more tentative agreements with SVA at our Tuesday session. Our tentative agreement (TA) on Discipline and Discharge would give faculty protections and recourse against unjust termination. Additionally, we reached an agreement on our Meeting Space article, which will facilitate our ability to reserve space for future union-related meetings and gatherings on campus. Watch Bargaining Committee member and SVA faculty in Comics Joan Hilty summarize our progress.

In addition, the administration brought counterproposals on Union Management Committee (UMC) and Bargaining Unit Info. Unfortunately, SVA is still asserting they will not share information related to faculty gender, race, and other critical demographics in our bargaining unit that would help us most effectively advocate for stronger rights, equity and inclusion as faculty. We are continuing to review these counterproposals.

Thanks to the testimony of several faculty last week on their experience with harassment, bullying, and discrimination, and the importance of stronger protections against this behavior, we made significant progress on Prohibition Against Discrimination and Harassment. In response to these testimonies – which highlighted the importance of a fair, neutral process to address these workplace issues – the administration presented a counterproposal Tuesday that agreed faculty should have the right to address these issues through our union contract’s grievance procedure.

While we are continuing to review the rest of the counterproposal, this progress demonstrates that when we participate and share our experiences, faculty have more leverage in our negotiations to win improvements.

Finally, we are still awaiting counterproposals on two important topics, Faculty Rights, and Reappointment and Appointment. RSVP here to join us as an observer at our upcoming sessions: March 13th from 10-1PM, and March 23rd from 3:15-6PM. The more of us who attend, the stronger message we send to the SVA administration.

In solidarity,

Edwin Rivera-Arias, Humanities & Sciences
On behalf of SVAFAC-UAW Bargaining Committee

On Monday, we met with the SVA administration for our sixth bargaining session. We brought counters and made progress on a number of topics, including Discipline and Discharge, Bulletins and Posting, Health and Safety, Meeting Space, Academic Freedom, and Bargaining Unit Information. Unfortunately, the SVA administration did not bring any counterproposals to our session, so there are a number of items they've not yet addressed.

You can watch a recap of our session here!

We also discussed our previous request for information, and asked for more clarity on a few subjects that the administration has so far declined to provide. SVA agreed they could share additional course cancellation data, which will help inform our future economic proposals.

Finally, we responded to and expressed dismay regarding SVA’s former counterproposal on Harassment and Discrimination. While SVA has indicated that they're committed to a respectful work environment, their proposal would prohibit faculty from the option to seek recourse for bullying, harassment and discrimination through a neutral third party arbitrator, with the help of union representatives. Instead, faculty would only be able to address workplace harassment through Human Resources (HR), or the legal system – a process which is not only potentially expensive, but could take many years before a resolution.

Two faculty members joined us Monday to describe their personal experience of harassment, discrimination, bullying, and retaliation, and how the existing mechanisms to address this behavior at SVA were inadequate.Their testimonials were stirring, vivid examples that pointed directly to faculty need for protections in the workplace. If SVA is truly committed to meaningful protections for bullying, harassment and discrimination, they would engage with us more around this critical part of our proposal.

SVA's team listened carefully to our colleagues' testimonials, and we hope they will take it to heart as they prepare their counterproposal.

Upcoming Events

• Our next bargaining session will be Tuesday, February 17th at 4PM. RSVP to bargaining sessions here.
• Watch Union! hosted by SVA Faculty United-UAW! Join colleagues for a movie night on February 26th at 6:30PM (Room 101C, 133 West 21st Street) to watch the film Union! about Amazon workers’ organizing victory and long-term campaign.
• ICYMI: Add your name in support of a fair contract, and to urge the SVA administration to restore raises and retirement benefits. Sign our petition here.

Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions or thoughts, or if you wish to get more involved in our effort.

Best,

Edwin Rivera-Arias, Humanities & Sciences
on behalf of SVA/FAC-UAW Bargaining Committee

As we continue bargaining our first contract with the SVA administration, please take a moment to sign our open letter calling for the restoration of previous changes to our annual raises and 401k benefits, and in support of a fair first contract. Help demonstrate that a strong majority support our effort, and that we’re all engaged in bargaining.

Add your name to urge the SVA administration that faculty deserve a strong first contract, and to restore our retirement benefit!

The administration’s unilateral decision to eliminate key benefits last summer damages the total compensation of our work, even though the value we bring as the entire faculty body means our teaching is more critical than ever. Eroding the faculty’s financial security only serves to undermine our ability to focus on the fulfillment of SVA’s important mission.

In May, faculty voted by an overwhelming majority of 77% in favor of forming a union. We were encouraged by how quickly the administration recognized our majority and committed to bargain in good faith. However, many faculty are now facing a far more precarious financial position in fulfilling our critical teaching duties – both due to the rising cost of living in the tri-state area, and without annual increases and stable benefits to help plan for the future. This contributes to the urgency of reaching a strong contract, and addressing the suspension of last year’s annual raises, and benefits.

We therefore urge SVA to make all efforts to reach a strong contract that enables faculty to continue fulfilling the school’s educational mission in the arts.

If you are interested in getting more involved in our union’s ongoing efforts, please click here to let us know, or respond directly.

Best,

Hans Tammen, MFA Computer Arts
on behalf of SVA/FAC-UAW Organizing Committee

On Monday, members of the bargaining committee and faculty observers joined the SVA administration for our fifth bargaining session. Watch Bargaining Committee member Billy Altman (BFA Humanities) and faculty member S.J. Langer (MPS Art Therapy) summarize our progress here!

During this session, the committee presented two counterproposals: Grievance and Arbitration and Union Management Committee. We reiterated why the timeline in our Grievance and Arbitration proposal matters, emphasizing that faculty should have the fullest possible opportunity to raise and resolve concerns at each step of the process. We also asked follow-up questions regarding Employment Records and requested that the administration bring a response to our initial proposal.

The SVA administration presented counterproposals on Union Security, Bulletins and Postings, Academic Freedom, Bargaining Unit Information, Health and Safety, Generative AI, Meeting Space, and Discipline and Discharge. Building on discussions from previous sessions, we’ve made meaningful progress and are close to reaching tentative agreements on several of these articles. A few items still need more conversation, and we’re confident we can work through the remaining questions together in the coming sessions.

We also want to note the broader momentum for faculty unionization across the city. Most recently, workers at The Metropolitan Museum of Art voted in favor of forming their union, joining a growing number of cultural and educational workers organizing for a stronger voice on the job. These wins underscore the importance of the work we are doing together at SVA.

Our next bargaining session will take place Monday, February 9th at 4:00pm. We strongly encourage faculty to attend as observers and to invite a colleague to join you. Faculty presence at the table continues to be an important show of support as we negotiate our first contract.

As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or feedback.

Justin Elm
VCS, Art History, Honors
On behalf of SVA/FAC-UAW Bargaining Committee

Happy New Year! In 2025, SVA faculty voted overwhelmingly to form our union by 77%, a majority of faculty helped develop, and ratified, our initial bargaining goals, and we began to negotiate our first contract. This year, we are looking forward to reaching a contract that reflects the immense value we bring to SVA as an institution, as both artists and teachers.

On Wednesday, our elected bargaining committee met with the SVA administration for our fourth session.  We are happy to share that we have reached a tentative agreement on two more articles, Union Access, and Successorship.

In addition, we brought counterproposals on Health and Safety, Discipline and Discharge, Bulletins and Posting, Generative AI, and Meeting Space. We had a productive discussion with the administration on the importance of strong health and safety protections for SVA faculty; in particular, for faculty who are working in environments with hazardous materials. We expect to receive the administration’s response to this article in upcoming sessions.

The SVA administration presented counterproposals on Union Management Committee and Grievance and Arbitration process. While we have made progress moving closer on these topics, we still need to discuss a further response. Click here to follow along and read all our proposals on our bargaining tracker.

Our next session is scheduled for January 22nd, 4-6pm. We are always looking for interested faculty members to join these bargaining sessions as an observer, a simple but important role. You may RSVP here to attend future bargaining sessions as a faculty observer.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or thoughts,

Joan Hilty, BFA Comics

On behalf of SVA/FAC-UAW Bargaining Committee

P.S. Hear from colleagues on our experience as SVA faculty, and why we need a strong contract – to submit your own testimonial; reply to this email.

This is a correction to our previous email; our next bargaining session with the SVA administration will take place on January 7th, from 4-6PM.

You can RSVP to join the session as a faculty observer here. 

At our third bargaining session, SVA’s bargaining team responded to our proposals from December 8th with seven (7) counterproposals, and informed us they were working on additional responses to others. Watch our most recent bargaining update on Instagram here.

We are happy to announce that we quickly reached tentative agreements (TAs) on two of our initial proposals: Severability, and Recognition. We look forward to continued progress in our negotiations towards a strong first contract with the SVA administration in the future. You can review all our proposals and the SVA administration's proposals here.

Get more involved in our effort to win a strong first contract! Here are a few upcoming opportunities:

• Join bargaining as an observer: Our next bargaining sessions will be January 6th, January 22nd, February 9th, and February 17th, all from 4:00-6:00pm - please save the date to join our session as a faculty observer.  
  
• Share a faculty testimonial: Follow us on Instagram to hear from more SVA faculty on why winning a strong contract will help improve our experience – and that of our students – at SVA. Reply to this email to share your own testimonial on what matters to you.

This week, SVA’s bargaining team presented counterproposals to our articles from the previous week: Non-Discrimination and Harassment; Health & Safety; Generative Artificial Intelligence; Meeting Space; Discipline and Discharge; Union Access; and Academic Freedom and First Amendment Rights. They also rejected our proposal on Employment Records. We are in the process of reviewing these proposals to determine a response.

We are disappointed by SVA’s initial counterproposal on non-discrimination and harassment. We proposed an efficient and fair process that would allow faculty to take claims regarding harassment, discrimination, or bullying behavior to a neutral, third-party arbitrator with the support of union representatives. SVA’s counter would bar this, instead potentially forcing faculty seeking recourse into lengthy and burdensome court or government agency processes.

Finally, you can find a brief summary of the proposals we have discussed with SVA’s administration so far below. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with any questions or thoughts.

Summary of SVA/FAC-UAW Proposals:

Recognition (TA): would codify official recognition of our union (SVA/FAC-UAW)

Severability (TA): would protect remainder of contract if one provision is declared unlawful and ensure our right to bargain over any impacts

Employment Records: would ensure faculty access to accurate employment records

Meeting Space: would allow faculty adequate space at SVA for future faculty union meetings

Prohibition Against Discrimination and Harassment: would ensure protections against discrimination, harassment, bullying, or abusive conduct and enshrines the right to seek recourse for such behavior through a fair, efficient, and neutral process

Grievance and Arbitration Procedure: would allow faculty to take a grievance to a neutral third party if they were unable to reach a satisfactory resolution with the School, establishing a fair process in which provisions in our future contract can be enforced

Discipline and Discharge: would enshrine due process rights and create a fair process for progressive discipline in the case that the School is contemplating disciplinary action

Union Access: would guarantee our union representatives access to SVA to assist and meet with faculty regarding union matters

Bulletins and Posting: would ensure faculty have the same communication access as the School and other groups for notices, and allow space for union representatives to post union-related notices in School buildings and online platforms

Job Posting: would establish fair and transparent policies for the filling of vacant faculty positions

Faculty Appointments: would establish standards for job security and clear expectations around appointment, including minimum appointment and reappointment lengths, predictable schedules, protections against course cancellation, timelines and content for notifications of offers of appointment and description of assignment

Health and Safety: would present safety measures that SVA will enact and continue to maintain to keep faculty members safe, healthy, and prepared, which allow us to focus all our efforts and attention on our teaching

Academic Freedom: would align our contract with those principles already stated in the SVA policy handbook to ensure faculty speech is protected on campus

Generative Artificial Intelligence: would enshrine necessary protections of faculty’s materials and intellectual property

Bargaining Unit Information: would ensure that our faculty receives basic benefits information and regularly updated lists once our contract is in place, so we can effectively communicate with unit members

Union Security and Checkoff: would ensure that faculty contribute equally to the cost of representation once we have ratified our contract

V-CAP (Voluntary Contributions) Checkoff: would allow faculty to voluntary elect that a portion of union dues go towards contributions to political candidates

Successorship: would preserve our contract if ownership of SVA is transferred

Faculty Rights and Administrative Transparency: Establish structures that will uphold SVA’s core value of citizenship, as articulated as accessible leadership, minimal hierarchy, and a spirit of mutual respect and cooperation

Wishing you all a restful break. Happy Holidays!

Joan Hilty, BFA Comics
On behalf of SVA/FAC-UAW Bargaining Committee

On Monday, our elected bargaining committee had its second negotiation session with the SVA administration. This was a productive meeting in which we presented a range of non-economic articles related to our workplace rights, and explained the reasoning behind each of them. You can follow along to see what proposals were passed during our session here.  Watch our Bargaining recap on instagram!

Our next bargaining session will take place tomorrow–Monday, December 15th at 4:30PM. You can RSVP here to attend the session as a faculty observer.  Join us at Peter McManus (152 7th Ave) at 7pm after observing Monday’s bargaining session to celebrate the end of the semester and our organizing progress this year. 

In response to our proposal on faculty appointments – which asks for a minimum level of job security, predictable schedules, and protections against course cancellation  – we were surprised and disappointed when SVA’s administration said our proposal is at odds with SVA’s traditional philosophy of hiring working professionals and artists as teachers. In fact, our proposal takes common concepts of professional job security and codifies them so that we are adequately empowered to be both professional artists, creatives, designers, and faculty. You can review all our proposals and the SVA administration's proposals here.

SVA’s bargaining team informed us that they will review our proposals and intend to respond to some, though likely not all at our next bargaining session.We re-emphasised the urgency of both economic and non-economic topics, and our goal to reach a fair agreement by the end of Spring 2026.  

As always, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with any questions or thoughts,

Merlin Ural Rivera, Humanities & Sciences
SVA/FAC-UAW Bargaining Committee