We are excited to announce that we have reached an election agreement with SVA and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB); and dates for our union election have been scheduled! You can read the full election agreement from the NLRB here.

Our election will be a mail-in ballot. Please take note of these important dates:

• Ballots sent out Tuesday, April 15th
• Ballots due Tuesday, May 13th

RSVP here for our next SVA/FAC-UAW Town Hall on Saturday, March 29!

Please join our next SVA/FAC-UAW town hall this Saturday, March 29th at 12:30PM on Zoom. It is important that we do the work to make an informed decision on this important question. Our numerous town halls over this year, and the last few semesters, have provided energetic discussion and shared knowledge of the many reasons so many of us want a union at SVA.

As faculty, we have a historic opportunity in this election. If a majority votes “yes” for our union, SVA Faculty United - UAW, SVA will have a legal obligation to negotiate with faculty as equals over our pay, benefits, and working conditions. The more of us who participate in this important decision and vote yes, the more effectively we will be able to negotiate for improvements with SVA.

Now more than ever, it’s more important that we have an organized voice. As we approach our union election, we encourage you to keep in mind some basic information about collective bargaining:

1. Unions provide a stronger collective voice. Thousands of faculty and arts workers in the UAW have used collective bargaining to negotiate improvements at colleges and cultural institutions across the country — from enhanced compensation and benefits, to stronger rights around job security, professional development, and more, so that faculty don’t have to fend for ourselves alone. Read about some of the gains unionized faculty have won at other institutions here.

2. Unions provide a democratic voice. As SVA faculty, we make up our own union. We will elect a bargaining committee of our peers to negotiate with SVA, we will collectively decide and vote on our bargaining priorities, and we will vote on any contract before it goes into effect. Other faculty unions have consistently shown that robust democratic participation helps establish stronger rights, protections, and improvements through collective bargaining.

3. Unions enhance our ability to continue to make SVA a better place to teach and to learn. We are part of a growing national movement organizing in academia and the arts, with 120,000 college and university workers who have already become part of the UAW, including New York Film Academy, Barnard College, NYU, and Parsons (The New School) in NYC.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at svafacultyunited.uaw@gmail.com, or check out our website FAQs. We will be sure to keep everyone informed with any additional information.

Best,

Joan Hilty, BFA Comics
On behalf of SVAFAC-UAW Organizing Committee

Dear Colleagues,

We’ll be hosting two informational faculty town halls: Friday, March 21 at 3PM, and Saturday, March 29 at 12:30PM, on Zoom. Hang with your fellow faculty, get answers to questions about the unionization process, and brush up on the next steps in our campaign now that we’ve filed our petition with the National Labor Board (NLRB). Please RSVP here so we know how many people to expect.

• Town Hall on Friday, 3/21 @ 3:00PM [UPDATE: on Zoom]
• Town Hall on Saturday, 3/29 @ 12:30PM [on Zoom] 

After more than two years of building our campaign and speaking to hundreds of colleagues, we’ve arrived at this astounding and singular moment. We’re super stoked to have the opportunity to vote on our union, so we can bargain as equals with SVA. 

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or thoughts, or to let us know why you’re excited and curious for next steps!

Best,

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

Dear Colleagues,

After delivering our open letter to the President’s office earlier this week, we’re excited to announce that we have  filed our petition with the regional National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with majority support!

This petition initiates the process of scheduling an official election to vote on forming SVA Faculty United-UAW (SVAFAC-UAW) as our Union. If a majority votes “yes” and our union is certified, SVA will be legally required to bargain with us as equals. At that point, we would elect a bargaining committee, collectively determine our priorities, and begin negotiations with the SVA administration.

We hope the SVA administration will engage with us in good faith and meet with us to establish a constructive dialogue. We also urge them not to adopt an anti-union stance in order to delay or challenge our democratic vote. We will continue to keep everyone updated as we move forward.

After a majority of faculty signed up in support of our union, we filed at the NLRB for a democratic vote!

Attend an upcoming informational Town Hall!

As we approach our election, it’s essential that everyone has the opportunity to ask questions and stay informed. Please save the date for two upcoming faculty town halls, where we’ll share campaign updates, answer questions, and hear from unionized faculty across the city about their experiences with collective bargaining.

• RSVP for in-person town hall on Friday, 3/21 @ 3:00PM [Location TBD]
• RSVP for Zoom town hall on Saturday, 3/29 @ 12:30PM 

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

Merlin Ural Rivera, Humanities & Sciences
On behalf of SVAFAC-UAW Organizing Committee

We’re writing with a brief update on our campaign – this morning, we delivered an Open Letter to President Rhodes signed by faculty from across SVA! The letter informed the administration of our hope to establish a constructive dialogue, and urged that SVA not engage in any attempts to delay our right to a timely and fair vote on unionization in the future. We also requested a meeting to discuss how we can best proceed in a constructive manner. 

On Wednesday, faculty delivered an open letter to President Rhodes, signed by colleagues from across nearly all departments at SVA!

Our next step is to file with the regional National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold a democratic election on forming our union. If  a majority of faculty vote ‘yes’ to SVA FAC-UAW, the NLRB can certify our union and SVA would have a legal obligation to bargain with us. We would then elect a bargaining committee, democratically establish our priorities, and begin negotiations with SVA for a strong first contract.

Academic and arts workers in the UAW, including faculty at NYU, Parsons (The New School), and Barnard College, have played a significant role in improving teaching working conditions across the city. We hope that SVA will choose to refrain from any efforts to delay. We will be sure to keep you updated as the process moves forward. 

Please feel free to reach out with any questions. To get more involved in our organizing effort to improve our experience at SVA, click here! 

Best,

Justin Elm, Art History, Honors, Visual & Critical Studies
Jensine Eckwall, BFA Illustration

On behalf of SVA/FAC-UAW Organizing Committee

Dear Colleagues,

RSVP here for our virtual Faculty Union Town Hall!

Excited for a faculty union at SVA, or have questions about the process? As we progress with our effort to form a faculty union at SVA, it is important that we all have the ability to make an informed decision on this important question. So, we will hold an SVA Faculty United-UAW virtual town hall on Sunday, Feb 23 at 12pm to discuss:

• The various reasons a majority of us have signed up in support of collective bargaining
• Next steps in the process of forming our faculty union at SVA 
• Any questions you might have, including questions about recent university leadership efforts to discourage us from forming our union.

We will also have time to hear thoughts or concerns about threats to higher education from the Trump White House, and how we can exercise our collective voice as faculty to push back against these. 

Join us on on zoom Sun, Feb 23 at 12pm – RSVP here!

Best,

Mike Cavallaro, Comics
Justin Elm, Visual & Critical Studies, Honors, and Art History
Merlin Ural Rivera, Humanities & Sciences

Nelson Isava, Film

On behalf of SVA-FAC UAW Organizing Committee

We are writing with an update on next steps in forming our union, and to put President Rhodes’  initial response to our campaign in context. Last semester, we announced that a majority of faculty have signed cards in support of collective bargaining, and we’ve been continuing to reach out to colleagues to make sure that everyone has a chance to participate. If you’d like to share more on your experience at SVA, and why you support forming our union, you can click here. 

Yesterday, President Rhodes sent us an email which unfortunately contained a number of points seemingly aimed at discouraging us from forming a union. This is disappointing, but not surprising given how frequently employers in the U.S. try to persuade employees not to unionize. While most employers wait longer to begin such efforts, we welcome the opportunity so that all faculty can make an informed decision about unionization.  If you have questions after reading the email, please feel free to reach out to us at info@svafacultyunited.org  and check out the FAQ page on our website.

Notably, the email argues that “The union will make plenty of promises or guarantees about wages, benefits, and terms of employment, but you should understand that no union can deliver on these promises without SVA agreeing to them through the collective bargaining process”. 

Firstly, we, as SVA faculty, are the union. Under collective bargaining, we would elect representatives from within our ranks to negotiate on equal footing with the SVA administration and put the terms of our employment into a legally-binding contract. We chose to form our union with the UAW because it represents 100,000 academic workers across the country, including thousands of adjunct faculty across NYC, including Parsons (The New School), Barnard, and NYU.

Secondly, this statement points out that SVA’s Administration could try to oppose making improvements once we have a union. SVA’s Administration already can and has opposed making improvements, without a union. Without a Union, SVA’s Administration can unilaterally decide to alter our working conditions at any time, as we saw when it indefinitely suspended our sabbatical benefit last fall. Part of why we are forming a union is to have an equal say in order to make the improvements to our rights, pay, and benefits we deserve. If SVA respects faculty and bargains in good faith, we are confident we can reach a fair agreement similar to the more than 100,000 other UAW academic workers across the US.

We also wanted to highlight some next steps in the process of forming our union. Currently, we’re continuing to speak to our colleagues across campus to make sure everyone has had the opportunity to participate and get any questions answered. After that, the next step will be to file our authorization cards with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and petition for an election. In an election, a majority of those voting must vote in favor of forming a union in order for our union to be certified, at which point the SVA administration will have a legal obligation to start bargaining with us as equals.

We will make sure to keep everyone updated on this process.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any questions or concerns, and feel free to check out our website for more information on our campaign. 

Mike Cavallaro, Comics
Justin Elm, Visual & Critical Studies, Honors, and Art History
Merlin Ural Rivera, Humanities & Sciences
Nelson Isava, Film

On behalf of the SVA-FAC Organizing Committee

As we continue to make major progress in building our union, we wanted to provide an end-of-semester update. 

This fall, a majority of SVA faculty – over 600 of us across the school – have signed cards in support of forming our union. Throughout the semester, a growing number of faculty attended in-person and virtual town halls to learn more about our campaign and discuss improvements to our working conditions. Currently, we are continuing to build supermajority support to ensure we have the strongest voice moving forward.

Our campaign has not concluded, as we are continuing to build substantial support to ensure we have a meaningful voice in our workplace. Our goal this semester was to create a robust majority that can effectively establish collective bargaining at SVA. The more faculty we bring into our campaign, the stronger our position becomes for collective bargaining. 

By talking to our colleagues about supporting the union, we're not just organizing a local effort, but joining a growing national movement of UAW academic workers demanding fair representation and meaningful workplace improvements.

Please click here to share more on your experience at SVA, and why you support forming our union.

Recently, faculty also received updates on changes to our benefits, including healthcare premiums, and sabbaticals. These kinds of changes remind us why we’re organizing in the first place - currently, SVA can continue to alter our pay and benefits without our input. With collective bargaining, faculty would have a voice over our working conditions, and SVA could not make unilateral changes without our consent.

Updates from SVA on changes to faculty benefits: 

• SVA announced increase to healthcare premiums: on November 18th, faculty were informed of a 10% increase for the high deductible plan, and 5% for the open enrollment plan.
• Suspension of sabbaticals: SVA abruptly suspended all faculty sabbatical programs indefinitely, effectively freezing professional development opportunities.
• Additional information about our 401k benefits: Just this month, SVA has sent multiple emails informing faculty of our Savings or Cash Option Plan (401k). We are encouraged that SVA has begun sending more regular information about our benefits, and rights, to ensure clear and  transparent communication. 

To share more how you have been affected by either of these changes, please take a moment to leave a comment here. Please feel free to give any feedback about how these changes might impact our experience as faculty, and help determine possible next steps. 

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or thoughts, or to get more involved.

Best,

Justin Elm, Art History, Honors, VCS
Jensine Eckwall, Illustration
Merlin Ural Rivera, Humanities & Sciences

On behalf of SVA-FAC UAW Organizing Committee

Dear Colleagues,

Thanks to all who joined our SVA Faculty United - UAW Town Hall on Thursday!

After considerable demand, we’re hosting a make-up session on Zoom this Saturday, 10/19 at 12pm for those who were unable to attend on Thursday. You can RSVP, and register to receive the zoom link, here. 

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

Best,

Edwin Rivera, Humanities & Sciences

Mike Cavallaro, Comics

on behalf of SVA Faculty United - UAW Organizing Committee

We are excited to announce that a majority of faculty have signed authorization cards in support of forming our union, SVA Faculty United-UAW! Thank you for joining hundreds of your colleagues in support.

Reaching majority support is an important milestone. Once a strong majority of faculty have signed authorization cards, we may choose to ask that SVA remain neutral, or we can seek recognition through an election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). In an election, a majority of those voting must vote in favor of forming a union in order for us to start bargaining collectively with SVA.

To meet up and discuss the tremendous progress we’ve made since March, we will be hosting a Town Hall at 6 PM on Friday, July the 26th, in Carson Family Auditorium (CRC). Come and meet colleagues at SVA, hear from unionized faculty at other institutions, and get answers to questions about the unionization process.

We look forward to joining the tens of thousands of non-tenure track faculty and other academic workers who have negotiated significant improvements to their working conditions as part of the United Auto Workers (UAW), including colleagues at major institutions like Barnard College, New York University (NYU), and The New School.

In solidarity,
Contract Faculty United - UAW 

Join us next Thursday, 10/10 to hear recent updates on our campaign and learn how to get more involved!

Greetings & Salutations!  

We're thrilled to announce that a majority of faculty have signed authorization cards in support of forming our union, SVA Faculty United-UAW! Thanks for joining hundreds of your colleagues in support.

Reaching majority support is an important milestone. Once a strong majority of faculty have signed authorization cards, we may choose to ask that SVA remain neutral, or we can seek recognition through an election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). In an election, once a majority votes in favor of forming a union, SVA will be legally obligated to bargain with us. 

To meet up and discuss the tremendous progress we've made we will be hosting a Town Hall at 6:30 pm on Thursday, Oct. 10th in room 101C at 133/141 West 21st street.

Come and hang out with your SVA colleagues from across all departments, eat pizza, hear from unionized faculty at other institutions, and get answers to questions about the unionization process and other next steps.

We look forward to joining the tens of thousands of non-tenure track faculty and other academic workers who have negotiated significant improvements to their working conditions as part of the United Auto Workers (UAW), including colleagues at major institutions like Barnard College, New York University (NYU), and The New School (Parsons).

Please RSVP by Oct. 7th! To learn more about our effort, sign a card, or to get more involved, you can visit our website here. 

Best,

Nelson Isava, Film
Justin Elm, Art History 

on behalf of SVA FAC-UAW Organizing Committee