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.