The faculty at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City have formed a union, SVA Faculty United-UAW.
Representing 1,200 instructors, the staff had concerns about workloads, pay, and benefits. Unionization was a grassroots effort, with faculty organizing themselves to gain collective bargaining power. In a statement by the SVA Union Organizing Committe “Without collective bargaining we have stagnant salaries, increasing amounts of uncompensated work, vanishing benefits, and threats to job security and academic freedom.
The faculty members at the School unionized under the United Auto Workers umbrella May 22nd in a positive vote of 77 percent. The UAW also represents teachers at Columbia University, New York University, and the Parsons School of Design.
Established in 1947, SVA awards bachelors’ and masters’ degrees across a variety of artistic disciplines. Most faculty are contracted adjunct staff without job security or adequate benefits.
SVA in a statement said that it had “encouraged all eligible faculty to participate in the recent election. We are committed to preserving and strengthening our academic community for years to come, and look forward to bargaining in good faith with the faculty union’s representatives.”
