2024 Contract Negotiations FAQs

Why has it taken so long to get another contract?
Although the members of the bargaining committee are teaching colleagues, and therefore not at work over the summer, the union has consistently offered a variety of meeting times and modes in a good faith effort to move negotiations forward. Management, although technically working over the summer, refused to meet for all of July and most of August, therefore pushing negotiations into the school year. They also have pulled teaching colleagues from their classrooms in order to attend meetings, preferring to center their desire to leave promptly at 5:00 PM over the students’ time with their teachers.

Did the Union reject the School’s Quaker-inspired bargaining norms?
At the beginning of bargaining, the School proposed a number of rules for our sessions. Some of these asks infringed on our legal bargaining rights under the NLRA, so we counter-proposed a shorter list. The School never responded to this counter-proposal.

Why won’t the Union accept the School’s “equity bumps”?
The wage increase that the School is calling an “equity bump” is based on an opaque benchmarking process performed using data the School will not share with us. We are asking for a transparent and much simpler wage structure that is not based on confidential information, unclear standards, or the problematic concept of market value.

Why won’t the Union accept the School’s other wage proposals? 
The Board and the School committee’s statements about their total investments and average increases does not fully capture areas in which some colleagues’ wages will lag significantly. These aggregates disguise actual inequities that our proposals address.

Why did the Union reject the School’s proposed “Wholeness and Wellbeing days”? 
The School’s proposal siloed out two days of colleagues’ established sick time as mental health-related days. We pushed back, because mental health is already a valid reason to take a sick day and colleagues shouldn’t have to specify. We then came to an agreement with the School that kept sick days as-is AND added a floating holiday that a colleague can use for any religious or cultural observance.

If the School is responding promptly, why would the Union suggest otherwise? 
The School is technically correct that they have given us their opinion on our proposals. However, bargaining is a two-way street, and for several months now the School’s “response” to any moves we have made has simply been “no”. We can’t bargain against ourselves; the School needs to engage with our proposals on their merits rather than digging in their heels.

What’s wrong with the School’s proposals on hourly workers and non-teaching staff? 
The School is proposing a minimum salary for full-time hourly workers that is barely above $40,000 a year. That is not a sustainable wage for a single person or a family breadwinner in New York City.
Meanwhile, their proposal to extend non-teachers’ trial periods could leave employees in probation, during which they can be terminated without cause, for up to 120 days.

Why wouldn’t the Union want to publish physical CBAs in English and Spanish?
Our existing CBA is already freely available on Local 2110's website in English. We have agreed with the School to share the cost of translating our successor agreement into Spanish to improve accessibility to our colleagues. We regularly endeavor to translate our communications to colleagues already, an effort made possible by volunteers within our membership. Mentioning this dated proposal, which BFS willingly amended later in bargaining, seems solely designed to sow discord.

Other FAQs

Who is the BFS Union?
The BFS Union is composed of approximately 150 teachers, office workers, and cafeteria and maintenance staff at Brooklyn Friends School and was voted in on May 20, 2019 by an overwhelming majority. Unionization efforts were initiated by employees who make up a diverse cross-section of the school in terms of divisions, departments, positions, years at BFS, and identities. We successfully negotiated our first union contract in March 2021, establishing guaranteed yearly salary/wage increases, health insurance stipends for those enrolled with dependents, just cause in disciplinary cases, and grievance procedures. We have been bargaining with the School since January 2024 on our second contract, seeking to build on the gains established in the first contract as well as introducing a number of new proposals.

Why do we need a union?
Unions protect workers. Without a union, employers decide unilaterally on all terms and conditions of employment: what we will be paid, what our health benefits will be, when we get time off, whether we are retained, etc. With a union, the School must bargain in good faith with us over all of these conditions of our employment, and they cannot reduce our benefits or rights at work without our union’s agreement.

Why did BFS employees unionize?
We unionized in May 2019 to ensure transparent procedures for evaluation and grievances, establish equitable hiring and termination protocols, demand equitable pay for all workers, and collaboratively make the school a stronger, more sustainable place for all. In the process of unionizing, there was much agreement that it was important to establish a wall-to-wall union that included faculty and staff so that we would be more unified and be able to more effectively support issues affecting different employees.

Does having a union legally prevent the school from speaking directly with workers?
No. Supervisors in unionized workplaces can always communicate with individual employees or hold staff meetings, and BFS has continued to communicate with employees since the union was established. However, with a union, a worker has the right to request union representation at meetings related to discipline or discharge. A unionized workplace means that management cannot unilaterally make changes to employment conditions without bargaining with union representatives. This allows for accountability, transparency, consistency, and fairness. The bottom line is that unions enhance communication between employees and the administration but put that communication on a more equal footing.

Is the union a “third party”?
The union is not a third party. We, the workers of Brooklyn Friends, are the union. We voted to unionize and elected our own bargaining committee of teachers and staff who meet with management to try to work out agreements on our behalf. Negotiated contracts must be ratified by union members. We are part of a larger Technical, Office and Professional Union, Local 2110 of the UAW, but we decide for ourselves on what action we take. Calling a union a “third party” is a well-known, standard anti-union tactic that way to dismiss employee concerns. It is patronizing rhetoric that treats workers as easily manipulable by ostensible outside forces and who are incapable of thinking or taking action for themselves. (For more information about union-busting tactics, you can check out this resource from CWA.)

Why the United Auto Workers?
The UAW is not just for auto workers! UAW Local 2110 is a strong local union that represents thousands of teachers and technical, office, and professional workers throughout the New York City area, including the administrative staff and teaching and research assistants of Columbia University, graduate teachers at New York University, the contingent faculty of Barnard College, and employees at City and Country School, BAM, the New Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, Hispanic Society of America, Asian American Writers Workshop, HarperCollins Publishers, the ACLU, and many more. The International UAW is one of the most powerful unions in the country and provides our local union with resources and expertise to assist in legal issues, organizing, civil rights, legislative action, and health and safety work. 

Are other schools unionized?
Yes! Virtually all public schools are unionized and more and more independent and charter school employees are unionizing. In New York City, some examples of unionized independent schools include City and Country, Fieldston, LREI, Friends Seminary, Bank Street, and UNIS.

Are unions antithetical to Quakerism? 
Quakers value equality, integrity, and communal decision-making—all central to collective organizing. Bayard Rustin was a labor leader and a Quaker, Friends Seminary has had a faculty union for 40 years, and the American Friends Service Committee is unionized as well. You can read more about AFSC’s position on unions here. We believe that a union is the best means for a fair and democratic relationship between equal parties, aspiring towards the realization of the Quaker testimony of equality. 

How does the presence of a union affect the school’s ability to protect its financial health?
We all care deeply about Brooklyn Friends and its community. In negotiations, we bargain over what is fair and actually possible from a financial perspective. Unionization was driven in part to ensure the longevity of the school and the retention of incredible colleagues. We work at BFS, not to receive high salaries, but because we believe in the expressed values of the school. The presence of a union allows us to concentrate our full energies on doing our jobs effectively. The union ensures future equity and transparency, not only in terms of worker rights but also in terms of financial decisions made by this administration and future administrations.