Long Island University Locks Faculty Out of Brooklyn Campus Amid Contract Dispute

What to Know

  • Long Island University locked professors out of its Brooklyn campus after contract negotiations with their faculty union turned sour
  • The university planned to bring in replacement professors from other campuses for the first day of the fall semester Wednesday
  • Professors, who say the school also stopped their email and health benefits, planned a rally Wednesday and a showdown looked imminent

Educators will be locked out as classes begin at Long Island University’s Brooklyn campus on Wednesday.

The faculty of the school plan to rally Wednesday morning at the downtown campus amid the lockout and escalating tensions over a salary contract. Faculty say they're not being paid as well as professors at other LIU locations. 

The professors’ five-year contract expired last week and their union, the Long Island University Faculty Federation (LIUFF), voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to not accept the administration’s new offer.

The faculty says they’re being blocked from doing their jobs as classes start. A biology teacher at the school said that the staff was locked out before they even had a chance to vote and that their emails and health benefits were stopped too.

In the meantime, the university has brought in replacement hires from other LIU campuses to teach the thousands of students starting their fall semester at the Brooklyn location.

UUP, a union for SUNY employees, expressed its support for the faculty this week.

“This is not a strike. These dedicated workers have been locked out of their workplace by an exploitative employer that has cut salaries and health care coverage during the dispute,” UUP Pres. Frederick E. Kowal said.

LIU says the faculty are well compensated. In a statement, university counsel Dale Haynes said that “it’s disappointing that the LIUFF has rejected a contract to offer that the University believes is generous and highly competitive.”

The university took to social media ahead of the Tuesday vote and urged faculty to “examine the offer thoughtfully and vote on its merits, not the distracting emotionally charged rhetoric.”

The university said that the offer included a 13.4 percent salary increase over a five-year term and a highly competitive health care plan, among other offers.

Contact Us