In a historic clash between unions and the state university, Rutgers faculty declares strike.

 

Sunday, leaders of three faculty unions at Rutgers University announced a strike, claiming that negotiations for new contracts for the 9,000 professors, part-time lecturers, and graduate student workers they represent have stalled.

More than 67,000 students at Rutgers' New Brunswick-Piscataway, Newark, and Camden campuses are expected to miss classes as a result of the strike, which is one of the largest faculty walkouts in U.S. higher education history.

"Our sheets casted a ballot consistently that we will be taking to the streets tomorrow," Rutgers AAUP-Rearward President Rebecca Givan told her individuals in a 8:30 p.m. web based gathering went to by huge number of teachers and other employees.

This is the principal staff strike at Rutgers since the school's establishing in 1766. As students enter the final few weeks of the spring semester prior to finals and commencement the following month, it is anticipated that the walkout will cause disruptions to the majority of in-person and online classes.

Union officials stated that picket lines would begin at 9 a.m. on Monday on each of the three Rutgers campuses. On the Rutgers-New Brunswick campus, the unions intend to hold a joint rally at 1 p.m. on Monday on Voorhees Mall near College Avenue.

Givan stated, "We take this very seriously." We are not getting anyplace and we really want to accomplish something else, thus our sheets have concluded that we will stand together … and make this earth shattering stride."

Even if their professors are on strike, officials at Rutgers advised students to remain on campus and attend class.

On its strike information pageRutgars, Rutgers stated, "The university is open and operating, and classes are proceeding on a normal schedule." To find out if their classes would still meet and how to complete their assignments, students were instructed to visit the school's course management website, Canvas.

The university will continue to negotiate, according to Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway, who stated that he believes the two parties are close to reaching an agreement.

It would be an understatement to say that this is extremely disappointing," Holloway said of the unions' decision to strike. Our primary concern is the continued academic progress of our students, and we will do everything in our power to ensure that a strike does not impede their progress.

In a statement, Gov. Phil Murphy requested that the university and the union meet with his administration on Monday at the Statehouse.

Murphy stated in the statement on Sunday night, shortly after the strike was announced, that "Rutgers University is one of the premier institutions of higher learning in the nation." In order to have a productive discussion, I am calling the university and union bargaining committees to meet in my office tomorrow.

Holloway has previously stated that he is of the opinion that a faculty strike at Rutgers is against the law and that the university may seek to compel professors and teaching staff to return to work by filing a lawsuit.

However, Rutgers officials will not immediately go to court to request an injunction to end the strike, according to two sources with knowledge of the talks late Sunday. Instead, university negotiators will keep negotiating in the hope of quickly reaching an agreement.

After days of exhausting negotiations, the two sides decided to go on strike because they could not agree on a number of important points. A mediator was brought in on Saturday to try to help the two sides get closer to a settlement.

Officials at Rutgers University said that the bus service, dining, counseling, and other services would continue to be available for students. Even if their professors were on strike, students were advised to be ready to attend class.

Since July 1, the following unions have been on strike and working without a contract: Full-time faculty, graduate workers, postdoctoral associates, and some counselors are represented by Rutgers AAUP-AFT. the Adjunct Faculty Union at Rutgers, which represents adjunct faculty; and the AAUP-BHSNJ, which is made up of biomedical and health science teachers from the public health, dental, nursing, and medical schools at Rutgers.

According to the union, faculty members at the medical and other health sciences schools will continue essential research and patient care, but they will reduce responsibilities that will not affect patient safety or health.

Even if the faculty members are on strike, some of the larger unions at Rutgers said that their members would continue working.

Last week, the administrative and professional employees' union, the Union of Rutgers Administrators–AFT, stated that it would not ask its members to strike in solidarity with the faculty. However, the union claimed that its members could show their support by participating in rallies and walking in picket lines outside of work hours.

Despite its support for the faculty strike, Rutgers' Health Professionals and Allied Employees union also advised members to continue reporting to work.

Additionally, it advised the unionized administrative and professional staff at Rutgers not to assume any of the striking faculty members' responsibilities. In order for their strike to be successful, Rutgers must feel their absence, according to the URA-AFT's statement.

Last week, Rutgers President Holloway told the university community that the school had offered to raise salaries for teaching assistants, graduate assistants, and full-time faculty members by 12 percent by 2025.

According to the president, the university offered to pay all faculty unions an additional 3% lump sum over the first two years of the new contract. Rutgers has likewise proposed an around 20% salary raise for assistants, who are remunerated by the number of credits they that show every semester, and offered comparable raises for postdoctoral colleagues.

However, AAUW-AFT spokesperson Alan Maas stated that the union disagreed with Holloway's assessment that the parties are close to reaching an agreement. According to a union chart detailing the current state of the negotiations, the university rejected nine out of fifteen union proposals, with one proposal being ignored.

Union officials stated that they are still seeking agreements regarding improved pay for graduate workers and adjunct faculty, increased job security for all teaching staff, pay that keeps up with inflation, affordable housing options for graduate students, and forgiveness for overdue fines and fees.

The teaching staff at Rutgers-Camden and Rutgers-Newark, where professors have long complained that they are paid less than their counterparts on the main campus in New Brunswick, have also been the subject of the union's negotiations for more equitable pay.

Additionally, the unions have been putting pressure on the Rutgers administration to establish standards for the amount of work faculty members must perform in clinical medical positions at the university as well as more affordable healthcare options for faculty.

During the negotiations, Holloway's assertion that a faculty walkout would be illegal enraged many members of the union.

In a message to the campus community prior to the strike announcement, the president wrote, "To be clear, if a strike were to be called, the university would have no choice but to make every legal effort to ensure that any job action does not affect our students' academic progress."

Union officials criticized Holloway's position, noting that, despite the support of some case law, there is no state law against public employee strikes.

The unions are urging members to demonstrate in large numbers on Monday to picket the campus.

Association pioneers said picket lines would be set up close to School Road in New Brunswick and at other key grounds spots in Piscataway, Camden, and Newark. Additionally, the unions established a strike fund for workers without pay who may face financial difficulties.

According to William A. Herbert, executive director of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions, higher education strikes are uncommon in New Jersey but not nationwide.

5,550 Penn State higher education faculty members went on strike in 2016. A faculty strike at Wright State University in Ohio in 2019 lasted 20 days, while one at the New School in New York City lasted 25 days the previous year.

According to Herbert, the pandemic has resulted in an increase in the number of college strikes. 48,000 graduate assistants went on strike last year, disrupting the University of California system.