Rutgers University faculty members overwhelmingly ratified new contracts on Monday that boost pay and give workers additional job security, nearly a month after the historic five-day teaching strike.
Union officials said 93% of members who voted approved the new four-year agreements.
“Because of this commitment by our members, we made major gains in these contracts, especially for the most vulnerable and lowest-paid of the people we represent. We didn’t win everything we wanted. But what we did achieve is a testament to all of us, and we’re proud of it,” Rebecca Givan, president of Rutgers AAUP-AFT, which represents full-time professors and graduate workers, said in a statement.
The ratification ends the university’s year-long negotiations with three faculty unions that culminated in a week of canceled classes in April and the intervention of Gov. Phil Murphy, who pressured both sides to negotiate under his watch in Trenton.
“We are grateful to all those whose hard work contributed to reaching this agreement, and we thank Governor Murphy, his staff, and state-appointed mediators who helped the university and the unions resolve differences on key issues and enable us all once again to focus on the academic enterprise that is the heart of this remarkable university,” university spokeswoman Dory Devlin said.
The contracts mark a big win for key union demands and set the stage for other higher education institutions across the country to make similar asks for better wages and job protections as union actions rise across campuses, labor leaders say.
“This is a new moment for higher ed labor around the country,” Todd Wolfson, vice president of Rutgers AAUP-AFT said in a statement. “Other unions representing graduate workers and faculty organized, struck, and won strong contracts, inspiring us to fight for more. And now we’ve contributed to the largest strike wave in the history of public higher education.”
About 9,000 professors, adjuncts, librarians,…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply