It’s Day Three of the historic strike by three Rutgers University unions representing 9,000 faculty, medical staff and other workers. After months of negotiations, they walked out for higher wages and job security, not just for full-time educators but crucially for part-time adjuncts and grad workers, too.
“Our pressure and our picket lines are working. That there has been progress on economic issues at the table, that we are moving in a good direction. But we are not there — anywhere near there — yet on the big structural issues around adjuncts and graduate workers,” said Sherry Wolf, senior organizer with the AAUP-AFT union. “It’s about wages, but it’s also about longer-term commitment by the university to its faculty across the board,” said Hank Kalet, vice president of the adjunct professors union. A fourth union — of Rutgers administrators — is considering a strike vote. Its 2,500 members work in admissions, financial aid, residences and dining halls.
Gov. Phil Murphy said he opposes raising tuition to settle the strike. But he also said he wants a deal that “reeks fairness.” Asked if state support could be increased, Murphy said, “As a general matter, yes. I don’t want to get into the details, because we’re in the middle of that as we speak.”
