Rutgers faculty and graduate students used picket signs, drums and megaphones to vent their frustration with the pace of contract negotiations. Hundreds of members of various unions protested outside a meeting of the university’s Board of Governors Thursday, threatening to go back on strike less than a week after a tentative agreement was reached in Trenton and the strike suspended. While two unions have reached tentative deals with the university, the third union representing health care professionals and researchers still has not.
“The university, which has not been bargaining at the speed we need for the last 10 months, which is the reason we went on strike, once we left Trenton and the governor’s office, is back to their same old shenanigans. If their bargaining team doesn’t get back to the table and get us the articles we need so we can tie up this contract, the strike could be back on,” said Todd Wolfson, general vice president of the AAUF-AFT union.
Brian Sacks, vice president of PTLFC-AAUP-AFT, said, “Not all segments of the unions are getting enough time at the table, and that’s concerning to us. It feels like it could be the case that management’s trying to run out the clock. They all have demands that need to be heard by management, and which currently are not being sufficiently responded to.”
The strike included three unions, but a fourth could join them if negotiations don’t pick up steam. The union representing administrators at Rutgers is considering a strike authorization pledge, the step before voting for a strike.
According to a statement from Rutgers, “We continue to be in daily negotiating sessions and believe that we are coming closer to agreements every day. Our focus right now is on reaching an agreement beyond the framework agreed to on Friday and supporting our students’ continued academic progress.”
