With a 93% vote, three Rutgers University faculty unions overwhelmingly ratified their new contracts — deals reached after an unprecedented, week-long strike against the university and more than 10 months of failed negotiations. The agreements include significant salary increases and job security for almost 9,000 union members.
“It’s important, critical and transformative that we took a step forward in fighting for longer contracts for adjunct faculty, for better decent pay for our grad workers,” said Rutgers AAUP-AFT Vice President Todd Wolfson. “We’ve taken the fight to management and we’ve been on the offensive and this is the first time — one of the first times — this has happened in the country. And that needs to be noted.”
Union leaders also credited Gov. Phil Murphy for his crisis intervention that broke a bitter gridlock and brought all sides to negotiate at his offices in Trenton. Murphy promised state funding to help support an agreement. The big question now — who will pay for the settlement and how much? — arose during Assembly budget hearings Monday. Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway said he’s not yet sure.
“You can’t just sign an open-ended agreement without knowing what a bottom-line cost is going to be. It’s just Negotiations 101,” said Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger (R-Monmouth). Holloway replied, “The actual dollar amount tied to a percentage increase is a lot more complicated when you have a rapidly changing workforce, especially with the largest increases at I think forty-three percent for part-time lecturers, because that head count changes every semester. So I want to give you precise answers. I don’t think I’d be doing my job to give you ballparks.”
Holloway asked for more time to get that data. He did say Rutgers faces a $125 million deficit. Some administrative offices have been asked to make 10% spending cuts, saving $25 million a year. Asked by NJ Spotlight News whether a tuition increase is in the cards, Holloway said, “That’s premature. The Board of Governors is the governing body of Rutgers that makes that decision.”
