Dear colleague,
We are 300 days without a contract as of today. The administration’s failure to complete tentative agreements with our unions is inexcusable, and we want as many of you as possible to join us this Saturday, April 29, at Rutgers Day in New Brunswick to send that message. WE are Rutgers—students, labor, and community united—and we want a fair contract now!
We’ll gather on Voorhees Mall on the College Avenue campus at 12 p.m. and then march through the center of New Brunswick to the Cook-Douglass campuses, where Rutgers Day festivities will be in full swing. We want to welcome prospective students, their families, and community members to our university—and tell them that our fight for a fair contract has been a fight for better learning and living conditions for them, too.
We have another opportunity to support our students tomorrow night (Thursday) at the Board of Governors “Open Hearing on the University’s Tuition, Fees, and Housing and Dining Charges.” Rutgers One and our community allies are planning an informational picket outside the College Avenue Student Center (126 College Ave.), starting at 5:15 p.m. We urge you to attend in person if you can, but you can also attend on Zoom; click here to find the Zoom link.
We want to make sure the administration doesn’t use our raises and compensation gains to try to justify raising tuition. But just as importantly, students and community members want to focus attention on the social justice proposals we are still fighting for in our contract—and pressure the administration to contribute to the “Beloved Community Fund” we want the contract to establish. We’re also demanding that the administration stop blocking current and former students from registering for classes or getting transcripts or diplomas because of outstanding fees, fines, and parking citations.
If you haven’t filled out the membership action survey we shared on Monday, please click here and tell us what you’re willing to do before the end of the semester to win a fair contract. Bargaining is continuing today, and we need the administration to feel pressure from all of us to address the outstanding issues so we have a tentative agreement for our members to vote on.
In solidarity,
Rutgers AAUP-AFT, Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union, and AAUP-BHSNJ
Rutgers AAUP-AFT Facebook page: https://facebook.com/RUaaup/
Follow us on Twitter @ruaaup and Instagram @rutgersaaup
Freedom School YouTubeChannel: https://rutgersaaup.org/YouTube
Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/rutgersptlfc
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @ruaaup_ptl
Visit our redesigned website: https://rutgers-ptlfc.org/
AAUP-BHSNJ website: https://onerutgersfaculty.org/
AAUP-BHSNJ Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RUaaupbhsnj