TL;DR
Our unified bargaining team met with management via Zoom on June 11 to answer questions and present several proposals. It was a short session that only lasted about an hour. All the proposals that the unions put forward in this session were very simple– modest changes to contract language or introducing a policy already on the books into our contract. There were no counters from management. The unions have now put over 30 articles across the table. We have just a single TA. The ball is in management’s court!
Highlights of the Session
Copyright (new article)
- The Copyright Article is simple. We want Rutgers Policy 50.3.7 incorporated into the contract. We think it’s working well, especially in conjunction with our patent policy proposal. But we’re one Rutgers, and we want one policy that applies to everyone, including legacy UMDNJ faculty who currently don’t own the copyright to teaching materials they create.
Leave of Absence Without Pay (LOA) (Article 17)
- The goals of the unions’ proposals are to ensure that the contract language is fair and consistent throughout. Certain parts currently do not apply to BHSNJ faculty, and there is no rational reason for the discrepancy. Not much time was spent on this article in the session.
TA/GA Grievance Procedures (Article 23)
- The existing article provided a procedure for the resolution of problems with reappointment for TAs and GAs, but Graduate Fellows were not covered. Our proposed changes add them.
- We proposed a one-semester grace period for grads to address any “deficiencies” that affect their reappointments.
- We also added a process for resolving disputes between a grad and their advisor regarding academic progress, and a continuation of funding while the process plays out.
- Finally, we added the right to use the Article 9 grievance process to appeal the results of these Article 23 procedures.
Dues Deduction Counterproposal (Article 5):
- The unions accepted many of management’s language changes, but we want to make sure that members retain their membership status when they switch titles or roles, but remain in a bargaining unit. This is a recurring and serious issue that costs us sorely needed dues revenue. For example, if a Lecturer skips a semester or a faculty member becomes a dean and then returns to teaching, their membership should be reactivated automatically.
- We also proposed that when a unit member drops their union membership, the university notifies us immediately (within 2 business days).
Next steps:
We await management counter proposals in the upcoming days. Our contract expires in eighteen days.
Mark your calendar!
Our next scheduled session is on Tuesday, June 16, from 10am-2pm.
Other Upcoming Events
Click here for a full calendar
Our Bargaining Team
| Austin | Rooney | Camden | Philosophy & Religion |
| Beth | Adubato | Newark | School of Criminal Justice |
| Bryan | Sacks | Camden | Philosophy & Religion |
| David | Letwin | College Ave-NB | Rutgers Arts Online |
| Howie | Swerdloff | Cook-NB | Labor Studies & Employee Relations |
| Boris | Paskhover | Newark | Otolaryngology (NJMS) |
| Catherine | Monteleone | RWJMS-NB | Medicine |
| Claire | O’Connell | Busch-Nb | School Of Health Professions |
| Cynthia | Sutton | RSDM-Newark | RSDM Diagnostic |
| Jeff | Levine | College Ave-NB | Family Medicine (RWJ) |
| Josh | Bucher | College Ave-NB | Emergency Medicine (RWJ) |
| Kathleen | Beebe | Newark | Orthopaedics (NJMS) |
| Melissa | Rogers | Newark | Microbiology (NJMS) |
| Pankaj | Agarwalla | Newark | Neurosurgery (NJMS) |
| Rula | Btoush | Newark | School of Nursing |
| Stephan | Schwander | NB Piscataway | SPH |
| Tessa | Bergsbaken | Newark | Immunity & Inflammation (NJMS) |
| LaToya | Gibbons | Camden | Enrollment & Student Success |
| Miguel | Rodriguez | College Ave-NB | School of Arts and Sciences |
| Adrian | Liu | College Ave-NB | Philosophy |
| Alexander | Steiner | RCI | Radiation Oncology |
| Annika | Barber | Busch-NB | Microbiology |
| Becky | Givan | Cook-NB | Labor Studies & Employee Relations |
| Britt | Paris | College Ave-NB | Library & Information Science |
| Bryan | Oller | Newark | Physics |
| Carlos | Decena | Livingston-NB | Latino & Hispanic Caribbean St |
| Chidera | Ntiwunka-Ifeanyi | Busch-NB | Biomedical Engineering |
| Emily | Marker | Camden | History |
| Ian | Oiler | Newark | Institute for Quantitative Biomedicine/Earth and Environmental Sciences |
| Kathy | Lopez | Camden | Public Policy |
| Kyle | Riismandel | Newark | History |
| Lee | Carpenter | Camden | Law School |
| Lily | Todorinova | Douglass-NB | New Brunswick Library |
| Paul | O’Keefe | Livingston-NB | Geography |
| Season | Qiu | Newark | Molecular And Behavioral Neuroscience |
| Tara | Matise | Busch-NB | Genetics |
| Heather | Pierce | College Ave-NB | Political Science |
| Luis | Soto | Livingston-NB | Criminal Justice |