TL;DR
The unified bargaining committee met with management on Tuesday, September 8. Management sent two counters across the table the morning of the session, one on the Side Letter for Accommodations and the other on the TA/GA/Fellows Grievance Procedure (Article 23).
Highlights from the Session
Management Counter: Side Letter for Accommodations
Management struck the entirety of the first and second pages of the union’s proposal, which includes the timeline for making accommodation requests and the mechanism for enforcement. Management insists that its data show claims are processed in a timely manner, but the experiences of many of our members suggest otherwise. Without defined timelines, there can be no accountability. The only part of our proposal management agreed to is the joint accommodation review committee, composed of union and university representatives, which is intended to provide feedback on the accommodations process and make improvements. But without any enforcement mechanism, the committee would have no real power.
Management Counter: TA/GA/Fellows Grievance
Management continues to strike out the inclusion of graduate fellows in this article. This exclusion is part of the broader insistence on rejecting the unions’ determination to bargain for one contract for all academic and healthcare workers.We are arguing that fellows must be included in this article so that they would have the same rights and protections as graduate workers, yet management refuses to recognize fellows as employees performing work, the same as TAs and GAs, although doing so with far fewer rights, compensation, and benefits.
This pattern of rejecting inclusive language also applies to Winter/Summer Instructors, EOF Counselors, Co-Ads, Lecturers, and RBHSNJ in general. It is currently the “elephant in the room” with the ongoing contract negotiations. Since management outright rejected the recognition clause (Article 3), it has been very difficult to discuss many other articles holistically.
Both sides came to some agreement on the specific mechanisms of graduate workers grieving issues that are not covered under Article 9. Ultimately, if management would not continue to resist the inclusion of fellows, we would be very close to a tentative agreement.
Next Steps
Our union awaits further counters from management. We have only received counters on fewer than a fifth of all our proposals, and many of these proposals were put across the table in early spring. There is a clear pattern of delay at work here. Members must stay informed on the ongoing negotiations and be prepared to take collective action away from the table to exert pressure.
The next session is scheduled for Tuesday, September 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Other Upcoming Events
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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 |