TL;DR
The unified bargaining committee met with management on Tuesday, September 15, in New Brunswick. Management presented a “package” of three counters dealing with leave: Article 17, “Leave of Absence”; Article 25.A, “Sabbaticals”; and Article 16, “Parental, Medical, and Caregiver Leave and Support.” Packaging proposals together like this requires that we accept all three or none. So while they agreed to our proposed Article 17 language, in exchange, we’d need to accept their other two counters. But their language and strike outs in Article 16 were so egregiously harmful to our members that our side was horrified. Management recognized that they had over-reached, because they retracted it. We received a revised counter at the end of the session, at which time we gave them our counterproposal on “Deduction of Dues” (Article 5). We call on all members of all ranks to attend when the unified bargaining team makes a counter on Article 16 at the bargaining session scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 24.
Highlights from the Session
Management Counters on Sabbatical Leave, Leave of Absence, and Parental, Caregiver, and Medical Leave
After five months of management sitting on the unions’ proposals for leave, we received counters that made egregious cuts to the language around “Parental, Caregiver, and Medical Leave.” This includes striking any access to paid leave with closed ranks for faculty who are struggling with caring for a family member. The language management shared would mean that faculty would be forced to care for a sick family member without pay. They also struck our proposed language on bereavement leave, incorrectly asserting that our members are covered by an existing (non-contractual) policy that only applies to “non-academic employees.”
When pressed to defend this language, management claimed that there have been “inconsistencies” with how this leave has been used in the past, and their response to those inconsistencies was to just strike caregiver support entirely. “As a parent, and as an only child of older parents, I couldn’t believe that the only choice was to withhold any kind of paid leave for me should I need to take care of my kid or my parents,” said Emily Marker, associate professor of History at Rutgers-Camden.
Steve Weissman, the unions’ lawyer, stated that he “has worked with dozens of employers […] and those who do not allow sick leave to care for family members? The number is zero.”
Rutgers AAUP-AFT and BHSNJ have some differences between their contracts– for example, the AAUP-AFT contract includes “closed ranks,” whereas the BHSNJ contract only has sick time. However, Cathy Monteleone, president of BHSNJ, noted after the session that these cuts to caretaker leave can easily come back around to hurt BHSNJ members. If the unions allow management to get away with such an egregious curtailing of leave, then those negative impacts will be felt more widely.
Management Counter: TA/GA/Fellows GrievanceUnion Successfully Pushes Management to Retract and Revise Caregiver Leave Counter
At the table, the unions’ unified bargaining table responded with such disbelief to this counter that management went to caucus to discuss. Upon returning, they retracted this initial counter on Article 16. While the unions count this as a momentary victory, it is deeply concerning that management is willing to put such a callous counter across the table. We have seen some egregious counters from management in other areas, such as with our Side Letter for Accommodations, and this makes us worry about what else might be coming across the table down the line.
Later in the session on September 16, management sent a slightly less awful new counter on Article 16.
Management also countered our proposal on Sabbaticals, in Article 25A. They are not yet willing to include BHSNJ members in this sabbatical program, reflecting their overall unwillingness to treat faculty equally. However, they did accept our proposal to allow retirement immediately following a sabbatical, often known as a “terminal sabbatical.“
Union Presents Proposal on “Deduction of Dues”
At the end of the session, we shared a proposal on the deduction of dues for union members (Article 5). Becky Givan, president of Rutgers AAUP-AFT, pointed out that in this semester alone, there have been 109 members who have not had dues deducted from their payroll. This negatively impacts union finances and power. The proposal includes language that requires Rutgers implement a data management system that links union membership to employee ID. Until those measures are put in place, Rutgers must conduct a monthly audit to identify any union members who are not paying dues. We await management’s counter on this proposal.
Next Steps
The unified bargaining team plans to make a counter on Article 16 at the bargaining session scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 24. All members from all ranks should plan to attend either in-person for the union welcoming committee outside of the session at 9 a.m. (register here), or attend a bargaining orientation to sit in on the Zoom session starting at 10 a.m. (check your union email for the links to register).
Attend our Bargaining Town Hall on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. to hear directly from our bargaining team and get more involved in the fight for a fair contract. Register here.
Other Upcoming Events
Click here for a full calendar: https://rutgersaaup.org/events/
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 |