TL;DR
In today’s session, we introduced two new articles, one concerning EOF counselors and the other Post-docs. Additionally, we presented Article 9, which deals with grievance procedures, and Article 16, which outlines our position on leaves and caregiver support. Other developments included a preview of management’s concerns about the Academic Freedom proposal, and their request for smaller bargaining team groups at our June 3 and 5 sessions, a request with which we do not agree.
Highlights of the Session
Article 2—Academic Freedom
Before the presentations of the articles, management brought up Article 2, the Academic Freedom article. While acknowledging that they are not ready to make a formal counter, they had questions and concerns. We told them that we will respond when we receive a written counter, but our team expressed the following:
- We do NOT agree with the language that says University Policy on Academic Freedom, 60.5.1, can be changed from time to time.
- We believe it is essential that BHSNJ members be covered by the policy in the same way as all other faculty.
AAUP-AFT President Becky Givan (Labor Studies and Employment Relations, New Brunswick) further responded that the climate is far more fraught than ever: “I can’t imagine that we can go to our members and tell them that the university can change its stance on academic freedom at any time[…]Also, the BHSNJ merger has been in place for over a decade. We will be happy to come back on that after we receive a written statement.”
New Proposal—EOF Counselors
Management stated that they would like to retain the right to handle EOF counselors in a separate contract, but they “allowed” us to present our EOF counselor article. A member of management’s team expressed his gratitude for the EOF program in general, stating that he benefited from the program when he was in school.
LaToya Gibbons and Miguel Rodriguez presented the EOF counselor article. Miguel began by noting that, “We serve 3000 students. We take a lot of pride in being on their journey as they walk through the door.”
One particular point that proved prickly for management was payout for unused administrative leave. Miguel explained:
As EOF counselors, we earn administrative leave, but we are 12-month employees with no down period. Summer is the busiest because we run a residential summer institute program, so where a typical employee could use vacation time during the summer, we struggle to find a week to take off–no one does our job when we are not there, and it is challenging to exhaust [our leave], typically. It’s use it or lose it, so we want a workaround for that.
A management team member responded, “I knew somehow this was costing me money.”
To which our team simply said, “We all should be working with Trenton to ensure that EOF is valued and always properly funded.”
Article 16— Parental, Medical, and Caregiver Leave and Support
Becky Givan presented the changes in the article, which are intended to clarify previously ambiguous areas. Later, when the topic of retaining our work emails while on leave came up, a member of management expressed disbelief. They asked why a person would need to use their work email while on leave. Our side of the table explained that we do work all the time—even when we are on leave.
Management asked about the need for caregiver support while traveling, and Becky responded that this request is modest and could provide strong support for members, for example, tenure-track faculty who must attend conferences to achieve career goals.
Management closed out this segment by saying that these changes involve money, and we acknowledged that. Becky explained that we are trying to put all of our proposals on the table, so we can present the complete picture before we get into the weeds.
Article 9—Grievances
We explained that the overarching issue in this category is the timeliness of grievance resolution. We emphasized that the goal is to expedite the arbitration process, and management responded that there is much room for compromise in this regard.
New Article—Post-Docs
We heard from our two post-doc presenters, Alex Steiner (Radiation Oncology, RCI) and Ian Oiler (Institute for Quantitative Biomedicine/ Earth and Environmental Sciences, Newark). The main points of their presentations were as follows:
- The proposal includes items to protect international students/workers
- Harmonizing across union groups for the week between Christmas and New Year
- Bereavement
- Clarity on post-docs embedded in other institutions
- Issues related to visa delays, revocation, and the ability to return once issues are resolved
- Simple proposal focused on harmonization based on the expansion of members included in Article 3 (Recognition)
Management asked Alex about the current process for requesting time off. He responded that they ask the PI for it and inform the unit-based HR person. Becky explained that administration would benefit from having a formalized process.
Management asked, “What happens if grant funding runs out during post-doc leave—perhaps we should say ‘pending funding availability?’”
Becky agreed that this might happen, and we would be happy to look at a counterproposal.
Mark your calendar!
The next session is scheduled for Wednesday, June 3, from 2 to 5 pm in Newark
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 |