Rutgers AAUP-AFT, the union representing some 6,000 full-time faculty, graduate workers, postdoctoral associates, and EOF counselors at Rutgers University, endorses Sue Altman in the election for representative of the New Jersey 7th Congressional District.
Sue is a candidate with strong connections to education and labor. She was a URA-AFT member at Rutgers-Camden, a former high school teacher, and former executive director of the New Jersey Working Families Alliance. She also walked on our union’s picket lines during the recent strike at Rutgers University. During her tenure as the executive director of the NJ Working Families Alliance, she advocated for various legislation supporting organized labor and workers.
Sue recognizes the urgent need for a vigorous response to climate change and the central role that universities, educators, and researchers must play in this. She is a firm supporter of reproductive rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, voting rights, and academic freedom, and characterizes herself as a pro-labor, pro-teacher, and pro-faculty candidate. She further recognizes the need for greater investment in our public universities, to improve teaching and research, address the crisis of contingent workers, and and make higher education affordable. She has committed to regular meetings and communication with our union membership and leadership to hear our concerns and work with us to improve higher education for the people of New Jersey.
Her opponent, Rep. Tom Kean Jr., has voted in Congress to further reduce access to reproductive health care. As a New Jersey state Senator, he voted against the Freedom of Reproductive Choice Act, while voting for numerous bills that would limit the rights of labor unions. In Congress, he has voted in lockstep with the most extreme elements of his party. As a labor union whose members prioritize reproductive rights, the rights of underrepresented and oppressed groups, the principles of academic freedom and public education, and the need for transformational action on the climate crisis, the choice could not be more clear.
The Executive Council of Rutgers AAUP-AFT union endorses Sue Altman for the New Jersey 7th Congressional District. We look forward to supporting her candidacy and working with her as she ably represents the people of the 7th District.