NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – Yesterday marked a meaningful and victorious end to the lawsuit against our three faculty locals, our state federation (AFTNJ), and national union (AFT), over the 2023 Rutgers faculty strike. The lawsuit, filed in March 2024 by former Rutgers student Jeremy Li, was dismissed with prejudice, with the court upholding the rights of public sector unions and their members to engage in free speech and collective action.
The suit was filed in March 2024 by Rutgers student Jeremy Li and alleged that the unions deprived Rutgers students of a week of education in Spring 2023 as a result of our strike. Our unions filed two motions to dismiss this complaint on the basis of free speech, noting that free speech and conduct “were a matter of public concern.”
Li is one of many students who have filed such lawsuits in an attempt to curtail the right of collective bargaining units to strike. Li’s attorneys, Patrick Hugues and Daniel Suhr, have filed similar lawsuits against teachers’ unions in Massachusetts and Kentucky for financial and emotional damages stemming from strikes there– and they’ve lost each one.
“This ruling is a bright spot in a difficult year, affirming the critically important right of public higher education workers to take collective action in order to win stronger and better contracts through collective bargaining,” says Rebecca Givan, president of Rutgers AAUP-AFT.
“Our students’ learning conditions can only be as good as the working conditions of the faculty and staff who support their education,” says Heather Pierce, president of the Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union. “Our fight is not only for ourselves, but for our students too. This is not only a win for labor rights—it is a win for the future of public higher education.”
“This ruling affirms our longstanding position that we are fighting for all of Rutgers—and we have the right to do so,” says Cathy Monteleone, president of AAUP-BHSNJ.
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Rutgers AAUP-AFT represents more than 5,000 full-time faculty, graduate workers, postdoctoral associates, and EOF counselors at the state university’s three main campuses and beyond. Our union is one of the oldest higher ed unions in the country, negotiating collective bargaining agreements for full-time faculty since 1970 and graduate workers since 1972.
The Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union (RAFU) represents 3,000 lecturer faculty across Rutgers University. Lecturers teach approximately 30% of the undergraduate curriculum, as well as a substantial portion of the instruction in the professional and graduate schools. Since voting to unionize in 1988, RAFU has advocated for the adjunct faculty whose teaching, mentoring, scholarship, and service are essential to the University’s core academic mission.
The American Association of University Professors – Biomedical and Health Sciences of New Jersey (AAUP-BHSNJ) represents roughly 1500 faculty at Rutgers and Rowan Universities. These faculty teach the next generation of doctors, nurses, scientists, and health professionals.