Takeaway: President Holloway’s disingenuous “Update on Labor Negotiations” sent yesterday evening is further proof that his administration isn’t serious about bargaining a fair contract. Vote YES on strike authorization in the secret ballot from Election Runner to show that we are prepared to fight for a living wage for grad workers, equal pay for equal work, and a fair salary increase.
Dear colleague,
Yesterday evening, you received “An Update on Labor Negotiations” from President Holloway. His statement was misleading about progress in bargaining and the administration’s salary offer. Disturbingly, he left out management’s refusal to even discuss a substantive increase in graduate worker pay that would be comparable to peer institutions, including the University of California, Columbia, NYU, and Princeton. Our graduate programs would be seriously damaged if President Holloway fails to pay grad workers a fair wage in the midst of runaway inflation. The Holloway administration has also refused to recognize graduate fellows as union members.
Similarly, the administration has rejected our proposals that adjunct faculty—who teach over 30 percent of undergraduate courses at Rutgers—be paid equally with non-tenure-track faculty for doing the same work and that they get basic job security and health insurance like other Rutgers educators.
The truth is the administration is NOT “working hard to reach agreement on a new contract,” as President Holloway claimed. They are working hard to avoid a fair contract, at a time when all workers at Rutgers are experiencing a brutal increase in their cost of living.
In fact, in the wake of the protest in Newark last week, management showed up late to bargaining last Thursday—and then made an insulting offer of a 10.75 percent salary increase over four years, or about half what faculty at the University of Illinois-Chicago won in their recent contract. The increases proposed for adjunct faculty would barely make a difference in already meager salaries. Accepting this offer would mean a significant wage cut. Our paychecks have already lost over 5 percent of their value in the past year and a half because of high inflation; the administration’s salary offer would lock us into further declines for years to come.
President Holloway justifies this “responsible” salary offer by claiming that the university is operating with a fiscal deficit. Let’s be clear: Rutgers has the money. The administration had its largest operating surpluses in history in the past two years, and they added more than $300 million to their unrestricted reserves in 2020–21 alone. Meanwhile, they’ve spent untold millions on the athletics program and pledged as much as $200 million for a new building in New Brunswick. The administration spends lavishly for their projects and then claims austerity when it comes to their employees and the core mission of the University: research, teaching, and service. That does not feel “fair, reasonable, and responsible.”
This is why we have asked you to vote YES to authorize our union to call a strike if it is necessary to achieve our goals for a new agreement. If you haven’t cast your ballot yet, we hope President Holloway’s statement is reason enough to vote YES. Then talk to your colleagues about why they should do the same, if they haven’t already. If you haven’t been able to find your secret ballot from Election Runner in your inbox (or spam folder), fill out this form, and we’ll make sure you get a ballot.
President Holloway does say correctly that this is not a vote to go on strike—a “yes” vote on strike authorization would empower our unions’ leadership bodies to call a strike if the administration does not change direction and work toward bargaining a fair contract. We need to make that message loud and clear.
In solidarity,
Becky and Amy
Rebecca Givan, President, Rutgers AAUP-AFT
Amy Higer, President, Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union, PTLFC-AAUP-AFT
Rutgers AAUP-AFT Facebook page: https://facebook.com/RUaaup/
Follow us on Twitter @ruaaup and Instagram @rutgersaaup
Freedom School YouTubeChannel: https://rutgersaaup.org/YouTube
Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/rutgersptlfc
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @ruaaup_ptl
Visit our redesigned website: https://rutgers-ptlfc.org/