Dear colleague,
Around 90 of your colleagues have received long-delayed responses from University Compensation Services (UCS) on their applications for salary equity under the program our union negotiated, and we continue to be disappointed with the administration’s handling of this process.
Like the 130 faculty who received decisions last September, a majority in this round got a salary adjustment (and retroactive pay)—a welcome outcome after the long wait for the administration to act on their applications. Unfortunately, though:
- In many cases among the latest pay equity decisions, the salary increases determined by UCS don’t raise these faculty to full equity with their peers, as our program was designed to achieve.
- An even higher percentage of faculty members in this round were denied any salary adjustment at all.
- Our Camden colleagues once again fared worse than their peers in New Brunswick and Newark—despite the fact that the program we agreed to was explicitly designed to achieve equity across campuses.
Our union staff, along with Salary Equity Program Co-directors Cynthia Daniels and Dana Britton, are advising faculty who received decisions about how they can appeal if they want to. Later this month, we’ll hold an all-faculty organizing meeting to discuss how we can pressure the administration to implement the program we fought for and achieve real equity. Stay turned for the date and time.
Those of you who remember our reaction to the first round of pay equity decisions will be disappointed to learn that the same problems we identified with the administration’s equity process have been repeated. In particular, we now fully understand the harmful effects of the administration’s regression formula (hatched for them by the notorious anti-union law firm Jackson Lewis).
The sole purpose of this formula is to reduce salary adjustments for many applicants—in some cases, to zero—while creating a veneer of objectivity. We estimate that the Jackson Lewis regression formula reduced pay equity awards so far by $1 million. Far from overcoming salary discrimination, this is actually “baking in” inequality. The formula is purposely difficult to understand, but our brilliant colleague Dana Britton has written an explainer to help you understand just how the regression formula warps the outcomes for many equity applicants.
It’s clear that our union is going to have to keep fighting to ensure that there is real pay equity at our university. We still hope to reach an agreement that creates a faculty committee with input on appeals. If and when we sign this agreement, it will be a stopgap measure—we’ll need to make more improvements at the bargaining table, and we’ll need your support to succeed.
We have a lot of work ahead of us. We hope you’ll show your support for our contract demands, talk with colleagues and friends about what we’re fighting for, and get involved with our organizing efforts.
In solidarity,
Becky and Todd
Rebecca Givan, President, Rutgers AAUP-AFT
Todd Wolfson, General Vice President, Rutgers AAUP-AFT
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