Dear colleague,
Our unions are organizing a town hall meeting for Sunday night, April 9, at 8:30 p.m. to discuss the critical next steps in our fight for a fair contract. Click here to RSVP for the Zoom link. We know many of you will be spending Sunday with family and friends, but we will be bargaining through the weekend and expect to have important decisions and plans to make together.
The coming days will be decisive for us. There has been some progress in bargaining in the last few days—a direct result of our members putting greater pressure on the administration—but we are still far apart on core demands, especially for grad workers, postdocs, and adjunct faculty. And we must have an agreement for our RBHS faculty and EOF counselors, too. The administration doesn’t seem to understand that our unions are determined to fight together for our most vulnerable, lowest-paid colleagues. We will not be divided!
Please RSVP for the town hall on Sunday night at 8:30 p.m. In the meantime, we still have several actions and events over the next few days:
- We’re preparing to have strong, lively picket lines in the event of a strike, and that takes organizing ahead of time. Talk to any union member on your campus and ask them how to sign up for picket line shifts.
- There’s one more picket line training session planned for today at 6 p.m. Click here to sign up for a one-hour session on Zoom.
- On Saturday at 12–1 p.m., we’re holding Union Office Hours again for our students to “Ask Us Anything.” Share this Zoom registration link with your students, ask them to sign up, and join us yourself!
- Our unions have established a merged strike fund, named the Rutgers Strike & Solidarity Fund, with the goal of supporting members in the event of a strike. We hope those of you who can best afford to give will do so generously to support your lower-paid colleagues. Click here to donate, and click here for an FAQ about the fund.
One last note: we are so moved and grateful to see members throughout our union moving into action to make sure we win this fight. We face an administration that is stubbornly determined to ignore and belittle our demands. But we are countering their resistance with our solidarity and union power—and we WILL win. Our students deserve a better Rutgers!
In solidarity,
Becky, Amy, and Cathy
Rebecca Givan, President, Rutgers AAUP-AFT
Amy Higer, President, Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union
Dr. Catherine Monteleone, President, AAUP-BHSNJ
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/
AAUP-BHSNJ website: https://onerutgersfaculty.org/
AAUP-BHSNJ Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RUaaupbhsnj