Dear colleague,
Earlier today, you may have received an email from the Office of University Labor Relations (OULR), with the subject line “Notice to Unit Members,” that contains a legal notice from the state of New Jersey’s Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC). OULR is required to post this document on their website. We have no idea why they decided to email it in large batches without any explanation to everyone represented by our union.
The PERC document is a further sign of the progress of the #OneFaculty campaign our union launched last spring with our adjunct and medical faculty colleagues and our own postdoc members. AAUP-BHSNJ, our sister union representing 1,300 medical faculty at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS) facilities and across the state, has asked PERC to approve the merger of their bargaining unit with ours so they will be represented by Rutgers AAUP-AFT under one faculty contract. A majority of faculty represented by BHSNJ (members and nonmembers) signed cards authorizing the merger.
Members of the Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union (PTLFC) also got a majority of those they represent to indicate their support for merging into our contract, but management has indicated that they would fight this merger and likely engage in a protracted legal process to try to subvert the democratic will of our adjunct colleagues.
All three of our unions are calling on the administration to recognize that medical and adjunct faculty wish to be represented together under an expanded Rutgers AAUP-AFT contract. Our postdoc members are also working to merge into our larger bargaining unit, so that all of our academic teaching and research positions are covered equitably under one agreement. President Holloway’s administration has the power to recognize our collective desire to be treated as #OneFaculty. We will work together and keep organizing until they do.
Congratulations to our AAUP-BHSNJ colleagues, as they take this significant step toward unifying our faculty, ten years after the merger of our universities.
In solidarity,
Becky and Todd
Rebecca Givan, President, Rutgers AAUP-AFT
Todd Wolfson, General Vice President, Rutgers AAUP-AFT
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