Dear colleague,
We are mobilizing with other unions, students, and the community to send a message to the Board of Governors when they meet at Rutgers-Newark on Thursday, October 5: Students, Workers, Patients, Community – We Deserve Equity, Respect, and Safe Staffing.
We hope all of you who can will come to Newark for this action. If you’re in Newark, we are planning a walkout before the class period ends at 11:20 a.m., followed by an 11:30 a.m. rally and action at Robeson Campus Center (350 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., on the campus side). If you’re on a New Brunswick campus or in Camden, we encourage you to make the trip to Newark. In New Brunswick, you can join striking nurses from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in taking the Solidarity Train to Newark; meet at the New Brunswick train station to catch the 10:18 a.m. train to Newark Penn Station. Wherever you’re coming from, please click here to let us know you’ll be there!
Last Friday, the University Senate voted by a 2-to-1 margin for a resolution of no confidence in President Holloway’s leadership (click here to go to the Senate website to read the resolution). We want to thank the senators—many of whom are members—for this important effort to hold the Holloway administration accountable. The resolution is a powerful indictment of the administration’s undemocratic behavior and disrespect for students, staff, faculty, and the community. Click here, here, and here for some of the media coverage of the meeting. Our next step should be to demand accountability from the Board of Governors, which sent an embarrassing letter supporting Holloway to the Senate ahead of their vote.
Our unions will be joined at the rally by the striking nurses from RWJ University Hospital in New Brunswick, who have been on the picket line for nearly two months fighting a management that works hand in glove with the Rutgers administration (the RWJBarnabas CEO sits on the Rutgers Board of Governors!); members of our sister union, the United Council of Academics at NJIT, who are fighting for a new contract right now; the Committee of Interns and Residents, representing the overworked resident physicians at RBHS facilities across the state; and other organizations.
We’ll have more information for you in the coming days, but we wanted to let you know about our plans so you can save the date: Thursday, October 5, 11:30 a.m., at Rutgers-Newark, on the steps of the Robeson Campus Center. Click here to let us know you’ll be there.
In solidarity,
Rutgers AAUP-AFT, Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union, and 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 website: https://rutgers-ptlfc.org/
AAUP-BHSNJ website: https://onerutgersfaculty.org/
AAUP-BHSNJ Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RUaaupbhsnj