Rutgers University faculty unions are expressing frustration with the pace of finalizing contract negotiations with the university — with a possible strike resumption looming.
Rutgers resumed classes on Monday after a historic faculty strike which included 9,000 workers in three unions, impacting Rutgers’ approximately 67,000 students. Faculty unions and Rutgers officials negotiated in the Statehouse for five days after Gov. Phil Murphy personally intervened.
But while the two sides reached a “framework” deal, unions have described the Rutgers University administration as being slow-moving on finishing it since negotiations resumed in New Brunswick.
“We got back to New Brunswick and it's been the same tricks ... slow bargaining, not responding to critical demands, playing whatever foolish stupid games they've been playing,” Todd Wolfson, vice president of the Rutgers AAUP-AFT, said in an interview. “So yes, we are pissed off. And we are asking ourselves what we need to do and what's going to need to happen before the semester ends in order to get the contract we need to get.”
Now, with the strike suspended — but not permanently over — union leaders are discussing going back to the picket line. Amy Higer, president of the Rutgers PTLFC-AAUP-AFT, which represents part-time lecturers, said it is “possible” a strike resumes — although she said it was hard to gauge how likely it is with such a fluid situation.
“We're kind of feeling like the old intransigence is back now that we're back in New Brunswick,” she said in an interview. “We could resume the strike — we reserve that right. As workers at Rutgers we didn't end the strike. We just suspended it. And it was conditional.”
The possibility of a strike resumption comes as students wrap up the academic year with final exams on the horizon. In a statement, Rutgers University said “we are coming closer to agreements every day.”
“Our focus right now is on reaching an agreement beyond the framework agreed to on Friday and supporting our students' continued academic progress," Rutgers spokesperson Dory Devlin said in a statement.
At a board of governors meeting Thursday, Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway made passing reference to the situation, saying "we continue to negotiate contracts with many labor unions at Rutgers, including final details on the frameworks we agreed to last Friday with faculty unions that were on strike."
The governor’s office and Rutgers announced a framework deal — which they said brought the strike to an “end” — early Saturday morning. The broad strokes of the agreement included increased pay for adjunct professors, job security for adjunct and non-tenure-track faculty and multiyear university support for teaching assistants and graduate assistants.
In interviews, though, union leaders underscored that the framework is not tantamount to a tentative agreement. Higer said that university management has moved the goalpost on how many credits adjunct professors need to teach to advance ranks. Wolfson said that Rutgers has not responded to proposed language on providing five years of guaranteed funding for teaching assistants and graduate assistants.
Diomedes Tsitouras, the executive director of AAUP-BHSNJ, which represents workers at Rutgers’ health sciences schools, said that talks have been slow-moving since resuming in New Brunswick. The union representing medical faculty has reported having more outstanding issues than the other two unions.
“It's been at a snail's pace,” Tsitouras said in an interview “And it doesn't seem like there's been any sort of rush to get things done.”
Higer, of the adjunct union faculty, said that another intervention from the governor might be needed.
“I think it's in his interest to make sure that [Rutgers] follows through on their commitment,” Higer said. “I don't know if he's going to play a role now – he might need to if he wants to see this done.”
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