Rutgers AAUP-AFT opens vote to authorize labor strike

Members of the Rutgers American Association of University Professors and American Federation of Teachers (AAUP-AFT) will begin voting today to decide whether to go on strike, according to a statement on the organization's website.

Amy Higer, a representative to the AAUP-AFT's Executive Council and part-time lecturer at Rutgers University-Newark, said due-paying union members will vote using email ballots. The vote will determine whether the union's bargaining committee can initiate a strike in the near future.

Erin Kelly, an assistant teaching professor in the writing program, director of the graduate writing program and member of the AAUP-AFT's Executive Council, said there was a strike campaign previously at the University during the 2018-2019 academic year.

At that time, she said simply having the authorization vote helped persuade the University to negotiate and finalize an agreement.

Higer said initiating the strike is a final resort, but authorizing it gives the union leverage. Should the Rutgers AAUP-AFT choose to initiate the strike, it would mark a historic moment as the first faculty labor strike in the University's history. 

"I hope it doesn't take a strike (to open negotiations)," Higer said. "I hope (the administration) sees that we mean what we say. This is too important for us to walk away easily. We're not ready to concede these big demands we have."

Rebecca Kolins Givan, an associate professor in the School of Management and Labor Relations and president of the AAUP-AFT, said that Rutgers faculty's union contracts, which normally last four years, ended at the end of June 2022.

Todd Wolfson, an associate professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies and vice president of the Rutgers AAUP-AFT, said that the union and the University have been negotiating a new contract for approximately eight months.

Since negotiations began, the union and the University have held 27 bargaining sessions together over the past several months and have yet to make substantial progress toward a resolution. 

Dory Devlin, a University spokesperson, said that the administration has conducted several bargaining sessions with the union and will continue to do so to come to an equitable solution with them. 

"(The University) will continue to meet in good faith with (the union) until we reach comprehensive agreements on mandatorily negotiable issues, including compensation," Devlin said. "We are hopeful that agreements with all of our unions can be reached as quickly as possible."

One of the ongoing issues the union hopes to address through negotiations is the lack of secure employment for professors, faculty and staff, which serves as a detriment to the whole University, Givan said.

While professors like her can acquire tenure through their contracts, instructors who have temporary contracts are limited in mobility as staff members. She said job security entails equitable, competitive salaries for adjunct and graduate faculty.

Bargaining with the University is a meticulous process, and working out disputes large and small can prove to be taxing for her and her fellow union members, Givan said. Wolfson said that the University's stagnant response to bargaining was disrespectful.

"We gave them a proposal for what we thought made sense regarding raises in May 2022. And they never responded until December of 2022," he said. "We want to let the University know that this is not acceptable. And we are very upset, and basically, I would say (the strike vote) is the last warning shot."

All of these challenges that instructors face could result in a strike if the University and the union do not reach an agreement. Givan said that while she does not want a strike, she and the union are more than ready to reach a fair contract for everyone.

"It's clear that the University's negotiators are dragging their feet. They don't seem to feel any urgency over these important matters. And so I hope that our members are prepared to strike if that's what management makes us do in order to get a good contract," Givan said.

Throughout negotiations, Givan said it was clear that University President Jonathan Holloway assigned conversations related to the union to the Office of University Labor Relations and its lawyers.

Though, she said she would like to converse more with both Holloway and Prabhas V. Moghe, the executive vice president for academic affairs. In her perspective, the goals of the department and administration will be advanced by the union's proposals. 

The issues the union and its members face are particularly difficult due to the impact Rutgers' decisions have on students, Higer said. Failing to support educators affects the quality of education they offer, which can make students ill-prepared to succeed in society. 

"This is the idea that everything has to be quantified in money terms. (Education) is not all a market. Market solutions are not the way to educate college students," she said.

Seeing unions and advocacy efforts at other schools also serves as motivation for activists at Rutgers, Higer said. She said recent nationwide labor movements mark an important historical moment to capitalize on.

Kelly also spoke about the larger reach of union movements in education nationwide, such as at New York University and the University of California system. She said these movements have hopefully changed the environment to be more favorable for unions to win their demands.

The benefits of the union's advocacy go beyond pay and job security for Rutgers adjunct faculty and have the potential to better the Rutgers community and the state of New Jersey as a whole, Givan said.

Some of the proposals they have put forward advocate for student needs in terms of housing and the ability to register for classes or obtain documentation from the University without delay, she said.

Other benefits include allowing students to have better access to adjunct faculty, which improves their educational experiences, Kelly said.

"I know what it's like to be a graduate student trying to make rent. I know what it's like to be a part-time lecturer cobbling together a series of classes," she said. "These folks are highly qualified people and skilled educators, and making sure that everyone has the dignity and security to work to the best of their capacity is important to me."