JJ Cooper, Downtown New Brunswick Building Representative and Bargaining Team Member
The URA-AFT Bargaining Team met with management on September 23 at Liberty Plaza in New Brunswick, reaching one agreement and hearing that management is “hopeful” about responding to our important economic demands for raises next month.
Article 33 – Probationary Employees: Our URA bargaining team reached a second “tentative agreement” (TA) requiring supervisors to meet with workers on probation within the first 60 days of employment before deciding to extend their probationary period. It also includes language affirming that all new workers are eligible to apply for flexible work arrangements in accordance with Article 59. We hope this proposal will help reinforce fairness for workers in our unit from the start and stop managers from treating Flexible Work Arrangements as special favors only they can grant.
Economic Articles: We are still waiting on management’s response to the salary proposals we presented in July. In the meantime, members are experiencing increased workload and burden due to the hiring freeze and chronic understaffing. With rising gas prices, groceries, housing, utilities, and healthcare premiums, it is imperative that we resolve this sooner rather than later.
We have proposed across-the-board increases for the four years of our successor contract and retention pay to recognize the value of institutional knowledge and experience. In discussions at the bargaining table, we emphasized the necessity of this recognition of members’ critical work and frustration at lack of raises.
In response, management said that they are “hopeful” they will have a counterproposal to our salary/compensation package in our October sessions.
Article 42 – Seniority and Layoff: Currently, the seniority lists from Rutgers do not include specifics of work units or funding sources, which makes it impossible to determine if layoff decisions are truly based on seniority or are decided arbitrarily (or with malice). Our proposals address this need.
Get involved in the campaign for a strong contract: Rutgers management continues to drag their feet, only agreeing to a three-hour session yesterday and two sessions next month.
It is more important than ever for URA members to gather at the Board of Governors on Oct. 1 at noon at Paul Robeson Campus Center in Newark, to remind them of our importance and the need for a strong contract now. For those unable to make it to Newark join watch parties on other campuses.
