Oren Rabinovitch, Manager, Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Camden Campus
Our crack team of member advocates, negotiators, and leaders met to continue the fight for fair work for fair pay and reasonable working conditions at Rutgers. Management and our team traded responses to these articles:
Article 6 – Bereavement Leave
Management still does not want you to be able to mourn your uncle or aunt, brother or sister-in-law, and niece or nephew. Management argues the current definition of family is already generous enough. We have learned that University Ethics and Compliance has a more generous definition of family so members could be charged with ethics violations but cannot attend their funerals. We will continue to fight management’s callous treatment.
Article 33 – Probationary Employees
We asked to put responsibility on the supervisor to actually supervise. We are fighting against flagrant misuse of the probation extension because supervisors did not fulfill their responsibility to meet with their probationary employees. Management’s position is that if supervisors cannot extend probation, they will just terminate the employee. This is unacceptable and we will continue to push back on management to hold supervisors accountable for doing their jobs.
Article 49 – Union Representatives
We are pushing for expanded swipe access to university facilities to meet with our members in parity with sibling union contracts and additional paid union leave for members to attend conferences, educational classes, and conventions.
Article 50 – Union Security
Discussions are continuing regarding administrative changes to the collection of dues.
Article 53 – Use of University Facilities, Campus Mail & Equipment
We proposed making it easier for union representatives to meet with members on every campus by requesting dedicated union office spaces and parking passes.
Article 57 – Federal Family & Medical Leave, New Jersey Family Leave, New Jersey SAFE Act Leave
Leave is complicated and OneSource and UHR have made mistakes that harm our members. To demystify, ensure accurate information, and memorialize settlement agreements we proposed an overhaul of this article. Changes include asking for paid recuperative maternity and parental leaves like our faculty, clarification of statutory leave use, and improved access to lactation spaces.
Article 58 – Accessible Parking and Other Accommodations
We proposed expanding this article to include accessibility concerns beyond parking. Our proposal addresses ongoing issues our members have faced when requesting accommodations and seeks to protect members with chronic medical conditions.
Our current contract expires June 30, 2026, but most provisions stay in place until we approve a new agreement. Now is the time to get involved for a strong contract by taking action on the URA Contract Action Page.
