Back in February, Governor Murphy unveiled his proposed budget for 2025–26, which included nearly $65 million in cuts to the Rutgers budget—$27 million in operating aid (known as Outcome Based Allocations) and $38 million in various budget line items impacting every Rutgers campus. Our unions, working together through the Coalition of Rutgers Unions (CRU), trained members to testify and lobby to restore these cuts and thus avoid a declaration of fiscal emergency by the Rutgers administration, as they did during the pandemic. Because of our collective efforts, the administration’s deadline to declare a fiscal emergency has now passed, and we expect members to see their negotiated raises on July 1.
URA-AFT members called district State Senate and Assembly Representatives and legislative leaders to advocate for the restoration of funding.
Over the last month, we had incredible teams of union members in Trenton for lobby days. Members of our unions, URA, AAUP, CWA, HPAE, and CIR-SEIU talked to nearly every member of the State Senate and General Assembly—Democrats and Republicans—and most of them expressed support for restoring the proposed cuts to Rutgers.
The CRU Legislative Committee has been working with Francine Pfeiffer, Rutgers’ Senior Vice President for Government Relations, and her team to coordinate our efforts in Trenton to lobby for the restoration of the funding. We sent a joint letter to state leaders signed by President Holloway and the presidents of the CRU locals. We described the value Rutgers brings to New Jersey and explained how harmful the proposed cuts would be to our students, patients, research, our jobs, and our communities. CRU lobby teams spent three days in Trenton—June 2, June 12, and June 19—outside of committee and caucus rooms in the statehouse, talking to legislators. Prior to that, members attended and testified at public hearings and phone banked for full funding in March, April, and May.
Thanks to the following members and staff who came to Trenton to participate in the lobbying efforts to restore the budget: URA-AFT: Christine O’Connell, Joe Ederly, Mary Ellen Maguire, Brian Everett, Kay Schechter, Lucye Millerand, Nat Bender, Greg Rusciano; AAUP-BHSNJ: Robin Stephens, Diomedes Tsitouris, Amy Hale, Rachel Sandalow-Ash; Rutgers AAUP-AFT and Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union: Heather Pierce, Becky Givan, Matt Buckley, Julie Flynn, Bryan Sacks, Annika Barber, Ira Roseman, Shelby Wardlaw, Andres Morera, Ryan Sills, Dez Clark, Patrick Nowlan; CWA Local 1031: Kathy Hernandez, Yolanda Virella, Jim McAsey; HPAE-AFT: Ryan Novosielski, Herberth Chacon, Kerry Butch, Jean Pierce.
We will continue these efforts to make our presence known to our elected officials as changes that impact all of us are made in Trenton and beyond. If you are interested in helping to make positive change in our working conditions through legislative work, please reach out to union@ura-aft.org.
