AFTNJ News

Council Voice: More than 1,000 Protest for Higher Education

May 17, 2012

May 2012 Voice

Despite the fact that CWA recently settled their contract (subject to member ratification), we are not optimistic that the State and the presidents are willing to start to move to contract settlement and give us important contract language contained in the new CWA agreement. This is even more apparent because of the Rutgers settlement several months ago that contained salary language that the State and presidents proposed to us that we cannot agree to. However, negotiations are continuing and may drag on into the summer months or beyond. Please continue to spread the bitter truth to your colleagues, especially those who think their administration is their friend. Talk to your local President. They are the ones who are behind most of these demands, and if they claim they are not, then they can urge the State to drop them. Continue pushing them to do what it will take to get a fair and decent contract for everyone.

Also in this issue:

Communicating and Mobilizing for our Contract and for the Future
Montclair Adjunct Faculty Local 6025 Celebrates Union Solidarity

Full issue>>

Kean U. Faculty Votes No Confidence in Board

May 16, 2012

Faculty members and librarians at Kean University voted no confidence in the university’s Board of Trustees this week, with 94 percent of responding faculty members saying they had lost faith in the board. Professors have clashed with the university’s president, Dawood Farahi, for several years. Tensions came to a head early this year when the faculty accused Farahi of including false information on his résumé. After an investigation in which lawyers hired by the board found that Farahi had falsified some of the statements on earlier résumés, the board voted seven to four to keep Farahi in place, a decision that further angered faculty members. Professors voted no confidence in Farahi in 2010.

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Outraged Kean faculty and librarians vote ‘No Confidence’ in Trustees

May 15, 2012

Overwhelming 94% agree that guardians of university refuse to check failed leadership

UNION, NJ…University faculty and librarians have overwhelmingly voted no confidence in the Kean University Board of Trustees for their inaction despite multiple ongoing crises that threaten the schools’ academic and athletic programs and financial stability. “We need Trustees who have the independence and integrity to make decisions in the best interests of Kean’s current and future students regardless of political influence,” said Kean Federation of Teachers (KFT) President James Castiglione. “The Trustees are charged to represent the public trust—an important commitment. This vote shows that our faculty and librarians have lost faith in the Trustees’ willingness or ability to perform their basic oversight duties as they have allowed university management to exercise unchecked power and to evade any accountability.”

Outraged Kean faculty and librarians vote ‘No Confidence’ in Trustees

RVCC adjuncts eye raises, too

May 14, 2012

Written by Sergio Bichao

BRANCHBURG — They teach the most classes and are probably seen by the most students, but unlike their full-time counterparts, the adjunct professors at Raritan Valley Community College are afraid they won’t get a raise.

The college of Somerset and Hunterdon counties recently settled contracts with its full-time professors, administrators and staff, awarding them a 3 percent raise next year and no raise this year.

The negotiations come as students face a $450 tuition hike next year.

The counties slashed their tax-funded support of the school by 5 percent this year, contributing to a $3 million budget shortfall for the school.

RVCC’s $49 million budget calls for the elimination of 12 full-time administrative and staff positions, which have not been identified, spokeswoman Donna Stolzer said Friday.

School officials declined to comment on ongoing negotiations, but union officials this week said the administration was pushing for new raises for the adjunct faculty, which teach nearly 55 percent of the classes at RVCC and who outnumber the full-time professors 441 to 122, according to the school.

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N.J.’s paid family leave program strengthens families, businesses

May 11, 2012

By Karen S. White and Phyllis Salowe-Kaye
What to get Mom for Mother’s Day?

WALTRAUD GRUBITZSCH/AFP/Getty Images Babies are pictured in this file photo. The authors say paid family leave for new mothers in New Jersey strengthens families and businesses.

How about more time with her family? Isn’t that was she really wants? And how about family time without the demands and pressures of a job to interfere? Wouldn’t it be great if Mom could, say, spend six weeks of paid time off bonding with a new baby?
Here, in New Jersey, she already can.
The state, over the past four years, has created a tremendously successful family leave insurance program that provides paid time off for workers who are dealing with the most major of life’s events — the birth of a child, a sick relative, adoption.
New Jersey is only the second state to provide paid family leave, after California.
The program has been nothing short of a smashing success, providing more than 80,000 workers — four out of five of them women — with partial wage replacement for family leaves that average 5.2 weeks, according to Department of Labor and Workforce development statistics.
The act was the product of years of effort by advocates such as the New Jersey Time to Care coalition, which worked with lawmakers, national partners and union leaders to come up with a family leave insurance program that doesn’t cost employers a dime.

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Higher ed protest deserved balanced coverage

May 11, 2012

On April 25 my colleagues and I participated in a statewide coordinated “Day of Action” to protest draconian proposals from the Governor’s Office of Employment Relations, which would significantly weaken teaching and learning conditions in New Jersey’s institutions of higher education. The governor’s office has taken the unprecedented action of withholding cost of living increases and suspending traditional academic programs such as sabbatical leave and career development undermining the research missions at the nine state colleges and universities and further challenging a system of higher education already seriously impacted by years of underfunding and neglect from the state.

Much to my dismay the NJTV coverage of that event in a segment titled, “Professors protest at New Jersey’s universities” the next day offered no voices from the thousands of, faculty, professional staff, librarians and students who participated in the demonstrations across the state. It should be noted here that it was not simply a faculty protest as presented, but one where faculty, professional staff and librarians who have been working without a contract since July 1 stood side by side with students and spoke with one voice standing up for higher education funding and against the rising tuition and mounting student debt. However, instead of a balanced and factual report on NJTV, there was a five-minute interview with the President of William Paterson University who briefly presented only one side of the issue.

I urge your readers to instead listen to the voices of labor on our web site at http://www.aftlocal1904.org and at the Council of New Jersey State College Local’s website http://www.cnjscl.org and see that the students, faculty, librarians, and professional staff at the nine state colleges and universities have legitimate concerns about how the state is treating our latest round of contract negotiations. The future quality of higher education in New Jersey rests in the balance.

NJTV replaced the public NJN news last year, profiting from taxpayer Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding in a deal that was fraught with political overtones. The parent company, WNET, leases space at Montclair State University for their broadcasts. Even though it may be beholden to the Office of the Governor for the sweetheart deal that created it, NJTV has an obligation to cover New Jersey fairly and should tell both sides of the story.

Richard Wolfson
President
AFT Local 1904

from http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012305100007&nclick_check=1

Perth Amboy superintendent battle might head to court

May 10, 2012

Written by Suzanne Russell

[...]

Meanwhile, the union representing teachers and other staff members considered taking a no-confidence vote regarding the superintendent, who was brought into the district before the start of the school year to lead reform in the special-needs district of about 10,000 students. But she has met opposition from some board members and staff.

An emergency meeting of the union leadership was called on Wednesday to consider all options after Caffrey was reinstated as superintendent, said Donna Chiera, president of Perth Amboy Federation/AFT.

Chiera said the first question that was asked was whether the leadership had confidence in the superintendent.

“The majority said they did not have confidence in the superintendent,” Chiera said, adding that although some advocated for a no-confidence vote, the leadership instead decided to develop a statement of what they stand for and what the district’s leader needs to do, and if they can’t do what’s needed, the leader should step aside. The statement is expected to be completed by early next week. Chiera said it was after the leadership had completed its business that Board of Education President Samuel Lebreault and Vice President Kenneth Puccio met with leaders to answer questions. She said attorneys for the board and union authorized Lebreault and Puccio’s 25-minute visit.

Although Caffrey had heard there were discussions on new tactics to get rid of her, Chiera disputes that.

“At no point did anyone from the board approach the union to ask for a no-confidence vote,” Chiera said. “I don’t think we’re looking to hang her in effigy.”

Nonetheless, Chiera questions whether Caffrey should continue as superintendent. She said she might need to step aside so the district can move forward.

“I don’t know if she can lead us. If she can’t lead us and we look at what is best for the district, I don’t know if she should be there. I don’t believe the staff has the faith and confidence to follow her to make the changes in the district that need to be made,” Chiera said. “I think the marriage is over.”

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Ousted Perth Amboy school superintendent Caffrey returns, but battle brews

May 10, 2012

Written by Suzanne Russell

Perth Amboy Superintendent of Schools Janine Walker Caffrey on Wednesday, her first day back to work following nine school days on paid administrative leave. / SUZANNE RUSSELL/STAFF PHOTO

[...]
Following Caffrey’s return, building administrators have told security personnel that board members are not permitted to enter school buildings without the superintendent’s written consent, according to Donna Chiera, president of Perth Amboy Federation/AFT, which represents teachers and other district employees.

District teachers also have opposed some of Caffrey’s reform methods, and some applauded when the board placed Caffrey on leave.

Chiera said the principal, vice principal and three staff members placed on leave last week in connection with an alleged incident at the Dr. Herbert N. Richardson 21st Century Elementary School remain on leave with charges pending and a board investigation into the matter yet to begin.

Chiera said it is a “double standard” that Caffrey is able to return to work while she is facing an investigation into the board’s charges, but the other district personnel are barred from returning.

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Problems at Kean Continue, Accreditation at Risk

May 04, 2012

By Michael J. Pollack, The Westfield Leader.
UNION – Myriad issues have ensnared Kean University, and many on campus believe embattled University President Dawood Farahi is at the epicenter.
In addition to the controversial retaining of Mr. Farahi, after he admitted to “careless errors” in his résumé, the school is dealing with the potential loss of its accreditation, NCAA athletic probation and an entire faculty operating without a new contract.
In February, Kean’s Board of Trustees voted, 7-4, to keep Mr. Farahi on board despite the accusations that he falsified his credentials. In response, one trustee, Lester Aron, resigned, and many faculty members are frustrated about the decision.
Kathleen Henderson, president of the Kean University Adjunct Faculty Federation wrote to The Westfield Leader and The Times in an e-mail, asking, “If a most-dedicated and ethical Board of Trustee member had to resign on personal grounds of conscience because of what he was privy to in Kean’s continual image and creative cover-ups by the board and senior administrators, what chance do we adjunct faculty have for our voices to be heard?”
James Castiglione, president of the Kean Federation of Teachers, confirmed that “morale is extremely low” on the campus.
Meghan Gill, an adjunct communications and public-speaking teacher, told The Leader and Times that when she got wind of the decision to retain the president, she was “disgusted.”
“[Hearing that] was the lowest point of my teaching career,” she said.