Raritan Valley Community College Federation of Teachers | American Federation of Teachers New Jersey, AFL-CIO

Raritan Valley Community College professors concerned about possible pay freeze

December 11, 2011

By Eugene Paik/The Star-Ledger

Matt Rainey/The Star-LedgerA 2007 file photo of the West Building at Raritan Valley Community College. The College is debating a pay freeze for professors next year as part of a two-year deal.

BRANCHBURG — If Raritan Valley Community College has its way in a labor dispute with faculty, at least one professor may have trouble making ends meet.

It won’t just mean skimping on restaurant dinners or cutting back on vacations, said Mark Cozin, 63, a sociology and anthropology professor. He said he may have to pick up a second job just to pay his bills.

“I know I’m going to be worrying about things that will take away from what I can do in my discipline,” he said.

It’s a worry floating around the campus in Branchburg in the sixth month of a stalemate over a faculty contract.

At issue is a pay freeze in the first year of a proposed two-year deal, said Maria Defilippis, president of the faculty union, which represents both full-time and part-time teachers.

A 2 percent raise is reportedly included in the second year, but Defilippis said it’s not enough because teachers must contribute more toward health benefits — including 1.5 percent of their salaries next year.

That could set the salaries of young teachers lower than those given to their peers at other community colleges, Defilippis said, and possibly scare off talented educators.

“I don’t think we’re asking for the moon,” Defilippis said.

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RVCC faculty want only fair cost-of-living increase

December 09, 2011

Written by
Stephen Kaufman

Your Nov. 8 article, “RVCC professors won’t give up annual salary raises,”was misleading, unfair and uninformed in several ways. The American Federation of Teachers is not asking for a raise, but rather for a fair cost of living adjustment. The administration has budgeted zero percent for faculty salaries, which in fact translates to a salary reduction as a result of recent changes in health care and pension packages. As those changes continue, so will the reductions in our salary.

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RVCC, Watchung teachers unions struggle with contract negotiations

November 30, 2011

Contracts at RVCC, Warren remain unsettled

American Federation of Teachers Local 2375 President Maria DeFilippis speaks. / MARY IUVONE/FOR NJ PRESS MEDIA

BRANCHBURG— A labor dispute at a sleepy Central Jersey community college managed to gain the attention of some prominent Democratic politicians who attended a faculty and student rally Tuesday evening.

Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell, a Democrat from Hudson County representing the 31st District, spoke at the Raritan Valley Community College rally in solidarity with the faculty.

Also at the rally was Marie Corfield, an art teacher in the Flemington-Raritan district best known for her exchange with Gov. Chris Christie at his town halls last year in Raritan Township.

American Federation of Teachers Local 2375 President Maria DeFilippis said the rally maked the 152nd day the faculty has been working without a contract. Nearly 50 people attended the event inside the campus center.

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Life after the uprising: O’Donnell joins community college teachers’ battle for contract

November 30, 2011

By Max Pizarro

Asm. Jason O'Donnell

RARITAN – On the losing end of an intra-party leadership battle, Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell (D-31), Bayonne, proved there’s life after the rebellion tonight as he threw in with stymied community college teachers.

“If you want to pick on cops and firefighters, okay, I get it,” the career Bayonne firefighter told a basement crowd at Raritan Valley Community College where the teachers don’t have a contract.

“But you want to go after teachers? Are you kidding me?”

Stung by George Norcross-allied Democrats when he, state Assembly Majority Leader Joe Cryan (D-20), Union, and others tried to win leadership in the lower house more sympathetic to public sector unions, O’Donnell said he plans to take the megaphone of his office into the streets.

“Wherever labor needs me,” he told PolitickerNJ.com.

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RVCC fracking campaign raises awareness

November 21, 2011

Group raises awareness of dangers

$RVCC fracking$

RVCC students Lance LeBrew (left) and Shukri Sabuur hand out information on fracking in the cafeteria of the school in Branchburg. / KATHY JOHNSON/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

RVCC students Lance LeBrew (left) and Shukri Sabuur hand out information on fracking in the cafeteria of the school in Branchburg.
Written by Liza Jaipaul | For NJ Press Media

BRANCHBURG — In some communities, fracking has been a controversial subject for months. But many people don’t even know what it is or how it will impact them, said Jay Kelly, a science professor at Raritan Valley Community College.

Fracking is drilling for natural gas by hydraulic fracturing. “It involves the injection of toxic solvents and other chemicals into the ground under high pressure to release methane for use as natural gas,” Kelly said.

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A misleading headline

November 12, 2011

by Domenick Stampone

Full disclosure I’m a proud member of AFT Local #2375

This past week the Courier News posted a story about our ongoing contract negotiations at Raritan Valley Community College titled RVCC professors won’t give up annual salary raise. The article goes on at length to highlight the salaries of our more tenured professors – people who help make RVCC a top community college institution in New Jersey – but fails to mention the spike in administrative salaries over the past ten years. Moreover, there is no mention of our more junior members making significantly less than their counterparts across New Jersey.

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RVCC professors won’t give up annual salary raise

November 10, 2011

[...]

American Federation of Teachers Local 2375 president Maria DeFilippis, said that not receiving a raise this year would amount to a taking a “true zero” because the RVCC faculty does not have automatic annual salary steps, as most public school teachers do.

And by contributing more of their salaries toward their pension and cost of health benefits, the faculty would end up with less take-home pay, she said.

“We understand the economic situation and we read the newspapers. We know what’s happening and we are not looking for the world. But we are looking for something reasonable,” DeFilippis said.

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Video: Raritan Valley CC contract rally

October 31, 2011

Union president: On contract dispute, ‘we’re not far apart’ from Raritan Valley college

October 26, 2011

By Melinda Caliendo
The union representing faculty and adjunct staff at Raritan Valley Community College held a rally and spoke at the board of trustees meeting Tuesday night in hopes of demonstrating the need to complete the contract negotiations that started this spring.

The American Federation of Teachers Local 2375, which represents more than 400 educators at the school, also issued a press release asking the college’s administration to sit down for “good faith” bargaining.

“The difficulty is economics,” said Local 2375 President Maria DeFillipis. “There seemed to be a line drawn in the sand.”

“In the past, I think there’s always been collegiality, cooperation, compromise — we don’t get that sense this time around,” DeFillipis said. “The members of my negotiating team are a group of people who believe there is real power in cooperation, and the only progress you can ever make, especially in a democracy, is through compromise.”

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Shared sacrifice: A call for fairness at Raritan Valley CC

October 25, 2011

By Maria DeFilippis – AFT Local 2375

Hello Blue Jersey community. My name is Maria DeFilippis, President of AFT Local #2375 representing the full and part time faculty at Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC). As we currently work through contract negotiations, I wanted to introduce you to our situation and hopefully enlist your support and guidance as we move forward in bargaining for a fair contract for our members.

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