Administrative staff union members of Rutgers University voted to approve an agreement with the university Wednesday. The organization agreed to approved a 46-month deal worth an average raise of 8.25 percent, reaching financial terms comparable with a recently ratified faculty contract.
“We reached the best deal we could with the current administration and members voted overwhelmingly to accept reasonable raises with protections from those raises being withheld,” said Lucye Millerand, president of the roughly 2,400-member Union of Rutgers Administrators-American Federation of Teachers. “The contract caps increases on health insurance contribution rates, provides for increased professional development opportunities and lengthens the recall period in the event of layoffs.”
Members of the union work in academic departments, student services, dining, housing, libraries, athletics and many other capacities with titles ranging from administrative assistant to assistant dean. Millerand credited member activism and a community campaign with helping reach the agreement.
The contract will increase wages approximately 8.25 percent over 46 months through July 1, 2018.
“Members were concerned about the possibility of management freezing raises like they did in 2010, so we negotiated terms to address that,” said union Director Greg Rusciano. “In addition, we won significant improvements in the grievance process and in job security, including lengthening the recall period for any member laid off to 30 months.”
A majority of Rutgers’ other unionized staff workers — those in professional, clerical and blue-collar functions — remain in negotiations without contracts. In addition, students are concerned about a tuition increase while management maintains a billion-dollar reserve, according to a recent financial analysis of the university, said Nat T. Bender, a spokesperson for the American Federation of Teachers New Jersey (AFTNJ).
“While we are happy to settle this contract, we are continuing to press to ‘Reclaim Rutgers’ by calling for fair contracts for all workers, many of whom still lack contracts, and a more democratic university focused on students and community,” Millerand said.
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