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United Kingdom Rutgers University Faculty Members Strike, Halting Classes and ...
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The walkout is the first in the public university’s 257-year history and follows nearly a year of bargaining.
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Three unions representing an estimated 9,000 full- and part-time faculty members at Rutgers University went on strike on Monday for the first time in the school’s 257-year history, bringing classes and research at New Jersey’s flagship public university to a halt.
The strike, which will affect roughly 67,000 students across the state, comes after nearly a year of unsuccessful bargaining between union representatives and university officials. The unions said on Sunday that the two sides remained far apart on several issues, including a pay increase and the rights of untenured adjunct faculty members and graduate workers.
“We intend for this new contract to be transformative, especially for our lowest-paid and most vulnerable members,” Rebecca Givan, the president of one of the unions, Rutgers A.A.U.P.-A.F.T., which represents full-time faculty members, graduate workers, postdoctoral associates and counselors, said in a statement.
Ms. Givan said union proposals that included a significant raise and the promise of job security for adjunct professors were “exactly the ones that the administration has resisted most.”
As workers formed picket lines at Rutgers’s three main campuses in New Brunswick, Newark and Camden, representatives from the university and the unions prepared to meet in Trenton, the state capital, where Gov. Phil Murphy had invited them to negotiate.
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“We feel hopeful about bargaining productively, and we appreciate the governor’s support,” Ms. Givan said in an interview on Monday. “It could be a long day or a few days, but we are committed to getting it done and if necessary we are definitely prepared to stay here until we get it done.”
Dory Devlin, a spokeswoman for the university, expressed similar optimism.
“The governor has called all parties to the State House today,” she said. “We are encouraged and welcome his leadership and are hopeful that we can quickly come to a resolution of the remaining outstanding issues.”
The university said on Sunday that it did not expect the strike to interfere with academics. The spring semester ends early next month.
“Notwithstanding the action by the union leadership, the university is committed to ensuring that our more than 67,000 students are unaffected by the strike and may continue their academic progress,” the school said in a statement.
“Our students’ ability to complete their coursework and earn their degrees is the university’s highest priority,” it added. “Every effort will be made to ensure that the strike does not affect our students’ progress toward graduation.”
The strike was called after 94 percent of union members voted in favor of it earlier this year, union officials said. But the university has said that it expects all union members to continue working despite the decision to strike and that it believes a strike by public sector workers is illegal in New Jersey.
“The university may go to court to maintain university operations and protect our students, patients and staff from disruptions to their education, clinical care and workplace,” the school said in a statement. “The university may seek an injunction in court to compel a return to normal activities.”
The unions argue that there is no law barring their strike. On Monday, Rutgers A.A.U.P.-A.F.T. called the university’s position “delusional or mendacious” in a post on Twitter.
The strike quickly gained national attention on Monday, with state and federal lawmakers expressing their support for the union action. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont said on Twitter: “These workers deserve a good contract with fair pay and benefits NOW.”
Ethan Block, a junior at Rutgers who is majoring in political science, said he did not go to class on Monday as an act of solidarity with striking faculty members. (His course is taught by a guest lecturer who is not in the union.)
“I feel like the faculty unions have been treated unfairly, frankly, by the administration,” said Mr. Block. He said he did not plan to attend tomorrow either.
“We as the student body have a sort of duty to support the faculty members that are going on strike,” he said. “If they get what they want, then my education will be better, and the educations of every student at Rutgers will be better.”
Lola Fadulu contributed reporting.
