This week's agenda was planned to focus on Article 10 and Article 11 release language (for settlement of grievances), an Article 22 counter (regarding earned-vacation accrual carryover), and a union response to management’s proposed Appendix H (pertaining to faculty and grad worker suspensions). However, this agenda was disrupted by management’s long-belated delivery of a response to our Article 8 proposal, focusing on salary and compensation. Their response was an insultingly low-ball offer after powerful and well-attended rallies in Camden, New Brunswick, and Newark, earlier in the day.

To read more from our member Whitney Straub, head to our website: https://rutgersaaup.org/bargaining-update-18-december-6-2022/ 

On 11/8/2022 we presented Article 12 of our demands regarding the graduate worker contract, including 1) Increasing graduate worker PhD funded appointment minimums to 5 years; 2) Including graduate fellows in the contract, with equal pay protections and benefits; and 3) COVID extensions for workers whose completion timelines were affected by the pandemic. COVID extensions were broken out into a side letter that was presented. Several speakers worked with our bargaining committee to present personal statements regarding the importance and urgency of our demands. Some of them joined us here.

For more information and to read the Article and Side Letter: https://rutgersaaup.org/bargaining-update-15-november-8-2022/

We are back at the table! This session was a small-group session, with our core bargaining team and some member observers attending. In this episode, we check in with some of them on Articles 4 and 9 and the experiences of being back in bargaining.   For Paul O'Keefe's great written update and links to the articles in full, visit our website:

This is the RU Listening Podcast series on bargaining updates, From the Table. This week we talk to Jim Brown and Paul O'Keefe and Andrés Morera about Article 8, the proposal for Bridge Funds, and check in on the Grad funding extensions. To learn more and get involved visit the website Rutgers AAUP-AFT website at  https://rutgersaaup.org/

In this episode we learn about Article 4 demands for fractional appointment status for PTLS  with PTLS Howie Swerdloff and Dan Sidorick and then follow up with Karen Thompson, Heather Pierce, and Austin Rooney as well as undergrads Alex Ascencio, Izzy Nuñez, and Edan Blank after bargaining on management's response.  

 To get involved with the next PTLFC bargaining session - sign up here:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe__T8yabH49i4WkyIcUfhQbh2vYZwJLS9EMhTKDnRHTtCp3g/viewform

Are you a Covid impacted-grad running out of funding?  

Share your experience with management!   Email us at [email protected] to join today's bargaining session or call and leave a message at our call-in line at (862) 227-4644‬. Let us know if you are willing to be included on the podcast.  

If you think you may have been left off the list of grads in need email the union at [email protected] 

Our contracts with the university administration expired June 30, 2022. In anticipation of this, we have been at the bargaining table since May, working to secure a new, more equitable contract based on the demands of our members. While we've been posting regular bargaining updates to our website, this is the first of a new series of regular audio/video updates.  

From the Table is RU-Listening’s dispatch from the bargaining table. In each episode, members will introduce an issue or article we are bringing to the administration in contract negotiations with an update on how the session went.

Our contracts with the university administration expired on June 30, 2022. In anticipation of this, we have been at the bargaining table since May, working to secure a new, more equitable contract based on the demands of our members. While we've been posting regular bargaining updates to our website, this is the first of a new series of regular audio/video updates.

From the Table is RU-Listening’s dispatch from the bargaining table. Each episode members will introduce an issue or article we are bringing to the administration in contract negotiations with an update on how the session went.

For this special episode, we talk to three grads from the Graduate School of Education. Our guests are facing a situation shared by many around the country: after COVID delayed or derailed their research, the clock is running out on their funding.

In this episode, hosts Ihsan Al-Zouabi and Michelle Ling reach out to senior organizer Sherry Wolf and staff organizer Jacob Chaffin to talk about the recent history of the Union, and where we go from here. They also discuss the Coalition of Rutgers Unions and its greater mission beyond the University. 

This episode was produced by Danyel Ferrari and Jade Stepeny, with funding from the Rutgers AAUP-AFT faculty union. The cover art for this episode was created by Heather Pierce. For more about this episode, including show notes and transcript visit the episode page on our website. 

Published: Wednesday, November 24, 2021 at 10:30AM EST