Where's the Money?
The $1,000 bonus negotiated in our MOA is scheduled to appear in the February 17 paycheck. We have requested a meeting with management on the dates of the 2.25% retro from April 1, 2011 and the Feb. 1 2.25% increases due from our Settlement Agreement. As soon as we clarify those payment dates we will get word out to the membership.
Go WILD!
Sign up now for the Women in Leadership Development (WILD) conference. Full-dues members can download and complete the brochure and fax it to the URA office at 732-745-0400 or drop it off to get registered. This is a great opportunity to interact with other union leaders and address issues faced by women in the labor movement. Since the conference begins in the late afternoon only half-day release time will be offered to participants.
More information has been provided below by the NJ State AFL-CIO...
Register Today: WILD Conference March 30-31, 2012
Building Unity, Fighting Back, Moving Forward!
March 30-31, 2012
East Brunswick Hilton
3 Tower Center Boulevard
At the 9th Annual Women in Leadership Development (WILD) Conference, participants will engage in a highly interactive program which allows them to develop strategies to “build unity” among union and community members and “fight back” against the attacks to our union values. By tying together the themes of “building unity and fighting back,” we will take the essential first steps towards moving forward as a labor movement.
CLICK HERE to register.
Nominations Now Open: You Can Run the Union!
Under our union’s Constitution, URA participates in several different umbrella organizations. URA's full-dues members are able to take part in the democratic process at every level of the labor movement by running for office as delegates to each of these organizations:
- AFT-New Jersey State Federation — unites all AFT education members in Pre-K-12 and Higher Education. Convention will be held April 20-21 at the Seaview hotel in Galloway, Atlantic County. Up to 10 delegates may be elected, in addition to the existing Delegate Assembly members, who were elected in September. Union release time will be provided for Friday, April 20.
- New Jersey AFL-CIO — the core of the labor movement in New Jersey, the AFL-CIO brings together both public and private sector unions. Up to 11 delegates may be elected to attend the Constitutional Convention, June 12-13 in Atlantic City. Union release time will be provided for travel on June 12 and for June 13.
- AFT National – Our national union is one of the biggest unions in the USA, with over 1.4 million members. The biennial national convention takes place this year from July 24-28 in Detroit, Michigan. URA is entitled to elect 20 delegates. The February membership meeting will vote on how many delegates our local can finance for travel, and expenses. Partial union release time will be provided .
Voting for all delegations will take place at the March General membership meeting. All members in good standing are eligible to be nominated, or to nominate themselves. All URA delegates are expected to attend all business sessions of the respective Convention, and appropriate educational workshops held in conjunction with these events. Travel, accommodations (dual occupancy), and IRS per diem expenses are provided from the URA budget.
The nomination form can be found at https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4013/c/818/images/delegatenomination2012.pdf.
In Memoriam of URA steward and Rutgers Newark employee Ines Agina
Ines Agina served as a Union of Rutgers Administrator – AFT Steward, an Administrative Assistant for the Executive MBA program at the Rutgers Business School for 22 years and a graduate of the Rutgers University School of Social Work. At the young age of 53, Ines succumbed to cancer on January 11, 2012. She leaves behind two adult children, Eric Cartegena and Lillian Riley, a sister and two brothers. This caring, reliable, and hard working person was a great friend. Her devotion to helping others was so strong that even while fighting her own battles she was still willing to fight for others. A page in tribute to her is available at http://www.ura-aft.org/node/718.
Rutgers Center for Woman and Work (CWW) report on the benefits of Paid Family Leave
Pay Matters: The Positive Economic Impacts of Paid Family Leave for Families, Businesses, and the Public" analyzes data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 to 2009 and finds that women who take paid leave after a child's birth report stronger labor force attachment and positive changes in wages in the year following a child's birth, when compared to those who do not take any leave. The study also finds that women who take paid leave are less likely to receive public assistance and food stamps than those who do not take any leave. Click here to get a copy of the report.
The study was commissioned by the National Partnership for Women & Families, with support from the Rockefeller Foundation. Karen White, director of CWW’s Working Families program and URA Executive Board member, directed the research.
We Have An Agreement
After a voting session across the three campuses yesterday the URA-AFT reports that there was a convincing majority of votes cast to approve the Salary Freeze Settlement and the Memorandum of Agreement ("MOA") as presented. We could not have done this without our member's support and thank you for your efforts. We will keep you apprised of the dates of payments shortly. Again, thank you for your participation in this ratification process.
Voting Information for Salary Freeze Tentative Agreement
Members to Vote on Tentative Agreement
Vote* - Monday, Jan. 23 (full-dues members only; membership applications will be available)
There will be three opportunities to vote on the agreement on Monday, Jan. 23 on all three campuses, as indicated below:
Newark, 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m., Center for Law and Justice, Second Floor Lobby.
Camden, 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m., {new location} Camden College Center, 326 Penn St., Executive Meeting Room
New Brunswick, 4:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Labor Education Center, Room 102 (behind auditorium, use Ryders Lane side entrance).
*Members who qualify for absentee ballots must contact the URA office at (732) 745-0300 or by email at union@ura-aft.org to have a ballot sent to their home address. This must be done so that the office receives the ballot within 24 hours of the close of elections. Please refer to Article XI, Sec. XV, of the URA Constitution.
How did we get to this agreement? Three years of struggle
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We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our members who worked so hard to achieve the settlement agreement. You came to rallies at the Board of Governor's meetings. You came to speak out at the President's annual address. You came to the open forum about the next president. You came to campus meetings and stayed informed. You came to legislative forums and called your state legislators. You stood at bus stops to talk to students, faculty and other staff. You wrote letters to the editor of your local paper. You did everything in your power to put pressure on management and it worked.
The links and videos to the right show a timeline of the past three years and some highlights of our struggle. For all our members who got involved and worked to end this salary freeze, please accept our sincere gratitude for everything you did. You made this happen. And you improved the quality of life for people not only in our unit, but really for all university employees. We doubt that any raises would have been given at all if were not for our members' activism. We sincerely thank you for all of your efforts. Congratulations— this is your victory! |
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We Have Reached a Tentative Agreement
The URA-AFT and Rutgers management have now reached a tentative settlement agreement on both the settlement of the salary freeze and memorandum of agreement (“MOA”) of our collective bargaining agreement (“contract”).
In solidarity,
The URA-AFT Executive Board and Bargaining Team
Here's What's New with the Salary Freeze Settlement Talks
- The AAUP-AFT has reached a tentative agreement [pending ratification from their membership] with Rutgers management to end the salary freeze and renew the collective bargaining agreement for their Faculty and EOF units.
- The URA-AFT is going back to the table beginning tomorrow, January 10, with the intention to reach a similar agreement.
- The quality of the settlement we will get depends on the SOLIDARITY of our membership. If management thinks we are ready to settle for less than the faculty -- they will give us less than faculty.
- Members who are angry or frustrated have two options: pressure management to give us MORE or pressure the Union negotiating team to settle for LESS. Your phone calls and emails to VP Fernandez and Edwards will help to settle the salary freeze and get us a fair and swift settlement.
Comparison Chart:
See for yourselves what the difference is between the two proposals and how you will be affected. This chart is based on data from the December 2011 proposal. Remember, in the final year (2014) we will be paying significantly more for health insurance, due to the changes in the State Health Benefits Program.
RUSA/GSA Resolutions Support the Staff and Faculty
The Rutgers University Student Assembly (RUSA) and the Graduate Student Association (GSA) support the staff and faculty unions’ fight to end the salary freeze.
See their resolutions here:
The Rutgers One coalition has shown that staff, faculty and students can work together, especially when the goal is to promote fairness and solidarity amongst the stake-holders of the university.
Elections Matter...2012
(from the American Federation of Teachers)
With the Iowa caucus behind us and the Republican presidential field narrowing, our focus now shifts to New Hampshire, which will hold its primary tomorrow.
In the weeks to come, candidates will be vying for enough votes to win the Republican nomination and challenge President Obama in November. The AFT wants to make sure you have the information you need to cast an informed vote.
The candidates have made statements on issues that are important to our members. See where the candidates stand on our issues.
Rutgers president list down to several dozen candidates
from The Star-Ledger, December 31, 2011 by Nic Corbett
The search for the next president of Rutgers University is expected to heat up significantly in the next two to three months.
The 24-member search committee has collected more than 250 nominations for the next president of the 58,000-student university and narrowed down the list to several dozen interested candidates, said chairman Greg Brown, chief executive officer of Motorola Solutions.
He characterized the search as "vibrant and robust.
Union Members In The News: Addressing the BOG on the Salary Freeze
"Protestors advocate for faculty, staff raises at BOG meeting", The Daily Targum, December 15, 2011 by Lisa Berkman and Anastasia Millicker/Staff Writers
"Rutgers thaws pay freeze for selected non-union employees", The Star-Ledger, December 16, 2011 by Nic Corbett
2012 Union Plus Scholarship – Deadline Approaching
Visit UnionPlus.org/Scholarships today....the Union Plus Scholarship deadline is coming up:
The deadline to apply for the 2012 Union Plus Scholarship is January 31, 2012.
Since 1992, the Union Plus Scholarship Program has awarded more than $3.2 million to students of union families, with over 2,100 union families benefiting from Union Plus’ commitment to higher education.
