Staff Union to Boycott Rutgers President's Address Friday

Over the past month, Rutgers university management has failed to talk and failed to deliver promised proposals while continuing to withhold contracted raises and lay off workers. The Union of Rutgers Administrators—American Federation of Teachers' (URA-AFT) petitioned management, took out ads in newspapers and distributed a public letter at the opening day football game denouncing the university’s callous disregard for workers. With no response from management, the union is calling for members to boycott president Richard McCormick's annual address to the university community Friday.

URA-AFT president Lucye Millerand charged that the annual event lacks substance and fails to address real issues. “University management has shown continual disregard for workers' rights, breaking contracts by unilaterally withholding raises while continuing with layoffs,” she said. “Since President McCormick has taken no action to establish a real dialogue, I see no value in listening to his prepared address.”
While the university reached a settlement with Rutgers faculty union last month, management is asking for comparatively more in deferrals from staff, according to URA-AFT executive director Bob Cousins. “URA-AFT filed for arbitration to hold the university to its negotiated contract,” he said. “It has been more than a month since university management promised to get back to us with a reasonable offer to defer some contracted raises in exchange for real layoff protection. We have received nothing, but our members continue to be laid off for ‘financial reasons’ that lack merit.”
In addition to URA-AFT, as of this writing (Sept. 22), the university has failed to reach any agreement with more than 2,500 AFSCME workers and a small group of Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) counselors represented by the faculty union AAUP-AFT.