(left to right): URA-AFT president Lucye Millerand, David Michaels, PhD, MPH, and URA-AFT health and safety chair Joyce S. Sagi

By Bob Braun/Star-Ledger Columnist
May 06, 2010, 5:00AM

TRENTON -- Unions, even public employee unions, are not the devil’s spawn. Like corporations, they serve the interests of a community. Corporations want to maximize money invested by shareholders and protect their interests. Unions exist to maximize the income and protect the interests of represented employees.

In fact, the law requires both to act that way. Be selfish for those who rely on them.

So how did public unions become targets of so much venom? Come to be seen as the primary, if not sole, cause of New Jersey’s fiscal crisis? Even compared to "drug dealers" who use children like "drug mules"?

A small group of URA-AFT members joined AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka on Thursday, April 29 to demand that Wall Street be accountable for the economic collapse and contribute to creating good jobs now. An estimated 15,000 participated in the rally. See the URA-AFT photos here.

Millerand Elected to Secretary Position

(from left to right)
Lucye Millerand (Secretary), Donna Chiera (Executive VP Pre K-12), Joe Amabile (Treasurer), Bill Lipkin (President), Dierdre Paul (Executive VP Higher Ed)

AFT New Jersey State Federation consists of a higher education division including full-time and part-time faculty and staff at state ten state colleges and universities and six community colleges and a prekindergarten through 12 division representing teachers and support personnel in schools throughout the state.

[...]
Nat Bender, Union of Rutgers Administrators–American Federation Teachers vice president, said the increase in salaries among senior administration in recent years is often attributed to “corporatization” in higher education.

Bender said the belief is high-powered business donors are more likely to take senior administrators seriously if they have comparable salaries.

When McCormick arrived at the University, he was one of the highest paid presidents in the country, Bender said.

International Workers' Day (a name used interchangeably with May Day) is a celebration of the social and economic achievements of the international labor movement. May Day commonly sees organized street demonstrations and street marches by millions of working people and their labour unions throughout most of the countries of the world.
-From Wikipedia

There are several events going on in New Jersey:

Raises
What raise is scheduled to come July 1, 2010?
As a result of December’s deferral agreement, the raise scheduled for July 1, 2010 is the raise based on last year’s SCP (i.e., the appraisal from Spring 2009). See UHR memo for more information.

How much is the raise?
The raise is awarded in two parts.
1. Across-the-board (2.5%): Eligible administrative employees will receive an across-the-board salary increase of 2.5 percent, effective July 1, 2010. In addition, salary scales for our unit will be increased by 2.5 percent.
2. Merit (1 to 7%): In addition to the across-the board increase, a salary pool of 2.5 percent of the salary base of eligible employees will be awarded for merit-based increases. Employees who are rated as “meet standards” shall receive a merit increase to their base salary ranging from 1 to 7 percent. See chart on URA contract page.

Updated 5/25/10

All of the URA-AFT members running for University Senate (Crystal Grant, Barbara Loftus, Heather McKay, Helen Pirrello, Dan Schantz) have been informed that they are winners, joining an expanded group of 14 staff University Senators. Under the expanded staff senate seats there is another vacant seat in Newark.

Barbara Loftus	Heather McKay	Helen Pirrello	Dan Schantz

Sign Up Online To Attend
Signup Sheet	Workplace Poster
1. Sign Up Online 2. Print .pdf signup form 3. Sign up for Other bus locations at http://may22rally.eventbrite.com. 4. Traffic will be busy so driving is not advised, but if you have to here are the parking lots.

---

Thousands of public employee union members and their families will join tens of thousands of other union members, students, veterans, civil rights advocates, retirees, concerned taxpayers and community activists for an enormous rally in Trenton on May 22, as concerned residents from all corners of New Jersey descend on the State House to oppose Chris Christie’s disastrous budget priorities.

A new University Human Resources policy for non-unionized workers (60.4.11), is raising questions among URA members. Is the policy beneficial or dangerous? Would we want to work under this policy? URA negotiators who have reviewed the policy give it the thumbs down.

The URA proposed a telecommuting provision for our first contract in Fall 2007 and management flatly rejected it.

Telecommuting can be mutually beneficial to workers and employers. Conversely, abuses of telecommuting by management have already been noted by URA members. Members have been pressured to work remotely on sick days, holidays, vacation, and weather emergency days.

The new policy is flawed in several ways. It begins:
Telecommuting is a privilege that may be granted under appropriate circumstances to individuals who are deemed suited. How can a policy be based on “privilege”? If employees take work home, is that a “privilege”?

In New Jersey, a typical woman working full time is paid $44,343 per year; a similar man is paid $55,980 per year. This creates a wage gap between full-time working men and women of $11,637. Women suffer and families suffer when women are underpaid. That’s why we need the Senate to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. The House of Representatives has already passed the Paycheck Fairness Act, S.182, and it has 36 cosponsors in the Senate (including both NJ Senators Lautenberg and Menendez). The Act:

Prohibits employers from retaliating against workers who discuss their salaries with colleagues;

Requires that employers defend any gender pay disparities by showing that the pay differences exist for legitimate, job-related reasons;

Creates a negotiation skills training program for women and girls;

Recognizes employers for excellence in their pay practices;

Provides assistance to all businesses, with a special focus on small businesses, to help them with their equal pay practices; and

Enhances the Department of Labor’s and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s abilities to investigate and enforce pay discrimination laws. Call (202) 224-3121 to let your Senators know you support the Paycheck Fairness Act.

By The Associated Press
April 20, 2010, 5:49PM
PISCATAWAY — A central New Jersey company must pay nearly $4 million in unpaid overtime wages to employees at its gas stations.

The judgment announced today followed a three-week federal trial in which current and former employees of Raceway Petroleum described working as many as 100 hours per week.

A lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor claimed the employees weren't paid time and a half for the extra hours. Employees also testified Raceway gave them less than 30 minutes for breaks but deducted up to two hours for the breaks.

Tula Connell, Apr 20, 2010

Today’s the day when women workers finally catch up with the pay men received last year—the day we mark as Equal Pay Day. Being three months and 20 days behind men’s wages means women who work full-time still are paid, on average, 78 cents for every dollar men are paid. According to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median wages of full-time, year-round workers in 2008 stood at $35,745 for women and $46,367 for men.

The wage gap is even worse for women of color. In 2008, the earnings for African American women were $31,489, 67.9 percent of men’s earnings (a drop from 68.7 percent in 2007), and Latinas’ earnings were $26,846, 58 percent of men’s earnings (a drop from 59 percent in 2007).

Prominent feminist will address Rutgers grads; governor will receive degree
By TOM BALDWIN • STAFF WRITER • April 16, 2010
RUTGERS — Gov. Chris Christie, who is feuding with state universities over his proposed cuts in aid for higher education, is slated by tradition to receive an honorary doctor of laws degree from Rutgers University.
[...]
"I'll be darned," said Lucye Millerand, president of the Union of Rutgers Administrators, when she learned of the Christie degree. "I think it is too political to do it at the start of his administration."

American employers are slowly beginning to realize that work-family balance is a key to success in the 21st century economy. URA has always made work-family balance a priority.

In our first contract, we negotiated 10 additional days per year of sick leave for family care.

We expanded the definition of "family" whom we can care for with that sick time to include a step child, foster child, grandchild, grandparent, sister or brother.

We provided for tuition remission for dependent children who attend Rutgers part-time.

Our Legislative committee worked hard for New Jersey's Paid Family leave bill, which is now a reality.

White House Forum on Workplace Flexibility

On March 31, URA-AFT executive board member Karen S. White participated in the White House Forum on Workplace Flexibility. This is her report: First Lady Michelle Obama kicked off the event, citing the importance of creating workplaces that allow workers to balance job and family. Speaking to a crowd of about 100 business leaders, researchers, advocates, workers and policymakers, she talked about her own experiences a working mother, doing her best to juggle the demands of her job with the needs of her family. The First Lady said that some days she did not feel like she was keeping up with either set of demands. She talked about the need for changes so that the workers have access to paid sick days, family leave, and flexible work arrangements. The First Lady’s talk was followed by a panel discussion featuring Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, Council of Economic Advisers Chair Christina Romer and Campbell Soup CEO Douglas Conant. Participants then broke into discussion groups. My discussion group was held in the original Secretary of War Offices in the Old Executive Office Building. Participants included executives from Price Waterhouse Cooper, Deloitte, First Horizon, American Express, IBM, AOL, KPMG, and representatives from Workplace 2010, The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and others. John Berry, Director of Office of Personnel Management facilitated the discussion, which centered on best practices in implementing model flexible schedule policies used by the companies represented in the room. While there was no conversation in my group about the need for paid family and medical leave, there was consensus that flexible workplaces should also include the availability of paid leave as well as opportunities to take the leave. President Obama gave closing remarks, stressing that workplace policies need to include flexible work schedules, and paid family and medical leave.