Rider Faculty, Administration To Resume Contract Negotiations Friday

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ - The Rider Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) will resume talks with administrators on Friday after contract negotiations failed last week.

The AAPU had last week voted to strike if the university failed to reach a "fair and equitable contract.”

Faculty held a silent protest on campus Sept. 1 during President Gregory G. Dell’Omo’s convocation. More: Rider U. Faculty Threaten Strike As Students Prepare Return To Campus

Although both parties failed to reach an agreement on Sept. 2, the University extended the contract for another week.

The administration put a new proposal on the table, but the AAUP said it did not meet “our position on workload and tuition remission.”

A chapter meeting will be held on Thursday, where the AAUP will decide on its next course of action on the negotiations.

The union claims the administration has threatened to remove their collective bargaining rights, if members don't agree to do more work for less pay and will formally petition the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to bar all full-time faculty from being represented by the AAUP.

The AAUP said its goal is to make small incremental improvements in the contract, but the “administration’s goal is to fundamentally alter the working conditions of faculty by increasing their workload and slashing their compensation.”

AAUP conducted information picketing on Sunday and Monday which saw a “good turn out of union members.”

“The morale is quite low. We are not apathetic, but we want a good contract,” Rider AAUP President David Drewberry told Patch.

Drewberry said Dell’Omo's “authoritarian decisions” have jeopardized the University and its staff.

The Rider AAUP has locked horns with the administration over Dell’Omo’s decisions saying Rider's fiscal difficulties are a result of “mismanagement.” More: Rider Faculty Condemns Job Cuts, Program Closures At University

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