Faculty, Staff Protest At 9 NJ Colleges As Contract Talks Stall

MONTCLAIR, NJ — Adjunct professors and support staff at nine public colleges in New Jersey are reportedly considering a strike as contract talks stall with the Governor's Office of Employee Relations.

On Wednesday, union members employed with the affected schools coordinated a mass protest on their campuses. Rallies took place at the College of New Jersey, Kean University, Montclair State University, New Jersey City University, Ramapo College, Rowan University, Stockton University, Thomas Edison State University and William Paterson University.

Roughly 10,000 members of the individual unions have begun voting on whether to authorize a strike, Politico reported.

The Council of New Jersey State College Locals, the union representing the educators, is currently engaged in talks with the Governor's Office of Employee Relations (OER), which represents the universities.

The educators' last contract expired July 1. Since then, talks for a new contract have stalled due to disagreements about pay structures for adjunct professors and non-tenured lecturers, NJ.com reported.

“We are the most vulnerable, because we’re hired semester by semester, with no job security,” the local president of the adjunct faculty bargaining unit at Montclair State University told NJ.com.

A spokesperson for Montclair State University offered Patch a statement about the contract negotiations, emphasizing that she wasn't speaking on the behalf of the OER.

According to the spokesperson:

“The Governor's Office of Employee Relations is responsible for conducting collective bargaining on behalf of the senior public universities and colleges. It is the campus's perception that negotiations are continuing and that progress is being made."

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