Newark Mayor On Teacher Strike: ‘Do Better, Rutgers’

NEWARK, NJ — “Do better, Rutgers.” That was the message from Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on Wednesday as a massive teacher strike entered its third day.

Thousands of unionized faculty members, clinicians and other employees at Rutgers University launched an unprecedented strike on Monday as contract talks with the university drag on. The work stoppage – which included thousands of part-time and full-time professors, graduate student workers, postdoctoral associates, counselors and biomedical faculty – marked the first strike in Rutgers' 257-year history.

Picket lines have taken place at all three of the Rutgers campuses in New Brunswick, Newark and Camden. It isn’t clear how long the strike will continue, although Gov. Phil Murphy has gathered the two sides for a bargaining session in Trenton and called on them to hammer out a deal.

• See Related: Rutgers Faculty Strike Enters Day 3, No Deal Reached

To see the unions’ contract proposals and the administration’s responses, see this page for Rutgers AAUP-AFT, this page for the Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union, and this page for AAUP-BHSNJ. See the university’s website on the strike and ongoing negotiations here.

One of the key things the unions are asking for is a pay increase for full-time staff, as well as part-time lecturers and graduate students who work and teach classes. It was a point that Mayor Baraka referenced in his statement on Wednesday.

“The key issues in this strike are the pay rate for part-time and graduate faculty,” said Baraka, a former teacher himself. “Rutgers hires more and more part-time faculty and fewer and fewer full-time professors. Part-time lecturers (adjuncts) are teaching more than one-third of all classes and they are paid at a much lower rate of pay than the full-time faculty.”

“If we stand for anything in New Jersey, it should be equal pay,” Baraka continued. “In addition, the teaching and graduate assistants need adequate pay raises so that they can do their work, finish their scholarship for their PhDs, be able to pay rent, and their student loans. They earn less than $32,000 a year.”

“This is a university that has paid more than $1 million to an assistant coach,” the mayor added.

• Read More: Rutgers Defends $450K Bill In DoorDash Deliveries For Football Team
• Read More: Rutgers University Will Raise Tuition; $5.1B Budget Approved

Baraka pointed out that the Rutgers faculty has been at the bargaining table with the university administration for more than a year, and they have worked without a contract since June 2022.

“That is no way to treat any union workers, let alone the faculty of our state university,” he said.

“I stand with the faculty unions,” the mayor concluded. “Do better, Rutgers.”

‘FAIR AND EQUITABLE TREATMENT’

The ongoing labor standoff also provoked comments from Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Ruiz, Assemblywoman Eliana Pintor Marin and Assemblywoman Shanique Speight, each of whom represents Newark in the 29th District.

The three lawmakers put out a joint statement on Wednesday:

“We urge everyone engaged in the negotiations to stay at the table and work to get this labor dispute resolved as soon as possible with an agreement that addresses the needs of the professors, adjunct instructors and graduate students in a fair and responsible way. This is a time when educational institutions and their students should be focused on the completion of the academic year and their future plans. Everyone’s priorities should be the students and the Rutgers employees who are so vital in providing a quality education. They deserve the respect of fair and equitable treatment.”

Many New Jersey residents have supported the strikers, including some of their students, who have pledged not to attend class until the work stoppage is over. Other Garden State residents have criticized the educators and other staff members for walking off the job.

“If they are not happy, just go find another job,” one commenter wrote. “But don't hold students hostage. Unions are toxic.”

• See Related: Striking Rutgers Teachers Also Want Affordable Housing For Students
• See Related: Rutgers Staff Say They're 'Fed Up' With Contract Talks At Newark Rally

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