NJIT Faculty Union Threatens Strike Over Stalled Contract Talk: UPDATE

This article was updated with a joint statement from NJIT and UCAN on Dec. 6

NEWARK, NJ — Adjunct faculty, postdoctoral research employees and graduate workers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in Newark are threatening to go on strike as contract talks drag on with the university.

A total of 98 percent of the members of the United Council of Academics at NJIT (UCAN) have voted to authorize a strike if university administrators “fail to negotiate a fair contract,” spokespeople said Tuesday.

If a labor stoppage takes place, it would be the first-ever strike launched by NJIT educators and researchers, their union said.

According to UCAN leaders, members want to see progress around a variety of issues. They include:

• “Pay equity with educators and researchers at Rutgers University, which has a campus across the street from NJIT”
• “Access to quality, affordable health care and childcare for members and their dependents, including dental and vision for graduate workers”
• “Limits on class sizes and work hours”
• “Stronger job security provisions”

It isn’t only teachers and staff who would benefit from some of their demands, union leaders say. For example, limiting class sizes would also give a boost the undergraduate and graduate students who take them, they argue.

This week’s authorization vote comes after 14 months of bargaining under a contract that expired last fall. Union leaders are claiming that NJIT administrators stalled negotiations for the first five months and have continued “dragging their feet” ever since.

“Our members have spoken,” UCAN president Brian O’Donnell said.

“It’s up to the administration now – they still have the opportunity to come to the table and address our members’ urgent needs,” O’Donnell continued. “We are prepared to bargain in good faith and will continue to do so until an agreement is reached and ratified by our members. But we’re fed up with being disrespected and put off.”

“Our members and our students shouldn’t have to wait any longer,” O’Donnell added.

A negotiation session with a state mediator was scheduled for Tuesday.

Matthew Golden, vice president for communications at NJIT, released a statement to Patch on Tuesday in response to UCAN’s strike authorization vote. He wrote:

“We have been aware of and are disappointed by the strike authorization vote conducted by UCAN leadership, which began subsequent to NJIT’s request last month for an independent and impartial state mediator to be appointed in order to facilitate negotiations. NJIT will come to today’s mediation session in good faith and with the intent to reach an agreement with its adjunct population as early as today. We hope UCAN will as well.”

OTHER STRIKES IN NEW JERSEY

Staff members at NJIT say their contract demands share common links with two other high-profile labor stoppages that have taken place in New Jersey this year: a teacher strike at Rutgers University, and a nurse strike at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.

According to UCAN leaders, their members are seeking the same wages that educators and researchers have at nearby Rutgers University, which also has a campus in Newark.

UCAN Executive Committee member Nicholas Harty said the “pay equity issue” looms large given NJIT’s close relationship with Rutgers University, where three unions representing some 10,000 educators, researchers, clinicians and counselors went on strike last spring – the first in the state university’s 257-year history.

The Rutgers unions eventually won “strong contracts,” with the biggest raises going to low-paid adjunct faculty, graduate workers and postdocs, UCAN spokespeople said.

• See Related: Here Are The Terms Of The Deal Rutgers Reached With Faculty Unions

“In the past two rounds of negotiations, management agreed to the goal of closing the pay gap between adjuncts and graduate students at NJIT and our colleagues at Rutgers in subsequent bargaining – and now here we are,” UCAN Executive Committee member Nicholas Harty said.

“We are simply asking for equal pay for equal work,” Harty said. “Salary equity already exists for NJIT’s administrators and top management – now is the time to establish equity for adjunct faculty, grad workers and postdocs.”

However, NJIT spokespeople argue that setting the bar at the levels seen at Rutgers is comparing apples to oranges.

“To date, NJIT has made significant offers to dramatically increase compensation and enhance conditions for all UCAN members,” Golden told Patch. “UCAN leadership has, in response, demanded terms that far exceed what was negotiated by their peers at Rutgers, which operates on an annual budget roughly eight times the size of NJIT’s.”

“We do not have the capacity to meet UCAN’s current demands without passing a significant burden to students – NJIT enacted one of the lowest tuition increases in the state this year – and we are committed to remaining affordable for all students,” Golden added.

See Related: Rutgers 6% Tuition Hike Gets Approved, Board Cites Rising Labor Costs

UPDATE: IS A DEAL NEAR?

On Wednesday, both sides issued a joint statement that hints a deal may be getting closer.

The statement reads:

"NJIT and the UCAN Adjunct Bargaining Unit are pleased to report that, after a mediation session of more than 10 hours, during which both groups worked extremely hard and in good faith, the parties have come to an agreement on the essential economic terms of a successor collective negotiations agreement. Both parties thank the state-appointed mediator for her patience and persistence in guiding the groups towards a mutually beneficial resolution. We will continue to work hard to resolve all other outstanding issues for the adjunct agreement and separately for the GSRE contract."

A union spokesperson told Patch that saying a contract is "imminent" may be a bit of an overstatement. But things are definitely looking up, he added.

"We agreed on a wage and promotion structure for one of our two contracts, but we have a few important outstanding issues with adjunct terms, and we are still far apart on the grad and postdoc contract on multiple points," he said. "If management is as excited to get a deal for grads and on the key fine print as they were on adjunct wages yesterday, it will be quick, but that is a big question."

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