Rutgers Profs Want Equal Pay In Newark, Camden, New Brunswick

NEWARK, NJ — Rutgers University professors who teach at the Newark and Camden campuses want to be paid the same as their peers in New Brunswick. And they’re willing to protest to make it happen, their union representatives say.

Last week, about 200 Rutgers faculty, staff and students marched at the university’s Newark campus, rallying for “pay equity” among the three locations.

In addition, the union is calling for the creation of a “Hardship Fund” to support international students faced with visa restrictions, immigration issues and federal bureaucratic “red tape” (read more below).

Members of the Rutgers AAUP-AFT chapter said that thousands of part-time faculty, graduate assistants, postdocs and counselors are working under contracts that expired June 30. The union is preparing for a possible “mass demonstration” in New Brunswick at the Dec. 6 Board of Governor’s meeting if a new work agreement isn’t hammered out by then.

Rutgers University Arts and Sciences faculty on the Newark and Camden campuses earn 10% and 20% less than their counterparts in New Brunswick, according to a statement from the American Federation of Teachers New Jersey (AFTNJ).

Asked to comment on any inaccuracies in the union’s statement, as well as current negotiations, Rutgers University spokespeople provided the below reply:

“Negotiations are ongoing. The current collective negotiations agreements continue in effect until new agreements are negotiated. All issues related to employee contracts will be discussed at the negotiating table with the appropriate bargaining team representatives from the administration and the unions.”

Rob Snyder, professor of journalism and American Studies, said that Rutgers has “lost its way” under president Robert Barchi.

Snyder called the pay inequity between Newark, Camden and New Brunswick “obscene.”

As student enrollment has gone up, faculty hiring has not kept pace, according to Snyder. “Instead, we are relying on underpaid, insecure, part-time lecturers (adjunct faculty) and non-tenure track instructors to teach more and more students,” he said.

Josephine Nagle, a staff member at Rutgers Law School, was at the Nov. 14 rally to call for a fair contract.

“We have to send a message to Barchi and management to show they care and respect staff and professors,” Nagle said. “They drag out bargaining and they need to feel the pressure to realize that we are people, not just numbers.” (Story continues below photo)

• See related article: NJ School Districts That Pay Teachers The Most, Least In 2018
• See related article: Adjunct Teachers Rally At NJIT For More Pay, 'Recognition'

‘A CLIMATE OF FEAR’ FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

As part of the bargaining process, the teachers are also asking the university to address federal travel restrictions that are allegedly “creating a climate of fear” for international graduate students at Rutgers.

Biology teaching assistant Kathleen Farley said that union members have learned that more than 40 international students have been unable to return to the United States due to travel restrictions imposed by President Donald Trump.

The union wants Rutgers administrators to create hardship funds to help international students with the cost of visa renewals and housing stipends, which are crucial towards making ends meet, Farley said.

The union is also proposing an allocation of funds for all graduate workers to pay for childcare, and a general fund for “financial hardships” when emergencies hit, Farley stated.

"The international graduate students I work with fear travel conditions will continue to deteriorate,” she said. “They are being put in a position of having to weigh difficult choices between not being able to see their loved ones back home for years or potentially being stopped from reentering the U.S. and losing their opportunity to complete their education.”

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Photos courtesy of AFTNJ