Local 5089 Rutgers: Contract update, March 21

Our HPAE Local 5089 Negotiating Committee met with Rutgers University for a bargaining session with Rutgers University on March 21, 2019.

Below are the updates from the session:

• We continue to emphasize to Rutgers that job security is our top priority in these negotiations. We completed our updated package proposal for job security including protections for our FMLA rights and the Rutgers Health/Barnabas Health partnership.
• Discussed wages and received a counter proposal from Rutgers that moves us closer to a contract settlement but we are still fighting for the raises our members deserve.
• Rutgers continues to push back on aligning our benefits with those of Rutgers legacy employees and responded to proposals on tuition, parking, and State of Emergency that keep us separated by our fellow Rutgers colleagues.
• We discussed the overall contract negotiations and the amount of time we have spent trying to reach a successor agreement. We pushed for additional negotiations dates to speed up the process and to reach a settlement. Even with that Rutgers, after not having a negotiations session for 2 months, stated we would not be able to have more than one session for the month of March or April.

We need your support as we continue to work towards a contract settlement and the time for action is now.

We will be sending out information for rotating informational picketing on the New Brunswick and Piscataway Campuses. Please be sure to talk with your onsite reps and check your emails for the dates that will be in your work areas.

We will continue to negotiate diligently with Rutgers until we have reached a successor agreement. We need your support.

Next Negotiation Dates: 4/02 and 5/01

In Solidarity,

Local 5089 Negotiations Committee

Janice Fitzgerald, Jennifer Lerner, Bruno Beja-Umukoro, and Brandy Macko