Rutgers Nursing Bargaining Update December 9
Bargaining Update – Sessions held on Nov 17 and Nov 30
After months of bargaining and two months of promising to provide one, management made an initial economic proposal. It is incomplete and does not meet our needs. After that, we have had two sessions where management made no other proposals or counterproposals.
HPAE Local 5089’s bargaining committee met on November 17 and November 30, 2022 for our thirteenth and fourteenth sessions of negotiations with Rutgers University. Our contract expired July 1, 2022.
As a reminder, management made an initial wage proposal on November 3. It did was approximately 2% per year for each job title in our nursing negotiations unit.
On November 17, management made no proposals or counterproposals. After our committee expressed our disappointment with the low initial offer, as well as the lack of a proposal for CRNAs, we caucused and gave management counterproposals and updated positions on outstanding proposals. We continue to move the process forward
On November 30, again – management made no proposals or counterproposals. We gave management counterproposals and updated positions on outstanding proposals. We also expressed our frustration with management making no counterproposals (neither accepting nor rejecting) on any of our other economic improvements which as a reminder are as follows: increased tuition reimbursement, additional certifications recognized and reimbursed, differentials for corrections nurses that match other HPAE nurses under the 5089 contract, increased weekend differentials, additional shift differentials, increased charge nurse differential, education differential, increased on-call pay, increased clothing allowance, free parking, increased continuing education reimbursement, and a clinical ladder for all Rutgers nurses.
Rutgers did not propose a retroactive pay increase to July 1, 2022. That is a critical part of our Union’s current proposal.
Our next virtual session is on December 19th at 1:00 pm.
To be clear – it is unlikely we will achieve a contract settlement by the end of 2022. That means, due to Rutgers delays, experience step increases will not happen in 2022.
This is not acceptable. Stay tuned for actions we can take in 2023 to win a fair contract.
In Solidarity,
HPAE 5089 Negotiations Committee – Sabrina Brown-Oliver, Jennifer Lerner, Dawn Yuhas, Khooshbu Patel, Arlene Cruz, Yuk Wong, Marilyn Mundy, Sri Kota, Joe Bentivegna, Marsha Lauriano, Lucia Otti, Francine Pasch, Tara Andino, Joan Santner, Donna Nelson-Henry, Susan Bauer
Rutgers Unions Day of Action: On Tuesday December 6, Our Membership Delivered.
What a Day of Action as HPAE members stood strong through the rain, amongst coalition allies and union leaders including our own National Union President, American Federation of Teachers President, Randi Weingarten.
The HPAE delegation proudly delivered a supermajority of membership support, more than 1,000 strong by petition, to the University President and the Board of Governors. Our message was clear. We are a united membership. We are committed to winning a strong contract. We are willing to stand strong and win the improvements we earned.
Keep the Momentum Building
It will take sustained unity to achieve an agreement that includes all we deserve and have earned. It may be discouraging to see how hard the employer can try to make this process, but keep strong, hold heads high, through our continued solidarity, we will win a strong contract that respects the nursing staff throughout all the divisions of Rutgers.
See photos of the Day of Action including the presentation of our HPAE Bargaining Support Petition below.
