What the Janus Decision Means To The URA
The U.S. Supreme Court just punched us in the gut. Just when URA – and 17,000 other Rutgers workers are negotiating for new contracts, the Supreme Court decided today to abolish the 40-year old system of “fair-share” fees, in a case called Janus v. AFSCME.
From now on, as a union member, you’ll be covering the cost of maintaining a strong union… but your co-workers who are not full members can ride for free.
What will they get for free?
Looking at Janus from the Bargaining Table
Bargaining with an employer like Rutgers is difficult enough. With the Janus decision now in play, do not think twice about maintaining your membership with URA-AFT—it is THE thing ensuring that your stable union job will continue to exist as you enjoy it. Less memberships means less bargaining strength for proposals that we want and need. Your co-workers on the URA bargaining team put countless hours of concern, thought and effort into our proposals based on our collective experiences and your feedback. There are always gains to be made. But Rutgers is proposing cuts to our benefits and will win more cuts if we are not unified and working TOGETHER AS MEMBERS. We have faced similar threats before. Remember when Rutgers froze wages? We weathered those storms (and even Hurricane Sandy) TOGETHER. As members we decided to help our brothers and sisters after Sandy. We set up a union-funded vision care program to offset medical costs when Rutgers did not. We need to solidify and protect our “seat at the table”.
Oppose Austerity Budgets!
From the Better Choices Budget Coalition:
Legislators have massively let down working families across the state. They voted to continue Chris Christie austerity’s gimmicks and balance a budget on the backs of working families.
One can only wonder why Democrats would opt to protect millionaires while cutting an additional $75M from public transportation, $95M cut from Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements, or even eliminating the long overdue increases in gun licensing fees. One thing is for certain, regardless of whether it was driven by malicious desire or misinformation, the reality is that they failed us!
Remembering Carolyn Foote
A founding member of the Union of Rutgers Administrators-AFT union at Rutgers University, Carolyn Foote died Sunday, June 3, 2018, in Newark, New Jersey. Hundreds of family members, colleagues from Rutgers, the union and community gathered the following Friday to celebrate the impact of her too brief 67 years.
Family members told stories about her role as a matriarch and positive influence on their lives. URA-AFT Executive Vice President Darlene Smith talked about her travels with Foote to union conferences and conventions.
