Categories
Solidarity Uncategorized

Our Statement of Solidarity with USW 4-200

For immediate release: September 19th 2023

Contact: union@ura-aft.org

Our union, the Union of Rutgers Administrators (URA-AFT) stands in solidarity with striking USW 4-200 nurses at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital New Brunswick. As they enter the 46th day of a strike against New Jersey’s largest private employer, we at Rutgers University stand shoulder to shoulder with our frontline workers. We support the fight not just for basic demands of compensation but workplace safety that keeps all New Jerseyans safe: safe staffing saves lives.

It is reprehensible that executives at RWJ Barnabas have spent over $54 million in replacement nurses when those resources could have been used to meet the nurses’ demands, but we know this fight for dignity and respect is about control of the workplace. RWJBarnabas wants to maintain inefficient staffing ratios on all RWJBarnabas campuses and USW 4-200 nurses want to improve them.

URA-AFT stands in solidarity with the striking USW 4-200 nurses and calls upon RWJBarnabas to meet their demands.

Take the pledge and stand up with USW 4-200 at bit.ly/ura4usw

This statement was approved unanimously by the membership of URA-AFT

Categories
Uncategorized

Staff Compensation Program (SCP)

View SCP 2023 .ppt

The Staff Compensation Program (SCP) is the annual performance evaluation process. The SCP process was formerly known as Pay for Performance (P4P). The names (SCP and P4P) are holdovers from the years when there was a merit-based component for raises. After we analyzed the impact of merit-based raises, we found that managers allocated them inconsistently and inequitably, so we no longer tie compensation to performance. 

By May 15 you should be notified of your performance evaluation rating – either meet standards or does not meet standards, for each key duty and overall. Your signature on the SCP does not necessarily indicate agreement with your evaluation. If you disagree with your supervisor’s evaluation or rating, you can sign “Receipt only” on the employee signature line. You should also write and attach your explanation and comments to document why you disagree. Make sure you request and keep a copy of the final evaluation with all signatures and attachments. 

Note that there is a check box in Section 3 that indicates that performance standards and expectations for next year’s evaluation process are being modified. If the standards and expectations are being changed significantly, ask that your Classification and Recruitment Form (CARF) be updated to reflect the changes. These changes may also be justification for a reclassification (self-initiated or department-initiated), or in-range/grade adjustment. 

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Uncategorized

Strike Pledge Q&A

In the Union of Rutgers Administrators membership meeting on Monday, April 10th, members approved a motion to launch a strike pledge.

Why are we taking a strike pledge (and a potential strike authorization vote)?

We are taking a strike pledge drive because our members approved a motion to launch a strike pledge. More than that, though, this strike pledge comes after over ten months of bargaining that has produced little to no movement on our core demands—raises in line with inflation, telework & equity for our essential staff, career pathways, job security, and more. We are taking a strike pledge (and potential strike authorization vote) in order to gauge if we have the power to win the contract that we deserve.

What is a strike pledge? 

A strike pledge is NOT a vote to authorize a strike—that would take place through an official vote of the union membership at a later date. A strike pledge sends a message to the administration that we’re ready to take action to win a fair contract, including a strike if necessary. An important part of a strike pledge is you committing to do outreach to make this happen. This includes making phone calls to members, talking to your colleagues, attending a building or campus meeting, and more.

If enough people pledge to strike, are we then on strike?

No, a strike pledge is NOT a vote to authorize a strike but it signals we will likely head towards one in the near future. A strike authorization vote (SAV) is the formal way to prepare to strike.

How is a pledge different from a strike authorization vote? 

A strike pledge is a step just before a strike authorization vote. A strike pledge is not binding, it gives our union officers, bargaining team, and member organizers an idea of how the membership feels so they can decide if they have the power in numbers to move forward with a strike authorization vote. Additionally, only members can vote in a strike authorization vote; non-members and members alike can participate in the pledge.

How does a strike pledge fit into the process of actually going on strike? 

Step 1: Members indicate their willingness to go on strike and commit to membership outreach. A strike pledge is an important way to tell Rutgers administration that we’re ready to take action and also to determine the power of the membership to move forward in taking a strike authorization vote.

Step 2: If the strike pledge indicates a majority of members (1300) are ready to take action and move towards a strike, a strike authorization vote is presented to URA members. 

Step 3: If a significant majority of members vote yes on a strike authorization vote, this allows for union officers to call for a strike, if the bargaining process is not moving forward.  

If we go on strike, will we face disciplinary action? 

We can expect members to be threatened with, and possibly receive, disciplinary action such as a letter of reprimand. To settle a strike, our bargaining team would demand that discipline for members who strike peacefully be dropped.

Categories
Uncategorized

Bargaining Update

The URA bargaining team has met with management over forty times, and has tentative agreements on 10 articles, including, most recently, Just Cause and Bereavement Leave. Parking, Non-Hostile Work Environment, and Probationary Employee are some other tentative agreements. We still have not made progress on key priorities, including raises , telework, and recognition for our essential employees, among much else. When presented with thoughtful proposals that would improve our members’ lives and Rutgers, management has often rejected or ignored them.


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Categories
2022 Contract Uncategorized

Contract Negotiations Membership Escalation Plan 2022-2023

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Goals

Our union is negotiating for these critical bargaining demands:

  1. Raises and longevity pay;
  2. Telework with fairness for non-remote staff;
  3. Reduce employee’s portion of health insurance premiums; and,
  4. Well-defined career paths for staff.

Escalating Action

A Union escalation plan guides members in putting pressure on the employer to secure a fair, negotiated contract.

Actions are taken on a schedule that escalates pressure on management in various ways to express that we deserve a fair contract and to show what we are worth.

Principles

Our contract campaign is based on the following principles:

  • Majority Membership Decision-making that leads to actions performed by a largerand larger number of members.
  • Concerted Action for Healthy Boundaries: adhering to work-to-rule by doing the jobs we are paid for, and no more:
    o No additional responsibilities without additional compensation; o Arriving on-time, but not early;
    o Taking a full lunch break away from the desk;
    o Leaving on-time, but not late.
  • Workplace Actions: visibility and protest actions that carry our message to management and the public. We will build greater member participation and commitment until we approve a fair contract.
  • Staff-centered Timeline and Tactics which respect our labor coalition partners.

Goals and Principles approved February 13, 2023 General Membership Meeting

Categories
Health & Safety Uncategorized

Stay Healthy This Spring


Stay Healthy This Spring

Many staff, students, and faculty live and work in areas that are currently designated as high COVID transmission risk areas by the CDC, find out your community COVID risk levels here​. The CDC is currently recommending the use of masks to reduce risk of COVID infection for high-risk communities. Updates on CDC masking recommendations can be found here​. 

Students at Rutgers will continue to have access to two free tests a week and will be asked to self-report positive COVID tests to Rutgers. Students and staff who obtained a vaccine waiver are still required to test once a week. Vaccinated faculty and staff are responsible for testing themselves if they choose to do so. Students, staff, and faculty who did not obtain a waiver are mandated to have the initial vaccine dose and one booster shot, but are not required to obtain subsequent booster shots at this time. Rutgers does not currently have any set criteria for re-instituting the mask mandate, but said it is a possibility.

Rutgers Employees with medical conditions which require minimizing risk to illness exposure may seek an accommodation request through the Office of Equity Employment​. 

Anyone wishing to minimize their risk of contracting COVID (and other viruses which are believed to be spread through the air like the cold​ and flu​) may find these resources helpful:

– The CDC COVID Precautions for People who are Immunocompromised​ site may be helpful for members who are high-risk, have loved ones who are high-risk, or just wish to take precautions.

– This COVID tracker​ available through a non-profit organization which partners with several reputable research universities uses CDC guidelines as well as additional information to report COVID community-level risks.

Categories
Uncategorized

Call For Health Insurance Relief

Healthcare contributions are going up. Open Enrollment has begun. Don’t choose until you know.

Our fight for affordable healthcare continues. We can each play a role in protecting health insurance costs right now.

Be sure to call the Governor’s office and ask him to use remaining American Rescue Plan Funds to provide relief from this increase and the harm to our members who are already struggling and working without a contract. Call Governor Murphy at 833-479-1993.

Call on your break or at lunch – not after hours. You’ll be connected with the Governor’s staff.

Tell them:

My name is ______________ and I work at Rutgers in (Dept.). I am calling to ask the Governor to use ARP and any other budgetary funds to stop any increase to my healthcare contributions. Any relief provided for towns and municipalities must include Rutgers employees. Thank you.

Categories
Uncategorized

NJ’s public workers rally in Trenton to protest historic health insurance increase

Katie Sobko of Gannett’s Trenton Bureau covered the Sept. 13 rally calling for fairness in health care costs. 

Christine O’Connell, president of the Union of Rutgers Administrators-American Federation of Teachers, said the health care increase would effectively translate to a pay cut, “so if they want to charge more, they need to pay us more.”

The Coalition of Rutgers Unions includes more than 11,000 members and has been negotiating a contract with the university. O’Connell noted that the school gets “tons of state and federal money.”

“They just want to pass on costs to the workers that make the university work, from the dining services and student counselors to residence life,” O’Connell said.

Then, referring to a recent NorthJersey.com investigation into lavish spending on food delivery by Rutgers football, she added: “We don’t have access to free DoorDash or any of those perks.”

Categories
Uncategorized

Student Debt Relief

The Biden-Harris administration will cancel up to $20,000 for borrowers who received Pell grants as students, and up to $10,000 for individuals earning less than $125,000 annually and households earning less than $250,000. The administration has also proposed changes to income-driven repayment systems and permanent fixes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which will be life-changing for millions of borrowers. Here are the Education Department statement and the White House fact sheet. In the coming weeks, we will continue to share more information about how borrowers can easily access these new types of loan forgiveness. Here is what your members need to do now to take steps to access this relief. 

  1. Most important, make sure all their information is up-to-date on the federal student loan website and with their loan servicers, because some loan forgiveness will be automatic. 
  2. Sign up for Summer, an online student loan management platform, as soon as possible. This exclusive AFT member benefit will provide individual support to help members untangle all the loan repayment plans and rules and get on a path to loan forgiveness through their union. 
  3. Attend a weekly student debt webinar. These are held every Thursday at 7 p.m. and cover the latest student debt information in detail. Register here.

The AFT will be keeping members updated as Federal Student Aid rolls out the paperwork necessary to apply for the relief announced yesterday. We will be sharing more information as we receive it. To obtain the up-to-$20,000 in cancellation, most borrowers will have to complete an application that will be made available by Dec. 31, 2022 via the federal student loan website. Also on Dec. 31, the pause on student loans payments is scheduled to end. Members should expect that payments will resume beginning Jan. 1, 2023. 

Yesterday’s announcement did not change the deadline to apply for Public Service Loan Forgiveness under a limited waiver; all borrowers must  apply by Oct. 31, 2022. Everyone working in public service who has federal student debt can and should apply for PSLF immediately. AFT members can do this and get free help by signing up for Summer.

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Uncategorized

NJ State House Rally September 13th

Fight the Drastic Increase to Our Health Benefits Contributions!

All are welcome! Bring your coworkers, your family, your congregation, your community to fight to keep our healthcare affordable! Wear your union colors!

Tuesday, September 13 Statehouse Annex

12pm noon Trenton, NJ