A Call To Protect Rutgers Staff Against Adverse Weather

In the event of a severe winter storm, the university routinely cancels classes and yet keeps offices open, requiring staff to report to work. Canceling classes is the right decision because it keeps faculty and students safe and off the roads. Why is this same protection not extended to staff? Why are our lives and personal safety put at risk when other groups are protected?

The result of this unequal treatment is that we feel inferior and less valued as employees. This is not a momentary reaction. It does not evaporate the day after a storm. Over time, it creates a kind of forced defensiveness, where we feel like shouting “I am important, I am of value, I am a human being worth protecting.” This is a normal reaction in the face of callous disregard. Over years, this kind of treatment will restrict personal and professional development. It will make us less than what we could be.

It also hurts Rutgers. There are approximately 7,000 staff at Rutgers. The university invests thousands of dollars every year in publicity, including, for example, the new university website and annual Rutgers Day event. Management obviously cares about the reputation of the university. So why do they not realize the importance and value of having happy and confident employees? Why do they not see us as potential liaisons between Rutgers and our communities? When management makes the decision to require staff to report to work in blizzard conditions, what do they think we are going to say to our friends, our neighbors, our children, our parents and in-laws, the people we meet in church or at temple, the parents we see at our kids’ basketball games, and so on. Do they honestly believe we are going to say Rutgers is a great place to work? Really? When they annually put our lives and personal safety at risk every time there is a storm or a blizzard?

As a residential university, there are certain offices that must remain open in the midst of severe weather. The university classifies a number of employees as essential, emergency, or security personnel. No one suggests that these personnel should not be required to report to work. When they are hired, they are informed that they have this status and therefore the responsibility to report to work in adverse weather. They receive additional compensation in time-and-a-half pay above regular pay in these conditions. The problem is that Rutgers expects all staff to report to work, not just these personnel.

The question becomes this: is it a matter of a lack of organization or financial greed that governs Rutgers policy in this matter? It may be that Rutgers management is unable to maintain a current list of essential, emergency, or security personnel and because of their failure to consistently classify and manage these employees, they take the convenient step of avoiding the issue by requiring all staff to report to work. Or, it may be that Rutgers management does not want to pay these people the time plus time-and-a-half pay they deserve for coming in during severe weather. If all offices are kept open, management does not have to pay the additional compensation, saving them thousands of dollars every year.

Management does not seem to have considered the waste of dollars, the loss in human energy and time and the loss in human potential, in treating staff as inferior people. They do not seem to have incorporated the spirit of humanism taught in so many classes at Rutgers, which recognizes the inherent value and dignity of all human beings. We are asking Rutgers management to develop policies related to university closings that recognizes the value and dignity of staff. We are glad to embrace the spirit R if they will respect our safety.

Kathryn Neal is the URA-AFT campus vice-president for New Brunswick/Piscataway. She is an administrative assistant in the School of Arts and Sciences and a Rutgers alum.