When Rutgers management rolls out a new vacation policy this week URA Rutgers employees will benefit from a streamlined process for earning and using vacation days. Stated simply: “As of July 2010, employees will be able to use accrued vacation time as soon as the time is credited – i.e. the following month.”

The new policy will establish that: “Requests for vacations shall not be unreasonably denied." Many members have reported that supervisors have refused requests for vacation so often, and so unfairly, that they end up carrying over vacation time until they lose it. URA unit members (but not the non-unionized supervisory and professional staff) will also gain important protections against forfeiting vacation days, interrupted vacations, and managers who will not approve requests for vacation.

Automated Click2Call	OR	Do It Yourself
		Note: The first screen that opens after you plug in your address is the federal reps. Then click the "State" tab to find your state representatives.
We are using AFT's Click2Call program to automate the process of contacting your elected state legislators and provide you with talking points to start the conversation. Click2Call Your State Assembly Rep Click2Call your State Senator When Rutgers management announced it was breaking last year's deferral agreement and our contracts, it made a bad call. We all deserve respect for the work we do at Rutgers—whether it is cleaning the campus, counseling students, keeping financial records, or teaching classes. Rutgers management is showing a basic lack of respect for workers and the integrity of a contract.		Talking Points Dear Senator or Assemblyman (or get staff person’s name), I live in your district in [NAME OF TOWN] and I work at Rutgers University. I am calling today to ask for your support: 1. Because of language in last year's budget, Rutgers workers agreed to defer raises in two-year deals patterned after the state workers agreements. 2. Although the new Governor will honor the state worker agreements, Rutgers management recently announced their plan to withhold these contracted raises. Are you aware of this issue? (Allow time to respond.) 3. My co-workers and I deferred more than the state legislature mandated last year and management is failing to meet its side of the bargain by paying our raises. 4. Rutgers management's decision reflects poor priorities in managing a $1.9 billion budget and a lack of respect for working families. 5. (Make the ask.) Please call Richard McCormick and Phil Furmanski and demand that they pay negotiated raises. (Please give the representative or staffer the chance to respond and express a position. Thank them and repeat back that you appreciate their help in demanding Rutgers respect your contract.

If your representative or staffer wants more information on the issue, please take their name and contact Nat Bender at 732-745-0300 or nbender@ura-aft.org so we can follow up with them.

High Profile Public Breaches Undermine Workplace Relations Everywhere

EDISON...As one of the largest employers in the state, Rutgers University is setting a terrible precedent by withholding negotiated raises next month, according to AFT New Jersey State Federation president William Lipkin. “It hurts morale and productivity, is morally repulsive and bad for business throughout the state,” said Lipkin of Rutgers management's unilateral pay freeze. “The people hurt include janitors, secretaries and administrative workers who have not had a raise in two years and whose families may already be suffering from layoffs. Rutgers management is withholding raises that would otherwise be circulated right back into the state's economy.”

The action, announced last week by Rutgers executive vice president Dr. Phil Furmanski, freezes wages for 13,000 workers and breaks an agreement brokered last year for more than 10,000 unionized staff and faculty who agreed to defer 2009 contracted raises.

NJN Leads off Newscast with Rutgers Story. URA-AFT president Lucye Millerand was featured in the lead segment.

Segment no longer online.

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Chronicle of Higher Education Quotes Faculty Union President Eaton: Rutgers U. Cancels Raises and Freezes Pay, Citing 'Extreme Fiscal Crisis'

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NBC Philadelphia Quotes Millerand: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/politics/Rutgers-Teachers-Ticked-Off-Over-Surprise-Pay-Freezes-96144644.html

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Business Week Quotes Rutgers AAUP-AFT Executive Director Patrick Nowlan: New Jersey’s Rutgers University Freezes Employee Pay

Thursday afternoon, university executive vice president Dr. Phil Furmanski announced his intention to pursue a salary freeze, reneging on his promise in the deferral agreement you approved last year:

“I am writing to let you know that for the time being, we will not be implementing any further salary increases so that we can begin discussions with our unions and non-aligned groups concerning the extreme fiscal crisis facing the university. This salary freeze will be effective across the university, in every area and at every level.”

The forward of this message from members was the first indication that the university would take this course of action. URA-AFT is holding an emergency meeting Friday to discuss what actions we will propose in response to this unilateral, unexpected breach of last year’s deferral agreement.

The announcement is conveniently timed to allow for URA members to decide on a course of action—and hear from you about what you are willing to do to protect our raises and our contract—at our regular June Membership Meeting Monday, June 14. Please attend this important meeting.

"The reaction is anger. The reaction is we were lied to. We gave up raises to save jobs," said Lucye Millerand, president of the local chapter of the Union of Rutgers Administrators-American Federation of Teachers, which represents nearly 2,000 campus workers.

Some union officials questioned Rutgers’ budget priorities.

"This comes in a year when Rutgers opened a $100 million football stadium," said Millerand, a Rutgers administrative assistant. "No expenses were spared for that program."

-from http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/06/rutgers_to_freeze_salaries_of.html

Union Leadership Academy graduates Darlene Smith (far left) and Helen Pirrello (far right) with URA members (from left to right) Lucye Millerand, Laura Walkoviak, Debbie McNeill and Stephanie Atkins.

URA-AFT members met up with other AFT affiliates from around the state and more than 30,000 public workers and concerned citizens to call for a fair budget for New Jersey working families.

Members who attended the rally report back:
Tara Kelley


What struck me the most at the rally was the series of "man-in-the-street" interviews they conducted and broadcast. When you allow people to tell their own stories, you take abstract talk of "service cuts" and make it personal and direct. Now that issue has a name and a face - and one of these stories is bound to speak to everyone. Also, the fact that Christie intends to cut such a broad spectrum of services ensured that we heard unique voices.

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Sandra Jenkins and Joyce Sagi served as event staff

Sandra Jenkins


The most interesting part for me was witnessing people from across the labor/skills/educational spectrum standing together to voice opposition to unfair political manueverings by the current state administration. I believe that unionized workers, public servants, "have nots" and others being offered as the scapegoat for state government failings prompted people to come out and stand up and say let's ACT against the assault on the everyday citizens of the state. The divide and conquer tactics of the governor are shameful. For me the ACT buttons we wore meant All Come Together. We can do more together than we can do apart.

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Audrey Boyd


My most important reason for going to the rally was to boost the attendance. The fact that it turned out to be the largest rally in NJ history shows that if we each take some action and stand up and be counted, our message will be heard. My decision to go shows how each individual's effort to participate can make a difference.

My next reason for going was to hear the issues spelled out and see who was supporting us. I was very pleased with the speakers and it was great to hear from others about how the budget cuts are affecting their organizations.

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Kathryn Neal

When I got to the rally, I was very lucky to have arrived at the very moment Larry Hamm was speaking. He is the president of the People's Organization for Progress and a long-time activist for social justice. He spoke eloquently and passionately against the Governor's budget priorities, and I especially appreciated that he put the issue into a larger context of U.S. history and the progress that has been made by various movements in this country, the civil rights movement, the women's movement, and so on.

It is so important to realize this is not just about balancing New Jersey's budget. It is about doing it in such a way that people do not suffer unnecessarily, and we do not roll back the gains we have made in terms of caring about and valuing children, the elderly, the rights of workers to a living wage, and so on.

I have been constantly thinking that Christie is pro-business and anti-child and I believe that his budget cuts reflect that position. I was extemely moved when Larry Hamm literally said, I care about children. I am a taxpayer and a home-owner, and I do not mind if the people who are taking care of and teaching my children earn a decent wage.

Now that is a value system I agree with. Thank goodness for all the people who came to the rally and spoke out against the governor. It is exactly at moments of crisis like this that we must rally together and shout what we believe. This country was founded on principles like freedom of speech. If we do not speak out, why are we here?

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Theresa O'Neill


It’s funny, what affected me most—where we were, not just the rally itself. Until then, I had never walked through the historic section of Trenton near the capitol, and I discovered a real hidden gem. I was completely bowled over by everything: the Pre-Revolutionary War architecture, the New Jersey State Library, and even a barrack preserve dating all the way back to the French and Indian War (1758). It hit me that all of this was in danger, with the Governor’s proposed budget. Going to the rally was no longer about simply advocating for myself and our members, it was about so much more. *Everybody* loses if this Governor’s budget is implemented.

If we want to be sure that everything in the proposed budget comes to pass, then absolutely we should sit back and do nothing. But as I saw at the rally, we all deserve better than that.

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Helen Pirrello

The rally in Trenton brought together not only a united force but those who truly care for the welfare of others. For me, sharing a bus ride down and back with dedicated and enthusiastic union representatives from Rutgers local 888 not only added to the spirit of the rally but illustrated to me that no one stands alone when the welfare of others truly are at risk.

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See photos from Saturday's rally in Trenton.

New York Times health columnist Tara Parker-Pope turned her attention to workplace stress and the review process this week, in an article titled “Time to review workplace reviews?”

What she found is no surprise to URA members.

“Worker satisfaction in the United States appears to be at an all-time low.”

“Employees are unhappy about the design of their jobs, the health of their organizations and the quality of their managers.”

“Annual reviews not only create a high level of stress for workers, he argues, but end up making everybody — bosses and subordinates — less effective at their jobs.”

“Office bullies have been known to use performance reviews to undermine a worker.”

“Bad bosses are an enormous source of stress.”

“Too many people work in a 'toxic' environment.”

If you are a URA-AFT member who graduated, send along your photo to union@ura-aft.org and tell us what program you finished.

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Dean Susan Schurman, 2010 Master in Labor and Employment Relations grad Barbara Loftus and Dean David Finegold.

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2010 Master in Public Administration Gilda Morales passes through Rutgers Old Queens gate marching to pick up her degree.

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Libraries staff have complained about an email which was sent to RUL staff and faculty from the Libraries’ HR office. It appears to forbid our members from talking with union representatives. Ironically, we suspect that this memo was provoked by union representatives distributing information on the State budget, which is of critical importance to the entire Rutgers community.

May 17: Supervisors will notify employees of their performance evaluation ratings by May 15 (May 17 this year, since the 15 is a Saturday) of each year...(http://www.ura-aft.org/contract/38SalaryImprovements.shtml)

June 1: ...and will provide employees an opportunity to comment in writing by June 1. Comments shall be attached to the appraisal. (http://www.ura-aft.org/contract/38SalaryImprovements.shtml)

(left to right): URA-AFT president Lucye Millerand, David Michaels, PhD, MPH, and URA-AFT health and safety chair Joyce S. Sagi

By Bob Braun/Star-Ledger Columnist
May 06, 2010, 5:00AM

TRENTON -- Unions, even public employee unions, are not the devil’s spawn. Like corporations, they serve the interests of a community. Corporations want to maximize money invested by shareholders and protect their interests. Unions exist to maximize the income and protect the interests of represented employees.

In fact, the law requires both to act that way. Be selfish for those who rely on them.

So how did public unions become targets of so much venom? Come to be seen as the primary, if not sole, cause of New Jersey’s fiscal crisis? Even compared to "drug dealers" who use children like "drug mules"?

A small group of URA-AFT members joined AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka on Thursday, April 29 to demand that Wall Street be accountable for the economic collapse and contribute to creating good jobs now. An estimated 15,000 participated in the rally. See the URA-AFT photos here.