Solidarity with Rutgers Workers on STRIKE!

After more than 280 days of working without a contract, months of stalled negotiations, and years of low wages, 9,000 Rutgers University professors, part-time lecturers, and graduate workers represented by three unions went on strike on April 10th. The strike is one of the largest in US higher education history, and the first faculty strike in Rutgers's 257 year history.

The unions representing the striking workers are Rutgers AAUP-AFT, Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union-AFT, and the American Association of University Professors–Biomedical and Health Sciences of New Jersey.

While none of our members are part of the striking bargaining units, CWA Local 1031 represents approximately 350 workers at Rutgers, and CWA members throughout New Jersey - including Locals 1014, 1037, 1038, 1040, 1084, and 1085 - turned out this week to support the striking workers. CWA leadership have declared that they will be on the picket lines every day until a fair contract is settled.

“When it comes to standing alongside workers and working families, an injury to one is an injury to all,” said CWA District 1 Vice President Dennis Trainor. “And CWA stands in steadfast solidarity with the striking workers at Rutgers University. Today marks a monumental action. These hard-working men and women did not come to this moment lightly. But, workers have an inherent right to head to the picket lines when they’re not being treated fairly by management. We strongly call on the University  to do the right thing and bargain in good faith. It is the only course to take if Rutgers truly values both its workers and students as a premier institution of higher learning.”