Rutgers Staff Rings in the New Year with First Union Contract

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/01/02/rutgers-staff-rings-in-the-new-year-with-first-union-contract/

by Mike Hall, Jan 2, 2008

Nearly 2,000 Rutgers University administrative workers are celebrating their first-ever union contract. The administrative assistants, program directors, chefs, accountants and other staffers overwhelmingly ratified a four-year pact in late December that improves job security, protects workers’ rights and includes pay increases averaging 20 percent.

In June, after a two-year effort to form a union, the workers won a voice at work with the Union of Rutgers Administrators-AFT (URA-AFT). Says URA-AFT President Lucye Millerand:

We’re not “at will” employees anymore. We are protected by a university contract. That’s additional security for everyone.


Contract committee member Darlene M. Smith

(”At will” indicates the status of workers without a workplace contract who can be hired for as little or as long as the private employer wishes, and an employer is not required to provide any reason for terminating an at will employee, so long as the termination isn’t unlawful or discriminatory.)

The new contract is the first time most of the staff has worked under the protections of a union contact, says URA-AFT Vice President Nat Bender.

Our contract gives stewards the time to investigate issues, and binding arbitration guarantees an impartial legal resolution of any grievances that are not addressed by the university.


FULL story at link.

[LaStrega]

1. Thanks so much ...

for your union posts.

UNIONS: because work is NOT a democracy.