Dear AAUP-BHSNJ Faculty Member,

Yesterday, we kicked off our negotiations concerning the new faculty collective bargaining agreement. Our hope is to reach a new contract which is fair and on time. This collective bargaining agreement is a master employment contract that governs your terms and conditions of employment. The current contract covers everything from your pay, benefits, length of appointment, ability to challenge promotions, tuition remission, parking and much more. This is why this negotiation is so important. Over the past several months, our negotiations advisory committee has developed strategies to address many of the problems you identified in our bargaining unit survey.

Our Goals

Based on your input, the Negotiations Advisory Council adopted the following goals:

• Aligning the AAUP-BHSNJ and AAUP-AFT Contracts so that our faculty are not second-class faculty
• Creating a compensation plan that will have buy in for both NJMS and RWJMS, as well as other RBHS schools. Such plan must address equity issues.
• Protecting faculty from possible adverse impact of the RWJBH/Rutgers partnership
• Winning job security measures to protect faculty in cases of retaliation, bullying and other arbitrary treatment
• Improving aspects of the A&P Guidelines and Extramural Incentive program
• Support Rutgers union coalition efforts to “bargain for the common good”

Our Union Needs Time and Information to Negotiate

In order to achieve a contract that addresses your concerns, we need an adequate time to negotiate and the information necessary to develop proposals. Neither has been provided. As such, we have filed a charge with the appropriate regulatory body (PERC) to secure our rights and a good faith negotiation.

Joint Negotiations

Additionally, in the interest of time and efficiency, we proposed to the administration to jointly negotiate with the other faculty union, Rutgers AAUP, articles that are the same or similar. Where the articles are not similar, we often share many common interests. For example, already the Rutgers AAUP has proposed improved articles concerning Family Leave, Diversity, Non-Discrimination, and Salary Compression. Unfortunately, the administration has been reluctant to agree to these joint negotiations with the exception of the patent policy. Each union, though, has been allowed to be an observer of the other union's negotiation. We sincerely hope they change their mind, and agree to cooperative negotiations beyond simply an observation status. This would ensure all Rutgers faculty are awarded equal privileges and benefits.

Compensation and RWJ Barnabas Alignment

We know that the Rutgers administration has hired a consultant to create a "master compensation plan" for all RBHS faculty members. So far, though, there is no indication as to when the administration will present us with a proposal. We are cognizant that whatever plan is proposed would have varying impacts on different departments and schools, given the wide variety of ways our faculty are paid. Rest assured, we will strive to ensure any final plan is fair to all our members and is developed with your meaningful input.

Finally, we have been working diligently with other RBHS unions and key stakeholders on protecting your interest with respect to the Rutgers/RWJ Barnabas alignment. As such, we proposed for the first time a comprehensive agreement to protect the integrity of your occupation. This proposal protects you by:

• Securing retirement benefits, job security, tenure, or rank
• Ensuring the union will still negotiate your terms and conditions of employment and that your bargaining power is not diminished
• Your workload does not change as a result of the partnership
• Your academic role is not minimized by the partnership
• You will be given proper notice, compensation and a voice in the event you are expected to go new work locations
• You will have say on any joint-committees created by the partnership

We hope that our proposals are met with a genuine interest in solving problems and building the RBHS we all deserve. In any event, we will continue to bargain vigorously on your behalf. Please check our website and Facebook page in the future, as we expect to post key developments there in addition to these emails.

Sincerely,

AAUP-BHSNJ