Bargaining Update: Rutgers Wage Proposals on the Table
On November 6th, we had our fourth bargaining session with management. After cancelling our session scheduled for late October, management came back to the table and gave us their first economic proposal: 1% a year for four years and an expiration date of September 30, 2018. When asked, they also said their proposal does not include tuition remission for Rutgers employees.
At our November 18th session, we countered with modified wage proposals cutting a half percent out of our across the board demands – so the ball is now again in their court. Our new wage proposals, through a combination of across the board increases and step movements, amount to an average of 5.5% year for Staff Nurses on the RB scale and APNs.
In addition to the wages, we also agreed on two new tentative agreements including expanded pre-termination rights and eliminating the interruption of dues deduction when members switch from one HPAE bargaining unit to another.
We have plenty of work to do, but two additional dates are still scheduled. We are negotiating with management again today, Wednesday, November 26th and December 11th. We’ll post another update after the holiday. In the meantime, have a happy Thanksgiving everyone.