Thousands picket at historic Rutgers strike

Thousands of faculty members at Rutgers, New Jersey's flagship university, went on the school's first strike Monday.

The Rutgers AAUP-AFT union said it is working with other school unions, including the Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union and the AAUP-BHSNJ, to represent more than 15,000 Rutgers workers whose contracts expired last summer.

Employees on strike include part-time lecturers, full-time faculty members, graduate employees, postdoctoral associates and some counselors, according to The Associated Press.

The AAUP-AFT said it asked for graduate workers to receive an immediate raise of 23.2% in the first year and 37.6% over four years, but the school rejected the proposal. The union also said it asked for at least a 4.25% salary increase for full-time workers every year for four years with an additional cost-of-living adjustment dependent upon inflation. Rutgers countered with a smaller salary increase and a proposal that the union said, "Amounts to a wage cut after accounting for the current inflation rate."

Rutgers also rejected the union's request for a childcare subsidy of $5,000 per graduate worker and postdoctoral associate.

The union also proposed a loan "forgiveness program for students and alumni who are punished for having outstanding debts to Rutgers," but the school rejected that as well.

Rutgers is still holding classes at its campuses in New Brunswick/Piscataway, Newark and Camden, but students said some classes were canceled because of the strike.

"We have held more than 100 bargaining sessions with our faculty and staff unions and will continue to meet until we reach comprehensive agreements," Rutgers said. "Significant and substantial progress has been made, with only a few outstanding issues, and the university will continue to negotiate for as long as it takes to reach agreements."

New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy called all parties to the statehouse to negotiate on Monday.