1/ There was rain. A lot of rain. And people. A lot. Hundreds. Members of nearly all of the unions representing workers at Rutgers. There were students. Members of the community. And there was anger over the slow pace of negotiations. // I was there with the Rutgers adjunct faculty union. We teach about a third of all classes, get paid a fraction of what others get paid. We are demanding equal pay. Health care. Job security. We are only asking for what everyone wants. What everyone deserves. //
2/ Speaker after speaker (like Justin O’Hea, co-president of HPAE-AFT, pictured), from the major faculty unions, the staff and administrators unions, demanded equity. Respect. A raise. But it is not just about money. It is about a new model for academia. One that does not rely on neoliberal management models, that does not create a tiered system of pay or benefits, that provides the kind of university students deserve. It brought together staff and faculty and students, and we raised our voices, shouted. “Equal work for equal pay!” “Rutgers is for education, we are not a corporation!” And readied ourselves to march on Winant Hall at the corner of College Avenue and Somerset Street, where the Board of Governors was meeting. //
3/ “Today we draw a line in the sand,” Todd Vachon, assistant professor of labor studies, told the crowd. “We say we know where the money is, and we’re coming for it. … When we come together in solidarity … there’s nothing we can’t achieve. The power is ours.” //
4/ Charles Basden Jr., a senior academic program coordinator and member of the Union of Rutgers Administrators, denounced the administration’s “great intransigence.” Intransigence at the bargaining table. A failure by administrators to fulfill Rutgers’ professed commitment to its community. “Let’s be frank. It’s getting harder to uphold your illusion when the word is out about your exclusion.” We are here to demand a stop to “this charade,” to demand “a fair contract now.” //
5/ Demanded, like all of us, that management take our demands seriously, that it admit that its commitment has been to austerity. To a corporate model for the university. That it can only redeem itself and create the beloved community proclaimed by University President Jonathan Holloway if it abandons its current course. If it provides livable wages. Can only provide a quality education for students if it treats all workers with respect, treats the surround community with dignity. // That’s why we marched. Why I marched. Why everyone I talked with today marched. My voice is still hoarse from shouting into the bullhorn. Sore from use, but still retains its power. Our voice is our power. Our labor is our leverage. Today was just a preview. This is not over. //