Rutgers faculty union announces a tentative deal with university on labor pact

The union representing 4,800 full-time faculty and graduate students at Rutgers University announced Tuesday night that it had reached a tentative agreement with the New Jersey institution and had avoided a strike.

"We won significant pay raises for our lowest paid members, our graduate employees who will see their pay increase from $25,969 to $30,162 over the course of the contract,” said Deepa Kumar, president of the union at Rutgers’ New Brunswick, Camden, and Newark campuses.

Last month, faculty voted to authorize the negotiating team to call a strike if necessary. The university and faculty have been negotiating for about a year; their last contract expired in June.

David Hughes, chair of the union’s bargaining team, said there was still no deal for nearly 3,000 part-time lecturers.

The union said more details of the agreement would be discussed at a news conference Wednesday at 11 a.m. in New Brunswick. The union did not say whether the pact must still be approved by the union rank-and-file.

A spokesperson for the university could not be reached for comment.