equity gains through collective bargaining. It fought for a contractual process by which faculty can apply for pay adjustments. It has also filed individual grievances which successfully adjusted pay. Currently, supervisory faculty do not have access to this contractual process. RBHS instead claims it conducts “reviews,” but these are often inadequate and not routinely done.

AAUP-BHSNJ has been instrumental in trying to protect NJMS clinical collections that should be directed to faculty from being siphoned off and used for other purposes. A settlement agreement concerning the Change Healthcare Cyberattack will pay $15 million to faculty, both supervisory and non-supervisory. Had the union not intervened in this matter none of this money would have been retrieved. Since chiefs and directors are left out of union representation, they have no say in what the union negotiates or how clinical collection funds should flow. In addition, there has been much opaqueness since UPA was absorbed by RWJBH. A union can fight for greater financial transparency, with supervisors retaining their say in these matters.

AAUP-BHSNJ pioneered the use of pegging salary to AAMC national benchmarks. Certain minimum pay provisions in the union contract have brought pay from the 10% AAMC to 35% AAMC, substantially improving clinician compensation. Such benchmarks are also useful for supervisory faculty negotiating their own salary. If a supervisory union is formed, chiefs and directors can benefit from these measures and join the campaign for setting minimum AAMC benchmarks to 50% AAMC.

Often at RBHS, faculty get supplements that away from the base salaries. However, traditionally raises have been on the base portion and not the supplement. In the coming union contract negotiation, we aim to change this unfairness which does not exist outside of RBHS. Without union representation, supervisors would not be guaranteed this amendment.

AAUP-BHSNJ has helped scores of faculty seeking out-of-cycle increases, and with free legal support on individual pay negotiations. In one example, a faculty member was offered a supervisory role. The role came with it a $10,000 increase to base pay. They reached out to the AAUP-BHSNJ and it became clear that while they would get that increase, they would lose out on more raises through the union contract. They successfully used that fact to bargain for a greater pay increase. 

By being represented, you can protect benefits and promises made to you. Currently, the RBHS administration can take anything away from you at any time, and it does happen. AAUP-BHSNJ has defended faculty against this. For instance, in one NJMS clinical department the RBHS administration attempted to take away clinical money that was supposed to go the faculty and refused to continue to reimburse for professional development. The union intervened and Rutgers reneged. While supervisory faculty may get similar raises as already unionized faculty, they can be taken away or refused at any time, especially in a tough budget year or the complex upcoming merger. 

Currently, your appointment letter is the only thing you have in form of a "contract." If you have a dispute concerning it, you only recourse short of hoping Rutgers solves your problem is hiring a costly outside attorney. Those with union representation have access to attorneys and staff to help them with issues. For example, Rutgers payroll came to one faculty member in late last year and claimed he the University "overpaid him by $5,000." and he need to pay back the University "immediately" to prevent irrevocable taxes. The union intervened and after reviewing his pay stubs, it turned out the University owed him $7,000. Not the other way around. The University ultimately paid him the amount it owed. 

AAUP-BHSNJ has provision in the union contract to prevent from arbitrary treatment/retaliation in appointments and promotions. Supervisors do not have such protection, and demotions can happen at any time. Forming a supervisors union will allow similar protections to be extended to supervisors through a union contract.

Recently, due to changes at the state level and outside of Rutgers. premiums for NJDirect 15 health insurance went up considerably. The union conducted workshops to help faculty switch to comparable but cheaper plans. This saved faculty thousands of dollars per year. The union also fought for a special open enrollment, which will be later this year.

RBHS administration has promised not to merge medical school departments or divisions. AAUP-BHSNJ will be fighting to make Rutgers put this assurance in writing. 

Given that much of NJMS funding is syphoned off for other purposes, AAUP-BHSNJ will fight to be make sure funding stays separate and traceable. 

There is a danger that with a merged medical school, faculty will be told to commute to the other school to perform functions they are not already doing. Faculty should not be negatively impacted and given further workload increases. 

These are covered in the current contract via "central funding" but this was poorly implemented and not effective and many PIs are still waiting for these funds.  

AAUP-BHSNJ is pushing for a mechanism to account for the extreme changes in the fringe rate, buffering the impact on existing grant budgets. Ultimately, unions and the university should also jointly push for the needed legislative change.

Unanticipated emergencies (pandemic implications, change of government funding priorities and ideology, local infrastructure failures including equipment damage) lead to major research disruptions. Untenured faculty need tenure clock extensions. PIs need emergency funding, including additional startup funds, sufficient to maintain research continuity and support laboratory staff through disruptions.

More and more faculty are being asked to do more with little support. In fact, a recent invitation to use AI for EMR entry even required faculty to add more clinical sessions. This is not a one-off. For the last few years, there has been a series of restructurings with accompanying staff layoffs, arbitrary cFTE increases, and last-minute assignments. Patient appointments are increasingly double-booked and in some cases slots are made shorter to fit more patients in. When faculty become burned out from these decisions and ultimately leave, it takes months if not years to fill positions. During this time, faculty are expected to pick up the slack and take on more call. Taken together, this burdensome workload hurts the institution and prevents quality patient care. AAUP-BHSNJ is fighting back to provide more clinical support and compensation for faculty.