Resolution on Resolving PTL Collective Bargaining Agreement

BACKGROUND

Part-Time Lecturers (PTLs) are among the most important and valuable members of the academic community at Rutgers University- New Brunswick as well as throughout Rutgers and in many colleges and universities nationwide. They teach and mentor our students with skill and dedication, and they involve themselves with energy and passion in the life of the institution.

It is estimated that each semester over 1,000 PTLs teach at Rutgers University- New Brunswick. As a practical matter, given the large proportion of courses taught by PTLs, the university could not fulfill its mission without the deep and abiding commitment of PTLs to their students and to the community.

Nevertheless, PTLs are in many ways not accorded the dignity and recognition that they deserve. Their compensation is not proportionate to the vital service they perform and the skills and credentials that they bring to their jobs. They have little or no job security and little or no opportunity for formal advancement within their ranks. They are often marginalized within the academic community in large and small ways. This situation hurts PTLs, but it even more profoundly degrades the university.

Since the New Brunswick Faculty Council passed a resolution in February 2017 supporting professionalization of PTLs, some departments have done a better job of including PTLs in meetings and social events, and providing office space, but when it comes to equal pay for equal work (including fractional appointments) and job security in the form of longer term contracts, the University continues to lag behind many of its BIG TEN counterparts.

Resolution

Whereas, Rutgers has millions of dollars to give bonuses to administrators, and

Whereas, Rutgers has millions of dollars to subsidize the athletic departments, and

Whereas, Rutgers has millions of dollars to resolve the full-time / grad collective agreement in historic fashion,

Therefore, Be It Resolved, that the NBFC calls on the Rutgers administration to promptly and fairly resolve the PTL collective agreement with Equal Pay for Equal Work, Job Security in the form of longer-term fractional appointments, and Health Benefits in order to better protect Rutgers students' education.