Rutgers contract avoids lay-offs; calls for furloughs, pay freezes (updated)
April 7, 2021
10:42 am
A new contract between Rutgers University and some of its largest faculty and staff unions means that thousands of workers will avoid lay-offs until at least Jan. 1 next year in exchange for a series of other cuts.
The agreement dated March 24 calls for full-time employees in the union to take 10 furlough days by July 31, or eight days for part-time employees. Members of the AAUP-AFT chapter – which represents 5,000 Rutgers staff – would be furloughed for six days.
This arrangement is known typically as a “shared work program,” and according to a news release dated April 7, “the full income of almost all workers would be protected through state and federal unemployment benefits, thanks to the $300-a-week federal unemployment supplement extended in the COVID relief law.”