2,000 Rutgers Staff Join AFT

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/06/06/2000-rutgers-staff-join-aft/

2,000 Rutgers Staff Join AFT

by James Parks, Jun 6, 2007

Some 2,000 administrative, professional and supervisory staff at Rutgers University—including administrative assistants, program directors, chefs and accountants—are union members, thanks to the strong connection between political strength and building the union movement.

The New Jersey labor board this morning certified that a majority of the workers signed cards authorizing the Union of Rutgers Administrators/AFT to represent them. But the victory would not have come without strong support from elected officials—including the governor, a U.S. senator and key state legislators—and community, religious and union groups.


Sen. Bob Menendez (right) and Rep. Chris Smith (left) of New Jersey met with Rutgers staff Feb. 12 to support their efforts to join a union.

This win comes on the heels of the decision by nearly 1,200 dealers at Bally’s Atlantic City who voted to join the UAW this week and 850 dealers at Caesars Atlantic City and 600 dealers at Trump Plaza who voted for UAW representation in March.

New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech says:

For more than 10 years, the New Jersey State AFL-CIO has worked tirelessly to build one of the finest labor political programs in the nation. Never has the value of being able to tie strong political action to aggressive organizing been more evident.

In New Jersey, union political education and member mobilization have helped enact a law that allows public employees to form unions by signing cards indicating their support. Even so, the Rutgers campaign started out contentious, with management sending mass anti-union e-mails and otherwise communicating that workers should not choose to unionize.

FULL story at link.