Rutgers Faculty and Grad Worker Union Announces Endorsements in Legislative Elections

For Immediate Release: October 27, 2023

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—Rutgers AAUP-AFT, which represents some 6,000 faculty, graduate workers, postdocs, and counselors, is endorsing 14 candidates in legislative elections on November 7. The candidates are listed below.

All of the endorsed candidates have proven their commitment to protecting research and ensuring academic excellence at New Jersey’s public higher education institutions, said Matthew Buckley, an associate professor of Physics and Astronomy and chair of the Rutgers AAUP-AFT Legislative Committee.

“These officeholders have shown their support on issues we think are essential for our state’s public higher education system and the labor movement in general,” Buckley said. “They have supported and sponsored legislation to fix New Jersey’s inflated fringe rate that endangers research at Rutgers, to give adjunct lecturers who teach at public colleges and universities access to the state health insurance program, and to establish safe nurse-to-patient staffing levels, as striking nurses in New Brunswick have called for.”

In addition, the legislators supported the recently passed state budget that provided more than $50 million in additional funding for Rutgers University over previous spending levels. Governor Phil Murphy and legislative supporters have linked the additional funding to paying for the new contracts won by unions after a first-ever academic strike at Rutgers.

“We succeeded in many of our goals for the new contracts, especially in raising up the lowest-paid and most vulnerable educators and researchers at Rutgers,” said Todd Wolfson, president of Rutgers AAUP-AFT. “Support from Governor Murphy and our legislative allies was critical in helping us attain those goals.”

Wolfson said union members are mobilizing to talk to voters about the issues that are important to higher ed labor and to urge them to vote on November 7.

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The following candidates are endorsed by the Rutgers AAUP-AFT Executive Council:

District 6, Camden County
Senator James Beach

District 7, Burlington County
Assemblywoman Carol Murphy

District 14, Mercer County
Senator Linda Greenstein

District 15, Mercer County
Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson
Assemblyman Anthony Verrelli

District 16, Middlesex, Somerset, Mercer, and Hunterdon Counties
Senator Andrew Zwicker
Assemblyman Roy Freiman

District 18, Middlesex County
Senator Patrick Diegnan

District 19, Middlesex County
Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez

District 29, Essex County
Senator Theresa Ruiz

District 31, Hudson County
Running for Senate: Assemblywoman Angela McKnight

District 33, Hudson County
Running for Senate: Assemblyman Raj Mukherji

District 35, Passaic County
Senator Nellie Pou

District 37, Bergen County
Senator Gordon Johnson