TO: ALL UMDNJ FACULTY & LIBRARIANS
FROM: ALEX BERNSTEIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AAUP-UMDNJ
RE: NO UNILATERAL 1.5% EMPLOYEE CONTRIBUTION
DATE: JULY 16, 2007
UMDNJ RESCINDS 1.5% EMPLOYEE CONTRIBUTION
UMDNJ RECOGNIZES IT MUST BE NEGOTIATED
GREAT NEWS! UMDNJ HAS ACKNOWLEDGED THAT IT MAY NOT IMPOSE A 1.5% EMPLOYEE CONTRIBUTION AND THAT ANY FUTURE EMPLOYEE CONTRIBUTION MUST BE NEGOTIATED AT THE EXPIRATION OF THE AAUP CONTRACT (June 30, 2009).
This outcome is a direct result of the efforts of UMDNJ UNITED, a coalition of employee organizations consisting of AAUP, CIR/SEIU, CWA, HPAE, Operating Engineers, and Teamsters.
As you recall, in a June 15, 2007 UMDNJ memorandum from Gerard Garcia, Acting Vice President for Human Resources, UMDNJ informed you that:
1. you would be required to contribute 1.5% of your base salary to health insurance coverage effective the July 27, 2007 paycheck; and
2. your medical and brand-name prescription co-payments would increase effective July 1, 2007.
In response, AAUP, as a member of UMDNJ UNITED took the following actions:
1. On July 3, 2007 - Filed a grievance alleging a violation of the AAUP collective bargaining agreement.
2. On July 6, 2007 - Filed an Unfair Practice Charge with PERC alleging UMDNJ unilaterally modified health insurance benefits and unilaterally imposed a 1.5% employee contribution.
3. On July 6, 2007 - Sent a letter objecting to the unilateral modifications to Governor Corzine, David Socolow, Commissioner of the Department of Labor, and Dr. William F. Owen, Jr., UMDNJ President.
As a direct result of the pressure these actions brought on UMDNJ, we were successful in getting UMDNJ to rescind the 1.5% employee contribution. On July 13, 2007, Gerard Garcia announced that the "implementation of the 1.5% health care contribution will not occur as previously announced" for employees covered by collective bargaining agreements.
THE UNIVERSITY IS STARTING TO RECOGNIZE WHAT AAUP HAS BEEN SAYING ALL ALONG - THAT ANY CHANGES TO YOUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT MUST BE NEGOTIATED - NOT UNILATERALLY IMPOSED.
I want to thank you for your continuing support of AAUP in its efforts to prevent the University from unilaterally modifying your terms and conditions of employment. Outcomes such as this would not be possible without your support.
I also want to take this opportunity to express AAUP's disappointment in Mr. Garcia's July 13, 2007 communication.
First, while there was some recognition of the impact, there was no acknowledgement of ACCOUNTABILITY for the impact the communication has had on employee morale, patient care, scholarship, research and the recruitment and retention of qualified faculty. Rather than recognizing his error in communicating and seeking to unilaterally implement modifications that were not intended to apply to faculty and librarians, Mr. Garcia implies that it was a State directive that required him to send out the communication and implement the changes. In fact, the State's advice and directive to UMDNJ was that employee contributions must be negotiated. The requirement to negotiate is set forth in the law. Furthermore, the requirement to negotiate is clearly set forth in the State's June 25, 2007 advisory memorandum, which provides:
Since existing bargaining agreements can not be unilaterally abandoned by the employer, the [1.5% employee contribution] can not be realized until future negotiations.
If Mr. Garcia, as he writes, has a "significant vested interest in maintaining the quality of [UMDNJ's] benefits plans, not only on behalf of the current talented employees, but as a key tool in the recruitment of new faculty and staff," the June 15, 2007 communication would never have been sent out and at the very least, the issue would have been addressed and resolved much sooner than July 13, 2007. There is no doubt that it was the pressure UMDNJ UNITED put on UMDNJ that resulted in it rescinding the imminent unilateral implementation of the 1.5% employee contribution and in the absence of such pressure, UMDNJ would have imposed the 1.5% contribution unilaterally.
Second, Mr. Garcia and the University continue to refuse to recognize their contractual obligation to maintain employee health benefits for the term of the AAUP collective bargaining agreement. Just as the University has recognized that it must negotiate and may not impose a 1.5% employee contribution during the term of the AAUP collective bargaining agreement, the University must likewise recognize that it must negotiate and can not modify the health insurance and prescription drug benefits during the term the existing agreement.
AAUP wants to thank Governor Corzine and UMDNJ's General Counsel for recognizing the importance of the collective negotiation process and hopes that they equally recognize the importance of complying with their existing collective bargaining agreements.
AAUP will continue to pursue their grievances on your behalf to require the University to maintain employee health insurance benefits during the term of the AAUP contract and to negotiate such modifications upon its expiration. AAUP is particularly concerned that on top of the many other issues facing the faculty and librarians, these unilateral modifications to health benefits not only violates the AAUP contract and diminishes the quality of UMDNJ's benefits plans, it negatively impacts on employee morale, patient care, scholarship, education and the recruitment and retention of qualified and talented faculty and librarians.
It is my hope that UMDNJ recognizes this and rescinds all modifications to your health insurance benefits during the term of the AAUP contract. We must continue to work together to achieve this result.
If you have any questions, please call Amy Reeder at 732-235-4196 or me at 973-972-5875.