Rutgers signs a deal with RWJBarnabas Health

Robert L. Barchi President of Rutgers University, Brian Strom - Chancellor

On July 27th, Rutgers administrators released the details of their deal with RWJBarnabas Health. The University and RWJBarnabas have agreed to combine their clinical operations into one “Aligned Clinical Enterprise.” The different parts of the Enterprise will continue to be owned separately by Rutgers and RWJBarnabas, but they will all be operated under one brand, managed by a CEO appointed by the head of RWJBarnabas.


For the past year, we have been worried about the effect of this agreement on our jobs and our union. The agreement leaves the door open for unionized Rutgers workers to be replaced over time with non-union Barnabas employees, who do not have to be paid a union wage or state pension benefits, and who can be fired at will for any reason. This replacement could happen over time through attrition, or Rutgers could choose to speed up the process by laying off current employees. Rutgers’ demand at the bargaining table to gut our layoff protections does not offer any reassurance.

To: Robert L. Barchi President of Rutgers University, Brian Strom - Chancellor
From: [Your Name]

Dr. Barchi and Chancellor Strom:

For the past year, we have been worried about the effect of the RWJBarnabas affiliation on our jobs and our union. We have been kept in the dark throughout the entire process, and offered vague reassurance that the affiliation agreement would protect our interests. Now that the agreement has been made public, we know that these were empty promises. The agreement contains no protections for bargaining unit work, which could be shifted over to non-union titles at RWJBarnabas through attrition or layoffs. Even the promise that current Rutgers employees will remain University employees is memorialized nowhere in the agreement.
At the town hall in Newark on August 6th, the Chancellor lied to us. He said such protections are in the agreement, but they are not. This does not give us confidence in any promises made by the University. Nor does Rutgers’ demand at the bargaining table to gut our layoff protections, at this time of uncertainty.
Your refusal to entertain our call for formal protection at this critical juncture is unacceptable. We support our bargaining committee in their negotiations, and demand:
1. Full acceptance of our proposal on public/private partnerships, which protects bargaining unit work in the Aligned Clinical Enterprise and places a moratorium on layoffs
2. That the University withdraw their proposals to weaken the layoff protections in our contract
3. That the University work toward a speedy resolution of all of our outstanding contract proposals, which would improve our pay, benefits, and job protections, and help to make Rutgers a more just university and workplace.
We, the below signed members of HPAE Local 5094, are willing to do whatever it takes to fight for a fair contract that meets all of our needs.
Signed,