Stand in Solidarity with HPAE 5094 Members by Telling Rutgers to Stop the Barnabas Layoffs!

Vivian Fernandez, Rutgers University Senior Vice Present for Human Resources; Abdel Kanan, Rutgers University Acting Assistant Vice President for University Staff Labor Relations

Sign this petition to demand that Rutgers University stop laying off HPAE 5094 members at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey and Robert Wood Johnson Medical school in order to convert these public-sector union jobs into non-union, at-will positions at RWJ-Barnabas Health. Stand in solidarity with laid off HPAE 5094 members!

To: Vivian Fernandez, Rutgers University Senior Vice Present for Human Resources; Abdel Kanan, Rutgers University Acting Assistant Vice President for University Staff Labor Relations
From: [Your Name]

We, the undersigned, call on Rutgers University to cease laying off HPAE Local 5094 employees in order to turn public sector union jobs into private sector, non-union positions at RWJ-Barnabas Health, and to rescind their recent layoffs from June of 2025.

Rutgers’ decision to lay off HPAE 5094 members at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) – while shifting many of those positions to private, non-union roles at RWJ-Barnabas Health – is a clear act of privatization and union-busting. This is an attack not just on HPAE members, but on all union members at Rutgers. It is also an attack on the core mission of a public university to serve the people of New Jersey—not private hospital executives and their profits.

These layoffs threaten good, union-protected public jobs and undermine critical public healthcare services in our state. They jeopardize the hard-won rights, benefits, and job security of our fellow workers—and they set a dangerous precedent for the rest of us.

An injury to one is an injury to all. We will not stand by while Rutgers undermines its workers, its values, and its public mission.

We demand that you cease your union busting layoffs of HPAE 5094 employees so that all of us can continue to serve our communities with their interests in mind!"