Rutgers Unions demand reversal of ‘unnecessary’ and ‘unproductive’ hiring freeze, pushes back on negotiations claim

Rutgers unions demanded in a statement on Friday that the hiring freeze announced by the Board of Governors in the 2026-2027 budget be reversed, calling the freeze “unnecessary” and “unproductive.”

“What the Rutgers Administration is calling “disciplined stewardship,” however, will damage the University’s core missions of education and research,” according to a statement from the unions. The unions state that the “burden of [Rutgers’] austerity plan” would be moved to the “very workers who have kept Rutgers enrollment strong despite national declines.”

In their statement, the unions also said that the hiring freeze, in addition to the increase of class sizes and reduced course sections, would “likely result in the layoffs of many adjunct faculty.” Adjuncts teach over 30% of the curriculum at Rutgers, meaning the layoffs would lead to full-time and graduate workers picking up additional teaching load, “leaving less time for research, mentoring, and service.”

President of the Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union, Heather Pierce, said in the statement that “the serious negative impact that this hiring freeze will have on the University’s core mission is not unavoidable, but the consequence of deliberate budget decisions made by University leaders.”

“Budgets reflect values and priorities,” Pierce further added. “This budget seems to prioritize the pursuit of investment income by appealing to bond rating agencies over that of education and research.” She also said that it would make research difficult to sustain at the University.

The unions also pushed back on President Tate’s email, where he said he stated that the University was holding “productive” and “good-faith negotiations” with the unions at Rutgers.

The unions said that “management has not presented meaningful counterproposals on many of our core bargaining demands,” specifically the central demand of increased job security for all faculty. The unions further added that the announcement of a hiring freeze amidst bargaining “undermines” negotiations, allowing the administration to claim unfair leverage in the middle of the process. “This is hardly good faith,'” the unions said.

Union of Rutgers Administrators (URA) President Christine O’Connell said that a “threatened hiring freeze on our already understaffed members harms the service to all of the Rutgers community in all aspects,” adding that it devalues the work they bring to the university. O’Connell added that the proposed FY27 budget is over $2 billion more than in 2022, when the school was coming out of the pandemic, yet the university has “fewer staff and more work than ever.”

“Rather than reduce hiring,” O’Connell said, “Rutgers should bolster their hiring of staff rather than high level administrators who have no contact with students, faculty and our community.”

“All of our researchers improve the lives of people around the globe and help drive New Jersey’s economy,” said AAUP-AFT Vice President Carlos Decena. “This hiring freeze impacts the sustenance of our world class educational programs, generates unnecessary anxiety among our colleagues, creates massive uncertainty for chairs and program directors who are stewards of our programs, and hurts the educational experience of our students.”

The union further stated that their contract demands of “real job security, proper class sizes and workloads, academic freedom” are designed to “protect faculty, staff, students, and the future of Rutgers.”

Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union Vice President Hank Kalet ended the statement by adding that the “manufactured austerity” from the Tate administration and the Board of Governors “will be bad for all of us, especially our students.”

General counsel for Rutgers informed the union attorney about the hiring freeze late on July 8, before it was presented for approval to the BOG on July 9 at 11 a.m. The announcement of the budget, including the hiring freeze, was made to the Rutgers community less than an hour later.

In a separate statement online, the Coalition of Rutgers Unions (CRU) said they sent a letter to Tate directly, expressing concern that this decision would do “serious harm to the trust we have in your leadership team during these critical times.” They added that the $40 million in proposed state cuts which was restored after Rutgers Government Affairs and CRU worked together in Trenton, and the 800 State lines they secured, will “create sustainable financial health for Rutgers.”

The CRU ended the letter by saying that they are “committed to continue bargaining in good faith towards contracts that improve the lives of tens of thousands of Rutgers employees,” but that the actions by Tate and the BOG does not signal a similar effort by Rutgers management. “Please consider rescinding the hiring freeze and work with us to find a better solution.”

Tate had, in his original letter to the University, said that additional information on the “hiring freeze and a related personnel action freeze” would be made public in the weeks following his letter. There has yet to be an update from Tate or the Rutgers administration.