Four months was long enough.

Frustrated by stalled contract talks, the staff at nine New Jersey colleges are holding rallies and protests across the state on Wednesday to fight for a better deal.

“We are trying very hard not to have a strike," said Tim Haresign, president of the union representing more than 10,000 professors, professional staff and librarians. "But I think there is a pretty strong willingness across the state to move in that direction, because people are fed up.”

The union, the Council of New Jersey State College Locals, negotiates a contract with the state for faculty and staff across all public colleges, excluding Rutgers and New Jersey Institute of Technology. The last contract expired July 1, with the two sides unable to agree on pay structure for adjunct professors and non-tenured lecturers, Haresign said.

Scheduled rallies Wednesday include a New Orleans-style funeral at William Paterson University and a march at Kean University.

The contentious negotiation comes as colleges nationwide are increasingly relying on adjunct professors, a cheaper alternative to tenured full professors. Unions are increasingly pushing back, demanding better pay and more protections for adjuncts, who typically receive a few thousand dollars per class each semester with no benefits.

Union leaders also want non-tenured lecturers, who work on a year-to-year basis, to be able to earn two- and three-year contracts that provide job security, Haresign said.

“It’s not about faculty looking for huge raises or anything like that,” Haresign said. “We are looking out for the lowest paid workers in our union.”

The number of full professors at Kean has plummeted as the university hires more lecturers, said James Castiglione, president of the local faculty union.

“We are fighting for the contingent members of our union who are being abused. Period,” Castiglione said.

Gov. Phil Murphy’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

The union previously worked for about two years without a contract between 2015 and 2017.

Adam Clark may be reached at adam_clark@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on twitter at @realAdamClark. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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