At least a hundred Rutgers professors, part-time lecturers, graduate and undergraduate workers demanded new contracts, pay equity and a $15 minimum wage at a protest Thursday before a university Board of Governors meeting.

“What do we want? Contracts! When do we want them? Now!” shouted the protesters, holding up signs, many with messages directed to Rutgers President Robert Barchi.

The union members, including tenured and non-tenured faculty, part-time lecturers and graduate student teaching assistants, have been working without a contract since June 30.

The protest began two hours before the governing board’s meeting and spilled into the meeting room at Winants Hall once the board meeting started. Protesters interrupted the meeting by singing Christmas carols with original lyrics calling Barchi greedy. Before leaving, they dropped black-colored garbage to look like coal.

Tension also came to a boil during the public comments portion of the meeting when a union member threatened a strike next semester if there aren’t “good faith” negotiations before then.

Among the unions’ demands are cost of living raises for all faculty, and pay equity across the university’s three major campuses.

“We need equality – Camden, Newark and New Brunswick – we are one university,” said David Hughes, vice president of the Rutgers American Association of University Professors.

According to a study conducted by the union on salary data, on average, Camden faculty members earn 20 percent less than faculty at the flagship New Brunswick campus, and Newark faculty earn 10 percent less.

Since March, the university’s bargaining team has met with the academic unions 45 times, university officials said.

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“Negotiations are ongoing,” university spokesperson Dory Devlin said in a prepared statement. “All issues related to employee contracts will be discussed at the negotiating table with the appropriate bargaining team representatives from the administration and the unions.”

So far, the university has reached agreements with five of Rutgers’ 24 labor unions. Two unions received 3 percent wage increases per year for three years and a 2.5 percent increase in the fourth year of a 2018-2022 contract.

But the remainder of the unions appear to be united on a cost of living salary increase.

“We know you have money because you gave President Barchi a nice raise,” Hughes said to the governors during the public comment portion of the meeting. “Pay us the kind of respect that we deserve.”

At the governing board’s request, Barchi agreed over the summer to stay on for another two years, making an annual base salary of $705,305, with an opportunity to collect up to $176,326 in a lump sum payment based on performance.

“We have students living with food insecurity at Rutgers, they can’t earn a $15 minimum wage working on campus, yet President Barchi is earning more than $800,000,” said Deepa Kumar, president of the union.

The union is behind students who work on campus and want a higher minimum wage. The current minimum wage is $8.60, and Gov. Phil Murphy made raising the minimum wage to $15 a campaign promise. A bill was introducedin the state legislature Thursday morning to do just that, though the increase wouldn’t take effect for most workers until 2024.

“If there isn’t an adequate response to a fair and just contract agreement by the beginning of spring semester, I’m going to propose that the faculty go on strike,” said Nicholas Belkin, a distinguished professor in Rutgers' School of Communication and Information. “It will really be a pity if that’s the only way you, President Barchi, and this administration will recognize how central we are who do research and provide service to the community.”

Email: carrera@northjersey.com