Paying Rutgers University Students Caught in Crossfire as Strike Continues

Robert Walker

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – Students who are paying to attend Rutgers University, some 70,000 of them, are once again skipping class on Thursday, but not by their own choice.

The faculty and staff at Rutgers University are still on strike, clamoring for better pay after a year-long bargaining talk finally broke down.

Professors and staff are on strike, and tuition-paying students, many with new student loans, are being sidelined and University officials are now hinting that they might seek a court injunction against the strike.

Case law in New Jersey has shown time and time again that it is illegal for public union employees to go on strike. If push comes to shove, striking Rutgers employees could even be arrested and put in jail.


That happened in 2001 in Middletown when the 1,000-member Middle Township Education went on strike over healthcare costs. After being ordered back to class by a state judge, over 200 who did not were arrested and put in jail.


The New Jersey Employer-Employee Relations Act expressly forbids strikes by police and firefighters but cautions against strikes by all other publicly employed individuals.

“It is hereby declared as the public policy of this State that the best interests of the people of the State are served by the prevention or prompt settlement of labor disputes, both in the private and public sectors; that strikes, lockouts, work stoppages and other forms of employer and employee strife, regardless where the merits of the controversy lie, are forces productive ultimately of economic and public waste,” the act reads. “That the interests and rights of the consumers and the people of the State, while not direct parties thereto, should always be considered, respected and protected; and that the voluntary mediation of such public and private employer-employee disputes under the guidance and supervision of a governmental agency will tend to promote permanent, public and private employer-employee peace and the health, welfare, comfort, and safety of the people of the State. To carry out such policy, the necessity for the enactment of the provisions of this act is hereby declared as a matter of legislative determination.”

Now, classes are being canceled, and students working toward their degrees are caught in the middle.

While many of the students back the strike, the consequences of a long-term walk-out to the students’ progress is unknown at this time.

On Wednesday, Governor Phil Murphy held a meeting between union members and university leaders. The governor is also caught in the middle. As he is expected to uphold the law, he is also expected to side with the unions that helped get him elected to office.

“We are working hard to reach fair and reasonable agreements with our unions, but no matter the outcome of the labor negotiations, the well-being of all Rutgers students will remain our top priority,” the University said this week.

Murphy requests that university officials remain in talks and hold off on getting a court order to end the strike.

 ”I am hopeful that we can come to a resolution that will meet both sides fairly and come to that resolution ASAP,” Murphy told reporters this week. “Our administration is committed to ensuring Rutgers educators and staff can continue their critical work — and more importantly, Rutgers students, particularly given we’re on April 10 with the clock ticking toward the end of the school year — that those students can pursue their education.”

That leaves one question unanswered.

Where will the university get the money they need to make this deal work?

The most obvious source is higher tuition for students. The next option would be a state-funded bail-out of Rutgers University.

Murphy is now performing a delicate political balancing act trying to accommodate the powerful unions. Still, at the same time, appeasing families who are paying for a service they’re not currently getting.

No deal was reached on Wednesday.

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