Rutgers academic workers strike: New Brunswick undergrads speak out in support

NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY: Demonstrators shout strike chants during the Rutgers University teachers’ strike on College Avenue on the main university campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey on Monday, April 10, 2023. (©2023 Brian Branch-Price.)

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—Unions representing faculty and workers at Rutgers University added to the rich history of the importance of organizing for workers' rights: On April 9, some nine months after working without a contract, 94 percent of the members of three unions across the three campuses voted for a strike. 

In New Brunswick, students joined unionized faculty and staff marching down George Street and onto the main campus outside the Scott Hall building at Voorhees Hall, calling for a fair contract with fair wages and benefits. 

The marchers interspersed their slogans of "Rutgers is for education, we are not a corporation" and "Get up, get down, New Brunswick is a union town!" with powerful speeches on equality and justice as music and drums played on. 

Juhayna Alkurdi, community journalist and Rutgers-New Brunswick student, took to the picket line on the New Brunswick campus to interview students on their motivations and perspectives on supporting the strike. As a human rights activist, she has participated in many protests as a marcher and a speaker, but she donned her journalist hat to learn about her classmates. 

The students interviewed for this story declined to share last names and pics because of ongoing threats and intimidation; we have respectfully obliged their request. 

Jia is a 21-year-old Chinese trans woman who graduated from Rutgers and continues to play a very important role in the movement. Her energy at protests cannot be missed, and she is loved by many organizers in the community. 

Juhayna Alkurdi: When did you join the organizing movement at Rutgers? 

Jia: I’ve been involved with different Rutgers movements since 2019, I’ve been involved in mutual aid organizing for at least since the pandemic began, and I’ve gotten specifically involved with the strike movement around the end of February.

Why did you choose to get involved? Did anything about your family, friends, or personal experiences inspire you?

I think a lot of my politics have been shaped by the fact that I am a Chinese person and learning about Chinese American history, which made me more sensitive to the dangers that Chinese communities can face in the modern day. That’s always shaped my politics and approach toward community organizing.

In terms of the strike specifically, I remain steadfast on the idea that community organizing is the most important thing. What really attracted me to the strike movement was specifically the February event up in Newark when we worked in solidarity to rally at the Rutgers Board of Governors meeting. It was a beautiful event and I was so floored by the amount of solidarity out there. It was beautiful for me to hear from so many different towns and organizers, and it opened my eyes to how active the Rutgers student community is. That was not something I’d ever seen on campus before, it was really moving, and felt great to be a part of the community and I wanted to help as much as I could. From there, I started joining Rutgers One meetings. I cannot emphasize how talented, smart, and effective these organizers are, I have so much respect for them. 

How would you describe the value of unions?

Unions are a fundamental necessity for workers in a capitalist society. It is important for workers to have an organized body through which they can articulate their demands. The nature of capitalism to maximize profit at the expense of everything else necessitates, inherently, the devaluation of workers. There is racism embedded within this as well. If you look at, for example, the “Race to the Bottom” and how production was outsourced to global south countries, such as China and India, the reason the “Race to the Bottom” occurred was because workers in other countries could get them to perform the same work as an American laborer for less pay. I only bring up this example to say that workers are inherently in a weak position in capitalism, and unions are a necessity for workers to be able to collectively withhold their labor. Workers sell their labor, that’s how it works. But unions are how we exercise the power of withholding our labor (since workers are literally refusing to labor) in order to achieve better working conditions. Unions are an absolute necessity, otherwise, the trend that is going to continue on is worsening exploitation, especially toward people from black and Asian countries.

What are the key successes you’re trying to make when you organize?

You can answer this in a short or long-term fashion. Short term, we want to achieve a fair contract for students, faculty, adjuncts, and the community. The demands are clearly laid out. We want better conditions for the university. 

As a long-term answer, if we analyze the current trend of American politics, we are on the path toward fascism. I think people underestimate how much America can turn against different minorities. I am concerned about the rise of Xenophobia, especially toward China and the Asian community, and as an LGBTQIA+ person, I feel the same way about the discourse surrounding that community. We see the increased illegalization of trans existence and different minorities being oppressed for economic gain. How does this relate to the strike? The strike is how we build community. I have said this many times and I’ll say it again because I believe in bargaining for the common good. We need a strong community movement that unites students and faculty as well as the community. The campus needs to get involved with the community because all these struggles are interconnected, New Brunswick and Rutgers are not separate communities. Rutgers’ massive developmental projects in the city are one of the largest culprits of the oppression of minorities in New Brunswick.  American imperialism is a global issue and a domestic issue, from the wars they’re waging on Palestinians to the wars they’re waging on the Filipino people. There are colonies within the United States, we are intimately interconnected. 

How can others get involved?

Get organized. Kwame Ture said this the best… “organize, organize, organize.” You can do as much as you want as an individual but if you want to make real collective change you need to get organized with other like-minded individuals and find ways to push revolutionary transformation. Unions are one example of how this can happen in a workplace. They’re an example of collective organization. But there are so many kinds of communities and even if nobody wants to listen to us, we figure out how to make them listen to us. 

NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY: A student holds a sign during the Rutgers University Teachers strike on College Avenue on the main university campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey on Monday, April 10, 2023. (©2023 Brian Branch-Price.)

Oscar Villar is a 19-year-old Hispanic student majoring in history and political science. He is new to organizing but has played an essential role in campus and strike organizing within the last year. 

When did you join the organizing movement at Rutgers? 

Oscar Villar: I’ve known about it since last March but became active in June 2022, this was right before the union started bargaining for a four-year contract.

Why did you choose to get involved? Did anything about your family, friends, or personal experiences inspire you?

My dad has unionized, he’s involved in the Teamsters Union, and my mother’s in the New Jersey’s Educator Association, But I think I always had that in me from before. The whole narrative is you go to college to get a well-paying job (I guess this is influenced by my parents and was a wake-up call for me). That’s what a professor has to do, they have to go through years of education to get a degree so they can work a job, yet they still get paid pennies. They get paid less than many others, and this isn’t to say that others don’t deserve to get paid well, but everyone has an important role and part in society through the profession they have and everyone should be paid what they deserve for that. Not only are professors not paid well, they also carry a lot of debt from going to college and working hard to become a professor. Once I joined an organization on campus and started learning more about social issues revolving around Rutgers professors, I noticed it was more messed up than I originally thought. 

What does it mean to you when you organize and lead these movements for better labor conditions?

That’s a very deep question. My parents are an example of people who came (from Peru) for the “American Dream” and they don’t want to compromise that narrative, they want me to focus on my studies and “protect myself” by not getting political. The way I see it, I am organizing among my friends, teachers, and people I have relationships with, and I am confident that there will be a new contract after the strike. You are organizing among people, forming connections, and working toward something sustainable, and it is all out of love. I want to leave this world better than it was before, and that means creating a better future for the people in my life. It is out of love for the people around you, even if they are afraid for you. 

How would you describe the value of unions?

The narrative is that the employer is in charge of everything. The boss can fire a worker but a worker cannot do that to a boss. The boss has resources, money, and even police on their side. The union is growing a collective platform where people actually can stand in front of the boss and ask for change and negotiation. That’s what they’re afraid of: people getting together, organizing, and trying to have a say over their own lives. It is all about taking back our control and we do that by looking out for each other, such as providing money, food, and other resources (for the people on picket lines) to allow for this strike to happen. 

What are the key successes you’re trying to make when you organize?

At this moment, my focus is this strike. I want to gather as many people as possible and get them on the picket lines and taking direct action for this strike. 

Overall, the goal of organizing is to raise political consciousness and teach people that they have a say. A lot of people think they don’t have a say, that they can’t change the conditions around them, but that is untrue. It is a lot harder to do it as an individual, though, that’s the key, is to do it as a collective. It sounds cliche but it is all about bringing people together.

Are you taking a risk participating in the movement? If yes, how do you keep moving forward despite risks and the fear that comes with them? 

Be smart. I know what’s out there about me, and I don’t disclose information that can put me in more danger. Obviously, there is a danger and risk in doing anything, especially if you’re standing up against any injustice. People might not understand why, if you’re secure, you would want to risk anything. I don’t see it that way. I’ve had interactions, especially with the police, that weren’t always positive. I know people who have been arrested and abused by police and been through what I haven’t been through. I know at the end of the day, even if I am scared, I have to put that aside. You’ve got people working multiple jobs, even people with PhDs, not knowing if they’re going to be able to pay for their rent or for their food, and that’s a greater fear than anything I can experience. I also believe the love you have for organizing overrides that fear. 

How can others get involved?

Join an organization. Be a part of your community, get to know people, and make connections, even if they’re people you wouldn’t interact with otherwise. That’s what the people in power fear. That’s where it all starts, with people who just get close with each other, know each other, and love each other. Also, it creates this culture where we take care of someone, and they take care of you. You have someone over for dinner and feed them, they will feed you at some point as well. We are not living as individuals, we take care of each other. 

Deepti Vajapey is a 20-year-old Asian student who has organized with various campus organizations, including Rutgers One Coalition, a cross-campus coalition of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members fighting for justice at Rutgers. Because her organizing comes from a place of genuine emotion and care, her work on the Rutgers campus is powerful, and you certainly feel her power, not only during the strike but when organizing with her overall! 

When did you join the organizing movement at Rutgers? 

The first real action I participated in was the action on February 28th, where people from all Rutgers campuses came to Newark to stand at the doorstep of all the Board of Governor members who were meeting to “discuss” the finances at the university. We held panels and talked about what had been going on and how to mobilize the student power and build toward a strike. In fact, that was the day the strike authorization vote went live, and it gave me a taste of what needed to be done.

Why did you choose to get involved? Did anything about your family, friends, or personal experiences inspire you?

I think the anger I held had been simmering for a while. I feel as though living in New Brunswick on my own gave me a different perspective. I don’t have the privilege of going back to my parent’s house, so New Brunswick isn’t just where I go to school, it is my home. This means the specific problems that plague its communities, I am also affected by. This includes ridiculous rent amounts, heavy police presence, and how extremely inaccessible parts of the city can be. There was a while ago where I was doing a project with the public history department and we looked at the temporary employment agencies that exist in the areas. Some of the temp agencies were very close to where I lived and these are the same temp agencies Rutgers uses to construct their buildings, and through this, they deceive and severely underpay those that are disadvantaged, including undocumented individuals. 

What does it mean to you when you organize and lead these movements for better labor conditions?

Sometimes when I am organizing, because it’s so easy to just see myself in these communities and see myself impacted, it becomes selfish, and I have to remind myself that “it’s not just about you, it’s about us.” Organizing is recognizing that I have a voice and a privilege of being able to walk, speak, and use my voice for others that might not have the opportunity to. I am incredibly privileged to be able to speak English, for example. I recognize the privileges I have in my position, so advocating for others is important because, if not us, then who? It’s also about being a good neighbor, helping others, and recognizing that New Brunswick is not just Rutgers, it’s those communities of people who are being pushed out of Rutgers and confined into smaller and smaller areas within New Brunswick because of this massive wave of gentrification. It’s not always about making history, it is also about recognizing the history of those that are not considered all the time. 

How would you describe the value of unions?

The union is the beginning of recognizing that there is an existing class structure that is exploitative by nature. The existence of a recognized union within New Brunswick allows us to recognize that we are interested in breaking class hierarchy because it is affecting a lot of people. The unions within New Brunswick are making it clear that educators have been regulated to being of a status to laugh at, these workers are not recognized employees, despite the fact they perform most of the work for the university. The union plays an important role in changing that narrative. 

How can others get involved?

Find your call to action. Find the thing that motivates you. Find the thing that angers you. Find the thing you know you will strongly advocate for because you feel strong emotion toward it. Even if it’s that you’re sitting in your dorm one day and find that there is mold on your ceiling and your window won’t close properly and it makes you angry. Or that you are a professor who is incredibly accomplished, published, has done extensive research across different institutions but is getting paid below 30 grand a year. These things make you angry, and that anger should push you to act. You move towards change, that’s what we are doing at Rutgers One. It is a coalition of people from all different lives, but share that same feeling of anger and being fed up at how this system persists and that changing it from its very roots is necessary. 

NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY: Demonstrators marching during the Rutgers University Teachers strike on College Avenue on the main university campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey on Monday, April 10, 2023. (©2023 Brian Branch-Price.)

Luke is a 21-year-old student majoring in both history and psychology. He is an organizer with many Rutgers organizations, such as Rutgers One and Students for Justice in Palestine. Their passion for the movement and their genuine love for the community have made them a beloved organizer who is appreciated by so many people on campus. 

When did you join the organizing movement at Rutgers? 

I joined the All Marxist Leninist Union after one semester of joining Rutgers and was becoming interested in leftist politics and I joined Students for Justice in Palestine within the last year, which has been very fun. I recently joined Rutgers One which has really been the forefront student group that has been instrumental in pushing for better labor conditions. I live in Metuchen (named after the Raritan Lenape leader), and over covid I saw a post calling out the police department for displaying racist caricatures of the Chief Metuchen, and from there, we organized to get it removed. Unfortunately, that was not successful, but we did push ourselves and get involved with the Munsee Three Sisters Farm, which has been really fun.

What does it mean to you when you organize and lead these movements for better labor conditions?

I feel like organizing is leadership in a collective, and you can never do much alone. These movements are big and, simply, you need people to support you and have your back. You need that to accomplish any goal you have. 

How would you describe the value of unions?

Unions are cool! My grandfather was a union man and my mother walked the picket line with him. Unions are instrumental and are one of the few things laborers have in order to negotiate the selling of labor power because, in our capitalist system, we are forced to sell our labor, and unions let us negotiate that price and set it above and beyond the minimum that the owner wants to “buy” said labor. I love unions. I am interning at the Botto House labor museum, which, during The 1913 Paterson Silk Strike led by the IWW, housed about 15,000 strikers who gathered to hear powerful speeches. 

What are the key successes you’re trying to make when you organize?

Definitely changing the system. You want to change the systems of capitalist oppression, exploitation, class prejudice, etc., and you have to get to the root of them to really do that. We are having successes here and there but at the end of the day, we need revolutionary change with a new society and a new vision. Of course, that is very hard, and at times, it does feel like you are just organizing for reform but you have to have that belief in change and hold those core principles to your heart. 

Are you taking a risk participating in the movement? If yes, how do you keep moving forward despite risks and the fear that comes with them? 

Personally, I don’t feel like I am taking much of a risk. I am privileged as someone who is middle class and white. A lot of people don’t have the privilege of feeling safe due to reasons such as money, background, race, gender, and sexuality. Recognizing my privilege and learning how to use it for the better of others is something I always want to work more on. I also want to understand my comrades who experience those issues and almost put myself in their shoes so I can connect with them better and help resolve those issues. 

How can others get involved?

Do it. You can do it, everybody has a role. If you’re a good writer, then write. If you’re a good speaker, make speeches. If you’re good at art, make banners and shirts. Whatever you’re good at, use it! As a collective, all those skills make a fantastic and beautiful thing. 

This isn’t part of the question but I do want to add that we want a rent freeze on all Rutgers properties, a community fund of two million dollars rotating yearly, debt relief, and many other things. I think these are instrumental in the Rutgers strike, and everybody needs to focus on these demands because these demands, to me, are structural change. Considering how big Rutgers is and how big of a gentrifier it is…these demands will change entire communities that have been harmed by the corporation that is Rutgers University. 

Though the work stoppage is halted, the strike continues in many forms as negotiators struggle to meet an agreement.