Has the Governor Gone Too Far?

by: mikeshapiro

Thu Feb 15, 2007 at 10:00:53 AM EST

Cross-Posted from ShapTalk.com:

For the past decade, New Jersey 's Governors have slowly but steadily politicized the State's system of higher education, from appointing "cronies" to serve on the Board of UMDNJ to "finding" jobs in New Jersey Higher Education for fellow politicians. Governor Corzine's intervention in the union organizing drive underway at Rutgers is as troubling. For the State's chief executive to get so intricately involved in the day-to-day management of the State University is quite unusual in and of itself, but for the Governor to actively promote this unionizing effort and go so far as to join the union's organizing rally is unacceptable. By exerting political pressure and influence on the President of Rutgers University, Richard McCormick, the Governor has also secured a "neutrality" agreement that prohibits the University from taking a position on the possible unionization and allows employees to promote unionization during work hours. Has the Governor gone too far?

mikeshapiro :: Has the Governor Gone Too Far?

While I come from a family of public school teachers and am generally supportive of unions and public employees, the demands of unions should not go unquestioned and certainly should not be given the stamp of approval by the Governor of the State before a thoughtful dialogue takes place. One of the union's demands-the elimination of merit pay-could seriously undermine efforts underway at Rutgers to improve the delivery of services throughout the University's administrative staff. If the union achieves its goal, the University's employees, most of whom work in the University's notoriously dysfunctional bureaucracy, may no longer have an incentive to deliver quality customer service to students. This is but one of many issues that are deserving of debate.

Under Governor Corzine's leadership and that of his recent predecessors, the State has slashed funding for Rutgers, causing deep cuts in services and course offerings and significant tuition increases. Should the nonunionized employees at Rutgers be successful in their attempt to unionize, the newly unionized employees will likely receive salary increases and improved benefits. The Governor's full-fledged support for union organizing at Rutgers is akin to an unfunded mandate that will have to be paid for either through deeper cuts in services, tuition hikes at Rutgers, and/or tax increases for New Jersey residents.

Governor Corzine's active involvement in union organizing at Rutgers is just the latest example of his inexplicable affinity for placing the concerns of unions ahead of the interests of the great majority of New Jersey residents. The Governor of the State of New Jersey ideally represents all of our residents in the State's collective best interest. Governor Corzine seems to have forgotten this and instead has become a cheerleader-in-chief for union organizers to the detriment of Rutgers University and the residents of the State of New Jersey.

Tags: UMDNJ, services, taxes, unfunded mandate, merit pay, Union, Richard McCormick, Rutgers, Jon Corzine, (All Tags)

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Has the Governor Gone Too Far? | 4 comments

Our Gov. Corzine is anti-union (4.00 / 1)

Surely, you jest. Governor Corzine may have paid lip service in public to union concerns, but his actions have been consistently anti-union. I don't know what specific things you've seen at Rutgers, but with respect to the rest of the higher education system, Corzine's administration is taking a very strict, anti-union line on all issues that matter. I wish it weren't true. If you're not sure, goto any of the local union meetings at Rutgers to get their perspective.

-pb.

by: princetonblue @ Thu Feb 15, 2007 at 22:48:48 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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let me get this straight (0.00 / 0)

Staff (as opposed to unionized faculty and high level administrators) at Rutgers should get paid less and not have improved benefits, so tuition won't go up, quality customer service to students won't suffer and taxes won't go up for NJ residents? I think you drastically underestimate the role of the staff in the, as you call it, dysfunctional bureaucracy if you think that even the majority of them are busy with delivering quality customer service to students.

Of course, staff has already been cut following the budget cuts last summer. Tuition has already gone up. Having been a part time lecturer, I know about having to negotiate individually for a benefits package, and I can say, that I am completely sympathetic with a governor who sees it as in the best interest of NJ residents to have a quality state university where budget crises are not settled on the backs of the staff. That said, if funding isn't restored in the next year or two, there will be more tuition hikes, fewer classes, fewer staff, a diminished ability of the university to compete for faculty, etc. The well paid higher level administrators like to talk of 'generational damage' being done, which I don't think is only rhetoric.

Small comfort that the football team had a good season -- which prompted Corzine to say in a radio interview (cbs 880, Jan 12) that undergrad applications were up, name recognition was up and the absurd claim that a winning football team would attract good faculty. On this point, either he's misinformed or taken his PR too far.

by: kwilkinson @ Fri Feb 16, 2007 at 20:06:18 PM UTC

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Some clarification... (0.00 / 0)

Since my column is being interpreted in a way I did not intend (as anti-unionization or as against unionizing efforts at Rutgers), allow me to clarify my thoughts.

I believe that the nonunionized staff at Rutgers should have every right to unionize and probably should do so given that they have been given the short end of the stick over the past few years at Rutgers.

That said, I do not believe the Governor (or Senator Menendez for that matter) should be actively advocating on behalf of unionization or against unionization. Let the staff at Rutgers decide for themselves whether they would like to unionize based on evaluating the pros and cons of doing so.

Regarding funding, I lay fault for the underfunding of higher education in New Jersey at the feet of recent Governors, including Corzine, and the State Legislature. While all are happy to get their photos taken with Coach Schiano for the newspaper, they have been defunding Rutgers and other New Jersey institutions of higher education, leading to massive cuts in services, increased tuition, and an erosion of quality higher education in New Jersey.

The future of New Jersey lies in a quality system of higher education and the ability to keep the best and brightest in state to attend college. Our politicians short-sighted policies are crippling our higher education system and hindering the future success of our State.

Michael M. Shapiro
www.TheAlternativePress.com

by: mikeshapiro @ Fri Feb 16, 2007 at 21:07:46 PM UTC

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Appreciate the clarification but .... (0.00 / 0)

rereading your posts, they do present many anti-union opinions. In your original post, you take Governor Corzine to task for preventing Rutgers from opposing unionizing efforts. It would appear that the Governor has simply ruled that a state agency should not be taking an anti-union stance. It does not appear as if Rutgers is taking a pro-union stance, but merely being told to stay neutral. Given the anti-union climate in this country, one might think a "neutral" stance is pro-union, but it isn't. It's merely a neutral stance.

Also, in your original post, you also set the students and possible tuition hikes against any increase in pay for a newly unionized staff. I'm not sure how one can read this in any way other than an opposition to a union because they would demand greater benefits. No one wants to see tuition hikes, but to see the issue in terms of a battle between staff pay increases and reasonable tuition is to buy into a false dichotomy forced upon us by non-progressive educational policy practiced in NJ for the last decade or more.

I would urge you to reconsider how you view this issue so that you aren't pitting two worthy issues against each other. Politics needn't be a zero-sum game.

-pb

by: princetonblue @ Sat Feb 17, 2007 at 02:30:19 AM UTC

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