another win for the labor movement leaders of three Rutgers University Unions representing 9 000 employees have approved tentative contracts with the university the deal comes after nearly a year of negotiations and the first faculty strike in the school's 257-year history the new contracts still need to be approved by members but include many of their demands like salary increases and job security Governor Murphy who intervened during the strike thanked union leaders faculty and Rutgers president for their work in reaching an agreement in a statement saying the deal will result in a better educational experience for students Educators and staff but as senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports it's still unclear how much the settlement will cost we're excited we feel like this is a really really strong contract I'm excited for our members to look at it to look through these gains to understand what they mean how they'll impact everybody Rutgers faculty strike leaders felt exhausted but exhilarated over the tentative contract agreement they're now presenting to some 9 000 members for a vote it took a week-long strike in several weeks of grueling negotiations to get a proposal that sets historic salary increases for adjunct and non-tenured professors offering many job security for the first time for adjunct Heather pierce it means we're finally going to get paid above poverty Wages that's a big one but also the the job security that we have here is is means a whole lot instead of reapplying for her job every semester Pierce and her colleagues with some seniority can expect one and two-year appointments under the new contract we can plan our lives we can do things like buy cars and buy houses well maybe not quite to the buying houses part but we could actually actually plan more than six months in advance we are today finalizing the language these are really complicated contracts and we want to make sure everything is is done to the letter and there are no typos for example adjunct faculty Union president Amy heiger Says members will get a couple days to review their contracts across the three unions the retroactive agreement runs through June 2026 and includes salary increases totaling 14 for full-time professors 32.6 percent for teaching and graduate assistance and 43.7 percent for adjuncts the agreement bars administrators from replacing Rutgers clinicians with cheaper medical staff from Barnabas it pushes Rutgers to stop paying faculty in Newark and Camden less than New Brunswick teachers and it makes parental leave available to biomedical faculty for the first time but there's so much in here that's really really significant and will improve so many people's lives and full-time faculty president Rebecca given fervin believes the strike broke a month's long gridlock that one week spent walking picket lines marching through New Brunswick and holding rallies forced progress I think our members willingness to go on strike created a strong understanding I think that Governor Murphy's intervention was critical he showed that this was serious he was not okay with the Rutgers Administration seeking an injunction the question now how much would this contract settlement cost and who's going to pay for it there's little appetite for tuition increases we already you know pay a certain amount to go here so I mean taking time away from classes that I should be going to freshman Emma McCarthy and many fellow students supported the strike I mean I don't want anybody to be living paycheck to paycheck but it would be nice if my tuition didn't get like cut into wasn't the point of the strike for a reallocational funds instead of like increasing the funds that they have in general Governor Murphy indicated he he'd put State money on the table to help fund a settlement and the tentative agreement at several points bars the University from declaring a fiscal emergency during the contract's first three years Rutgers president commented reaching this point today is a recognition that we can all come together and work through our differences for the good of the university and I look forward to resolving all outstanding non-faculty contracts as quickly as possible nine other unions continue to negotiate I hope this has Ripple effects across the state and we're all hearing from people at other universities to come and speak to them about how we did it and what they can do to improve their conditions the three faculty unions are expected to complete voting on their contract by next week in New Brunswick I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight news [Music]