Over 20,000 faculty and staff at Rutgers University are currently in negotiations and working without contracts. They have gone at least three years without a raise while the cost of living, particularly health care costs in the state plan, have risen dramatically. Rutgers management is sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars in reserves while the hardworking faculty and staff fall behind. Now management has cancelled the bargaining sessions that were scheduled for this week.

With Election Day only 15 days away, much work remains. Our efforts on the phones are essential for success at the polls on Election Day and we will need all hands on deck.

New Jersey’s working families need relief. Job growth has not kept pace with our neighbors. Workers of all income levels except millionaires have seen their take-home pay drop and their spending power decline.

Elections are about voting for candidates on the local, state and federal level who share our values and will help us attain our dreams. This year’s labor-supported candidates – including 42 rank-and-file labor candidates -- are counting on our support.

The labor movement is counting on you to ensure that we elect Cory Booker to the U.S. Senate, all endorsed Congressional candidates and 42 rank-and-file labor candidates. Every affiliated union is strongly encouraged to provide volunteers for labor walks each Saturday  between 9:00 am – 12:00 noon leading up to November 4th. Please contact the CLC President or Coordinator listed below to commit your union’s volunteers. Working together, we will win together!

“How many billions does a billionaire need,” asked New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech, responding to billionaire Carl Icahn’s shameful attempt to break a contract with 1,100 Atlantic City casino workers. “Icahn’s bottom fishing in Atlantic City’s waters shows all that is wrong with a system that allows a billionaire to get richer while hourly-wage workers are told to give up their pensions and health care – and even their paid lunch breaks!”

Roy Cho is now within 5 points of Tea Party extremist Scott Garrett in their 5th District congressional race, a new Monmouth University Poll shows. Your hard work is paying off with a surge in momentum for Cho, a candidate who puts working families first. Cho believes in creating an economy that works for all, not just the wealthy few. Cho will make good jobs, affordable education and gender pay equity priorities in Washington.

Our union brothers and sisters in the Philadelphia school system need our support. A rally will be held tomorrow outside of the school district office in Philadelphia, where a massive turnout would send a clear message that the Corbett Administration needs to bargain fairly with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. Let’s show our solidarity for our brothers and sisters in the “City of Brotherly Love”. Details for the rally are as follows: