2023 Rutgers University strike

The 2023 Rutgers University strike was a labor strike involving faculty and graduate student workers at Rutgers University in New Jersey, United States. Academic workers at all four campuses—New Brunswick, Newark, Camden, and RBHS—participated in the bargaining action, affecting over 9,000 staff members and 67,000 students at the university. The strike began on April 10, 2023 following several months of failed negotiations between labor unions and Rutgers administration and was suspended on April 15, 2023.

On June 30, 2022, the labor contract between Rutgers and its labor unions expired after an agreement on new contract couldn't be reached. Union members continued to work without a contract while negotiations continued, with union leaders demanding increased salaries, more job security, and equal pay for equal work. Management bargainers provided counter-offers of gradual raises at percentages lower than those requested by Rutgers AAUP-AFT and rejected many provisions regarding working conditions. A vote for strike authorization passed on March 10, 2023, allowing union leaders to call a strike if a contract could not be reached, while Rutgers administration, led by university president Jonathan Holloway, maintained that striking was illegal.

The strike ended after a tentative framework was reached on April 15, though the unions asserted to resume work stoppage if their gains were not secured. An agreement was formally reached on May 8, ending the strike. It was the first strike by academics in the school's history, and one of the largest strikes in American educational history. A strike by 2,800 non-teaching faculty members in January 1987 had ended after an agreement was made with the administration after nine days. New Jersey governor Phil Murphy's extensive involvement in negotiations to end the strike was considered unprecedented and was praised by both union officials and Holloway.