BRUNSWICK, N.J. - Imagine waking up one morning to find the dining halls and post offices shut down indefinitely. Picture your classrooms empty as you are given the duties of cleaning your residence hall bathroom.
You're not in the "Twilight Zone," but the latest victim of strained relations between the faculty and staff unions and the administration, which have been brewing since the days of university President Edward Bloustein in late '80s.
This strike scenario - an idea milling around campus since the start of the semester - is not a passing fad sweeping through the university's streets, but a definite reality, union members said.
"It's not impossible that it might happen. I don't think that's an issue with (the administration)," Mattie Gillus, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees of Local 888, said.
"We're really trying to work something out. We're going to have to do something. It'll be our last resource," Gillus said. Local 888 represents blue-collar employees at the university, while Local 1671 is the organization of clerical, secretarial and technical workers.
The faculty and staff have been working without a contract since June 30, 1995.
It's been nearly a decade since the university's first union strike, and now union members said they are hoping that they won't have to resort to picketing again to settle contract disputes with the administration.
During 1987's nine-day strike, students were served bagels and donuts for breakfast and soup and sandwiches for lunch and dinner under dining management.
Gillus said during the 1987 strike she called local food suppliers who delivered food to the university's dining halls to ask their unions not to cross the picket lines.
This left dining service managers to pick up food deliveries outside of university lines, she said.
"(Members of the administration) can probably cook an omelet, but I don't think they can clean a toilet. If the students participated, who would they serve?" Gillus said. "I really don't want to do this."
Charles Sams, director of dining services, and Michael Imperiale, director of university housing, could not be reached yesterday for comment.
But during a one-day job action by the unions in March 1990, officials for dining services geared for a longer strike situation by replacing popular dishes on the menu and substituting Styrofoam in place of real dishes.
Housing administrators had to pick up trash and garbage throughout the university during the last strike.
If job action happened, Arlene Hartley, president of Local 1761, said the postal offices throughout the university would be closed until the strike ended.
But Richard Norman, vice president for administration, said a strike would be illegal for professors and faculty.
"The university as part of its normal planning process has anticipated any numbers of situations," including a job action, said Norman who was not an employee of the university when job action was taken in the '80s.
Norman would not reveal details about the university's plans, but said the university is prepared for any job action.
Much like in 1987, students and faculty opinion has varied, and some professors in the faculty union said they will not be involved in any job action.
However, the three unions have rallied some support of faculty and students over the past year as talks of a pending strike have faded in recent weeks.
Now with the 10th anniversary of the unions' job action in the horizon, Gillus said striking would be a last-ditch effort - but one the unions are prepping themselves for.
The administration and AFSCME had their last mediation session on Sept. 20 and talks have since moved into the fact-finding stage, officials said.
Christine Mowry, assistant vice president and director of employee relations, said the administration has received a list of possible fact finders and has been working in order to get contract talks with the unions moving again.
A fact-finder will be appointed and a meeting will be set for sometime in the future depending on the availability of the fact-finder, Mowry said.
Fact-finding between the administration and the unions could go on for months, Hartley said.
In the January 1987 strike - the first of its kind in university history - lasted nine days involving both Locals 888 and 1761. However, the Rutgers chapter of the American Association of university Professors honored their picket line, but continued to hold classes on campus.
"If everyone participated, it would tie up the university completely," Gillus said. "I don't see why (the administration) want us to do this."
Hartley agreed, saying that the university would be limping if a strike plans carried through.
"I feel terrible. Nobody wants to strike," Hartley said. "I hope and pray that (President Francis) Lawrence sees the light."
Similar to late '80s job action, AFSCME unions are asking for annual incremental pay raises since currently employee salaries have topped off.
"I should make a livable salary," Gillus said. "I've been here 25 years. I don't even make $25,000."
Gillus said her own salary topped out in 1980. Today, the highest Rutgers Local 888 salary - earned by a university employee on the Newark campus - is nearly $38,000 a year with the lowest paid employee earning $17,312 a year.
"I don't work for Whitman. I work for Rutgers university," Gillus said. "This is a billion-dollar project here. Don't make us a scapegoat with the state.
"We're not state employees. When it comes down to the money, we're state employees."