It took 14 years and a 99-page investigation to settle who counts as management
Twenty-eight university employees in New Jersey can join unions after a court ruled their jobs do not qualify as managerial executive positions.
The New Jersey Appellate Division, on April 17, 2026, sided with the state's Public Employment Relations Commission in a classification dispute that had dragged on for more than a decade. At issue was whether mid-level employees at Kean University, Montclair State University, and The College of New Jersey could be represented by the Council of New Jersey State College Locals (AFT) or the Communications Workers of America (CWA) – or whether their roles placed them in the managerial executive category, which under New Jersey law excludes employees from collective bargaining units.
The case traces back to 2012, when AFT filed a petition with PERC seeking to bring various job titles into its bargaining unit. The petition came on the heels of a 2010 change to New Jersey's Employer-Employee Relations Act, which narrowed the definition of who counts as a managerial executive among state employees. CWA later joined the effort, seeking to include additional employees.
The State of New Jersey pushed back, arguing that employees in 11 positions across the three universities held enough authority over policy to be excluded from union membership. The positions in question ranged from associate directors and assistant directors in residence life to research...
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