NEW BRUNSWICK — It's business as usual at Rutgers University, as a contract agreement was reached with Rutgers AAUP-AFT.

The union, which represents nearly 5,000 full-time faculty and graduate employees at Rutgers, said in a statement Tuesday night the union and the university reached a "historic and unprecedented accomplishment" contract agreement.

Rutgers confirmed an agreement was reached and said details would come in a joint statement on Wednesday.

The agreement came under the threat of the first faculty strike in the school's 253-year history. Both sides negotiated all day Monday and made enough progress for the union to hold off on a strike, but remained "strike ready," according to union president Deepa Kumar.

As part of the agreement, members will receive a raise of $3,642 retroactive to July 1, 2018, and a 3% across the board raise on July 1, 2019.

"We made history today. For the first time in the union’s nearly 50-year history, we won equal pay for equal work for female faculty, faculty of color, and for faculty in the Newark and Camden campuses. We won significant pay raises for our lowest paid members, our graduate employees who will see their pay increase from $25,969 to $30,162 over the course of the contract," Kumar said in a statement announcing the agreement.

The agreement now must be ratified by members.

Contract talks have continued for over a year with the 20 various unions that represent Rutgers professors. Rutgers administrators said they had already reached agreements with several unions that provided employees 3% raises in each of the next three years and a 2.5% increase in the final year.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ.

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