New Jersey Public Safety Officers Law Blog : New Jersey Public Safety Employee Lawyer & Attorney : Pellettieri, Rabstein & Altman Law Firm : Workers Compensation, Discipline Representation for Police & Firefighters : New Jersey

As reported by nj.com, dozens of unions and public workers filed suit against the newly enacted pension and health benefit overhaul in federal court yesterday. The 58-page, 17-count suit charges the state violated the state and federal constitutions by suspending cost of living adjustments for at least 30 years, failing to make full payments into the pension system for the last decade, and handing administration of the systems to committees. The suit, whose plaintiffs include the NJEA, the CWA, and all the major public safety unions, charges that the law is a “violation of substantive and procedural due process rights.”  

“This lawsuit is about basic fairness and justice. Governor Christie and the Legislature passed a law which illegally takes away benefits that school employees and other have already earned through their service to the people of New Jersey,” said NJEA President Barbara Keshishian. “Perhaps most troubling is that this legislation amounts to a classic ‘bait and switch’ for current retirees. These are people who worked their entire careers believing in the promise that their pension benefits would be honored. They’ve already retired, and are living on a fixed income. Now they’re being told that the state is reneging on its promise.”

The law, pushed through the Legislature with the help of Democratic legislative leaders and signed by Governor Chris Christie on June 28, seeks to cut costs because the pension and health benefit systems are underfunded by a combined $120 billion. Unions fiercely protested against the bill, saying it prevented them from collectively bargaining their medical benefits, which will be set by a panel of union members and state managers.

All public workers-including police officers, firefighters, and teachers-will pay more for their pensions and health benefits. It would suspend cost-of-living increases to pensions for retirees and raise the retirement age for new workers.

Employees have “non-forfeitable rights” to cost-of-living adjustments, says the suit, which includes eight retirees as plaintiffs. “While employed and when they retired, these Class Plaintiffs fully expected and relied upon the promise that they would receive the promised required COLAs every year,” it reads.

It also says the state’s underfunding of the pension system violates workers’ contractual rights, and that forcing workers with fewer than 20 years of service to pay more for health benefits “violates the promises made to, and the contractual property rights of, active public employees with less than 20 years of credited service.”

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As reported by nj.com, Governor Chris Christie says contract talks with New Jersey’s largest public worker union are continuing at a slow pace. Christie says the administration has offered proposals on wages and non-economic issues to the Communications Workers of America. However, he does not expect an agreement within the next two weeks.

The contract for 40,000 state CWA employees expired June 30. Hetty Rosenstein, the union’s state director, says the two sides have not met in several weeks and no meetings are scheduled. But, she says the two sides have not reached an impasse and bargaining will continue.

An agreement between Christie and the Legislature to overhaul public worker pensions and health benefits took those issues off the table. Three Democrat union members who approved the deal were denied AFL-CIO candidate endorsements last week.

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As reported by nj.com, two of the most prominent Democrats in the state legislature-both labor leaders-lost the support of a major union coalition Thursday, spelling possible trouble for their November reelection fights. The statewide AFL-CIO, representing 30 unions of public and private-industry members, voted in the annual endorsement conference not to support Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Sen. Donald Norcross. Losing endorsement means those legislators would not likely receive campaign funds direct from AFL-CIO’s political fund and any campaign help from coordinated labor volunteers.

The move was seen as a success by public-sector unions, led by Communications Workers of America and AFSCME, who moved to pull support from legislators who voted against union interests in a recent fight over public pensions and benefits. With Sweeney as prime sponsor, Governor Christie signed a combined pensions and benefits bill on June 28. The bill only passed the Legislature after Democrats, 8 senators and 14 assembly members, sided with Republicans. Public workers now must pay more toward health care and pensions, and lost the right to collectively bargain health care terms until 2014. All Democrats who voted to support the bill were denied support Thursday, as was John Amodeo, a Republican Assemblyman and crane operator.

However, Thursday’s decision caused a split with private-sector union members, whose benefits were not affected by the legislation and who fought to lock endorsements for Democratic legislators who work in construction trades. Sweeney, a member of Ironworkers Local 399, and Norcross, member of a electricians’ union and outgoing head of the Southern-New Jersey Central Labor Council, are two of six current legislators who have risen through the ranks of building trades unions to political careers in the state legislature.

Rae Roeder, head of CWA Local 1033, urged the approximately 1,000 delegates to vote against the Senate President. Swiveling to look around the room to lock eyes with Sweeney, Roeder said, “I’m turning round to look at the person who stabbed us in the back.”

Hetty Rosenstein, CWA area director, said she preferred to view the day’s vote as a positive endorsement of every lawmaker who voted against the pensions and health changes. “It shows it makes a difference to us, what they do,” she said. “Collective bargaining is a red line.”

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As reported by nj.com, three major public worker unions’ committees stopped donating to state lawmakers while the legislators, who face elections in November, were preparing to vote on a landmark overhaul of pensions and health benefits.

The Communications Workers of America, New Jersey Education Association, and AFSCME zeroed out what had been historically steady donations to candidates and to political parties between January and March, records show. The reform bills were introduced in February. Instead, unions waited until the benefits fight was nearly over, holding their resources to fund last-minute donations in late May and early June to individual politicians before the party primaries.

In June, weeks after the primary, eight Democrats in the Senate and fourteen in the Assembly sided with Republicans and voted yes on changes to government workers’ pensions and health benefits. The public employee unions who had opposed the measure promised retribution.   

Today, campaign finance reports covering donations from April through June, records that will cover the final union donations before the primary, are scheduled to be released. Reports made public on Tuesday, however, showed that the Democratic State Committee received no contributions from the CWA, NJEA, and AFSCME.

Union heads say the pensions and benefits bill passage prompted soul-searching, not only among members disheartened by lawmakers’ decisions, but among the union-led committees that have given more in recent years than all other PACs combined and now have to decide what to do with their money.

Law enforcement unions, who are also affected by the changes to pensions and health benefits, continued to make donations to individual candidates, the ELEC reports showed. The political committee led by the Fraternal Order of Police gave $9,650 in the first quarter, while state troopers gave $8,000. Between April and June, the committee for State Troopers Fraternal Association of New Jersey was the only public workers union to give to the Democratic State Committee, making a $2,600 donation. Further funding will be decided after unions complete their lists of endorsements for November in early August.

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As reported by nj.com, New Jersey’s battle over benefits could hit a fever pitch today. Thousands of public workers are expected to stage what leaders vow will be their biggest Statehouse protest yet over a controversial bill to force them to pay more for health insurance and pensions. The bill is up for final passage in the Assembly, which would send it to Governor Chris Christie, who is expected to sign it swiftly.

Leading up to today’s battle, a state workers union chapter filed a federal suit against the state saying its contract was broken because pension payments were skipped. Christie pitched the plan where he was booed by some teachers. At a town hall in Fair Lawn, Christie said the measure, a focal point of his agenda, is needed to restore the state’s fiscal balance and ensure the solvency of the pension fund. “We have support with both political parties to do this,” he said. “It isn’t like other states.”

With the passage in the Assembly seeming almost inevitable, one union began what could be the first of several court battles. Local 1033 of the Communications Workers of America filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming the state failed to meet its contractual obligations when it did not contribute to the pension system. Rae Roeder, president of the local 1033, the only CWA chapter that has all its members in the same pension fund, said the members of the union voted to move forward with the lawsuit. The union is also alleging the legislation, which would eliminate cost of living adjustments for retirees, violates federal contract law. The suit asks that full payments be made into the pension fund.

The unions yesterday continued their war of words with Senate President Stephen Sweeney. Hetty Rosenstein, state director for the CWA, contested comments Sweeney made earlier this week that negotiations over the bill fell apart when the union demanded that the content of the health plans be included in the legislation. Sweeney has said the unions were trying to subvert collective bargaining, a charge unions have made against he and Christie.

Rosenstein said the proposal sent to them by Sweeney included no details and was not in writing, putting them in a tough spot to sign on. “This is not anything that any union could accept or that we could do in any fairness to our members,” Rosenstein said. “Somehow we’re supposed to say ‘yes’ to that.”

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As reported by nj.com, the State Police should drop all charges against the protesters arrested at Thursday’s contentious budget hearing, Senate President Stephen Sweeney said today. “The issues of pension and health reform are tough and emotional,” he said in a statement. “I understand that. And as someone who has spent my life in a union fighting for working people, I know that sometimes emotions bubble over.”

Sweeney was the focus of heated criticism throughout the day for pushing a bill that overhauls the state’s pension and benefits system for public workers, requiring them to devote more of their salaries to cover those costs. The bill passed the Senate budget committee Thursday 9-4 despite an outcry inside and outside the hearing room. Before the vote, 25 union workers, including the state director of the AFL-CIO, were escorted out of the Statehouse by State Police troopers. They were promptly let go with disorderly conduct charges.

Stephen Jones, a spokesman for the State Police, said the matter is out of their hands. “It’s been submitted to the court,” he said. “At this point it’s up to them.”

The show of resistance was planned a few days before the hearing, however. Bob Master, political director of the Communications Workers of America, said they warned police “at the last minute.” “Nobody wants to resort to this kind of activity,” he said. “You want to be able to accomplish your goals through the normal legislative process, but I think people felt a sense of real betrayal here.”

Sweeney had a different take on the rancor outside. Christopher Shelton, a national CWA official addressing thousands of demonstrators, repeatedly called Sweeney, Governor Chris Christie, and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver “nazis.” Other speakers disowned that comparison and rebuked Shelton from the stage.

“While the rank-and-file who protested in the committee room were largely respectful, their leaders outside were not,” Sweeney said. “When you defame the character of those with whom you differ and use over-the-top and over-heated rhetoric not to actually further an argument but simply to stir up a crowd, you degrade and diminish yourself and your cause.” Shelton apologized hours after the event, after Democrats and a national group of holocaust survivors denounced the remarks.

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As reported by nj.com, the state’s largest public employee union said State Senate President Stephen Sweeney has released misleading information about how his health benefit overhaul will affect the pocketbooks of workers.

Sweeney wants to shift more of the costs of health benefits onto public workers. All state and local public employees would pay a percentage of their health care premiums in a tiered system based on their salary. The proposal would be phased in over four years. To support the proposal, Sweeney released a four-page chart that breaks down how the proposal would affect workers at various wage levels. The problem with the chart, according to Hetty Rosenstein, head of the Communications Workers of America, is that the chart assumes that premiums will remain flat at a time when they are increasingly rapidly.

As premiums rise, so will the amount public workers pay under the Sweeney proposal. But that is not reflected in the chart, Rosenstein says. “Sweeney assumes that health care costs will not go up a single dollar over four year, a deeply unrealistic claim that is all the more ironic given that his plan does nothing at all to implement cost containment strategies we know can save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars,” Rosenstein said.

For example, Sweeney’s chart claims that in the final year of his plan, a senior, professional employee making $70,000 would pay $4,180 in out of pocket costs for family coverage. But that figure presumes no increase in the cost of healthcare for the next four years.  If healthcare premiums rise six percent a year, the same worker making $70,000 per year would actually pay $5,277 a year, Rosenstein says.

“New Jersey’s public worker unions offered Governor Christie a proposal at the bargaining table that would save New Jersey hundreds of millions of dollars, by shifting some costs onto workers-but also taking common sense steps that dozens of other states have shown can slow the rising costs of healthcare,” Rosenstein said.

Derek Roseman, a spokesman for Senate Democrats, said while the chart does not take into account rising premiums, it also doesn’t reflect that workers will be able to choose from a host of different plans. “Workers can adjust plans based on their own financial situation,” said Roseman.

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As reported by nj.com, after asserting for months that state employee health benefits will be overhauled through legislation, Governor Chris Christie’s office is now seeking the changes through collective bargaining with the state’s largest employee union.

“He’s out of his cage!” read a memo to Communications Workers of America members obtained by the Star-Ledger, joking about Christie’s comments in March that he was looking forward to collective bargaining. “Let me at them,” Christie said at the time, showing his willingness to go out and negotiate. “Get me out of the cage and let me go.”

At a Statehouse news conference Thursday, Christie called the offer to unions a “good faith effort” but reiterated his desire to have the Legislature pass a bill and force the unions to accept his plan to make them pay 30 percent of the cost of health benefits. “We can chew gum and walk at the same time,” Christie said.

Hetty Rosenstein, the state director for the CWA, said she is optimistic moving forward. “We hope that we can begin to engage in serious negotiations with the governor,” Rosenstein said.

The governor’s initial offer to employees at the bargaining table was nearly identical to the proposal he sent to the Legislature-having workers pay 30 percent of the cost of their insurance premiums, according to the memo. In addition, the administration could increase co-pays for the duration of the four-year contract.

The offer came during the seventh meeting between the CWA and the governor’s office to negotiate a new contract for the 40,000 employees the union represents. The current contract expires on June 30.

“The Senate president has said all along that he believes the governor should at least hear the unions out at the table, so he is very happy with the administration’s action,” said Chris Donnelly, a Senate Democratic spokesman.

Jeff Keefe, a labor professor at Rutgers University, said Christie was probably trying to short-circuit the unfair practice charge recently filed against him by the CWA, since efforts to legislate benefit changes could be halted if PERC sided with the union. “I don’t think they’re going to have any meaningful give and take at the bargaining table,” Keefe said. “He wants to avoid having PERC rule against him. That would throw the whole budget situation up in the air.”

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As reported by nj.com, Governor Chris Christie began bargaining over health benefits for state employees this week, according to a memo sent out to members of the Communications Workers of America obtained by the Star-Ledger.

Christie has been adamant for months that he would obtain changes to employee health benefits through legislation. The new offer, similar to the one he publicly proposed that would require state employees to pay 30 percent of the cost of the insurance premium, came when his staff sat down to negotiate with the CWA, the largest public employee union, on Thursday, according to the memo. The new offer also would allow the state to change the cost of employee co-pays for the life of the four-year contract.   

The CWA has filed a complaint with the Public Employment Relations Commission alleging violations of state employment law when Christie refused to negotiate over health benefits. That complaint is still pending.

“This kind of proposal is regressive and hurts lower paid workers and families,” the memo states. “However, we will continue to bargain health care according to our principles of affordability and maintaining quality care. Now that there is finally a proposal from the state, we will press for real bargaining to take place.”

Christie spokesman Kevin Roberts said they continue to push for legislation to change health benefits. “In keeping with the ongoing collective bargaining process, the Administration presented its proposals on economic issues that are subject to negotiation,” Roberts said in an email. “Gov. Christie’s position is clear on the issue of health benefits reform-bipartisan legislation to accomplish comprehensive changes and achieve savings for taxpayers is the only way real reform of the system will happen. We will continue to work with the Legislature to that effect.”

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As reported by nj.com, state workers have begun wearing red arm bands to voice their opposition to proposals that would slash their health benefits. The arm bands are being distributed by the Communications Workers of America, the largest public employee union in New Jersey that represents most of the state’s professional rank and file staff.

The signs read, “CWA Local 1033 Workers, Fighting for Health Care Plus Retirement $ecurity.” The bands are attached with an elastic strip and were spotted on workers in Trenton dressed in business attire.

Hetty Rosenstein, CWA state director, said the arm bands are intended to raise awareness about the proposals. “The armbands are a powerful reminder of what this fight is really about: basic rights for the hardworking men and women who serve New Jersey,” Rosenstein said in a statement. “Governor Christie is trying to take away what every working person deserves—health care they can afford and the ability to retire after a lifetime of work.”

Christie has proposed making state employees pay 30 percent of the cost of health care premiums, a change that would be achieved through legislation. Currently, state workers pay 1.5 percent of their salary toward health benefits.

Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said the arm bands demonstrate a “disconnect.” “What’s bemusing is that their arm bands say they are fighting for retirement security and lifetime health care benefits,” Drewniak said in a statement. “So are we, because if serious reforms are not instituted, there will be no pension system and dwindling health benefits at best. The CWA’s disconnect and denial with these mathematical certainties is always puzzling.”

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As reported by app.com, New Jersey’s largest state worker union filed an unfair practice charge against Governor Chris Christie’s administration, saying the administration has so far refused to negotiate health care costs. 

The Communication Workers of America filed the charge with the state Public Employment Relations Commission (“PERC”) on May 12, 2011. Union leader Hetty Rosenstein said the union has met six times with the Governor’s staff, but the administration will not respond to CWA’s proposal on health care benefits.

The Republican Governor has made a national name for his fights with union leaders, especially teachers. He has said he wants state workers to pay a greater share of their health care costs and wants to achieve those changes through legislation rather than collective bargaining, while at the same time insisting he “loves collective bargaining.”

“When is Governor I-love-collective-bargaining going to negotiate?” Rosenstein said. Christie Spokesman Kevin Roberts said negotiations are still in the early stages and are ongoing.

The CWA is pushing to reform benefits through collective bargaining rather than legislation and has also put forward a plan. It would have workers continue to pay 1.5 percent of their salary and 8.5 percent of their premium by the fourth and final year of a new contract. It says that would save the state more than $200 million.

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As reported by nj.com, Democratic leaders met with union officials and sources say the topic was overhauling health benefits. Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver met with the heads of the biggest public employee unions: Communications Workers of America, America Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, and the New Jersey Education Association.

Standing outside the meeting, Barbara Keshishian, president of the NJEA, declined to comment, saying the meeting was private. Leaders of the other unions have not responded to a request for comment, but three union and legislative sources said they discussed proposals by Governor Chris Christie and Sweeney to change health benefits for state employees. The sources requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the meeting.

The Governor is pushing for state workers to pay 30 percent of the cost of the premium. Currently, state employees pay 1.5 percent of their salary for health insurance. Sweeney is pushing his own plan that would base contributions on both the cost of the premium and salary. Different from Christie’s proposal, Sweeney is recommending a sliding scale that would have low-income workers paying less than high-paid employees.

The Communications Workers of America, the state’s largest union, released its own plan, which would have workers pay a portion of the premium and a portion of their salary. The CWA plan would have most employees paying 14 percent of the cost of the premium. The CWA, with the backing of several other unions, has argued that the health benefits should be subject to collective bargaining, presently taking place to hammer out a new contract when the current one expires on June 30.

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As reported by nj.com, Governor Chris Christie panned an alternative proposal by the State’s largest public employee union to overhaul health care benefits. “Their offer stinks,” Christie said at a press conference in Trenton. “It doesn’t save any money.”

Christie wants all state employees to pay for 30 percent of the cost of health insurance plans, an increase from the current structure that has state employees pay 1.5 percent of their salary.

The Communications Workers of America, which represents about 35,000 full-time state employees, made a counter proposal that would determine what workers pay based both on their salary and the cost of the insurance plan. The CWA estimates the average worker would pay about 14 percent of the insurance plan cost and would save taxpayers about $200 million by 2013.

The CWA publically released their counter proposal, which has received the backing of other public employee unions, after union officials say they were told Christie’s administration would not include health care benefits in collective bargaining. Christie has repeatedly said he will seek his change to health benefits through legislation. The unions have pushed for the changes to be part of this year’s collective bargaining over contracts that expire on June 30.

At the press conference, Christie said he is not unwilling to talk about health benefits with the unions at some point down the road, but that he still intends to obtain changes through legislation.

Hetty Rosenstein, state director of the CWA, contended their proposal would save the state millions of dollars. “It’s time for “Governor I Love Collective Bargaining” to quit posturing and start getting serious,” Rosenstein said. “CWA has put forward a comprehensive health care reform proposal that will save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, and if the governor and his bargaining team would sit down with us and negotiate, we could move forward to constructive solutions. It’s long past time for epithets and name-calling, and time to treat the collective bargaining process with the seriousness it deserves.”

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As reported by nj.com, Senate President Stephen Sweeney’s plan to require public workers to kick in more for medical benefits is getting little support from his fellow Democrats. As Sweeney scrambles for votes, Senate Republicans say they favor Governor Chris Christie’s proposal, which a new non-partisan report predicts would save about 16 times more money than Sweeney’s plan next year for state workers alone. Democrats, however, have even less enthusiasm for Christie’s plan.

In a March 16 letter, a senior analyst with the Office of Legislative Services said Sweeney’s bill would save the State about $22 million next year, while Christie’s plan would save about $347 million. Sweeney’s plan would save $206.2 million by the seventh year. The review only covered state workers.

Democrats who oppose the bill argue that how much public workers pay for health benefits should be decided at the bargaining table and not dictated by lawmakers. “This stuff needs to be negotiated,” said State Senator Ron Rice. State Senator John Girgenti said, “Clearly, something needs to be done to curb the rising costs of health benefits, and most public employees believe this as well. But it should happen through collective bargaining, not legislation.”

Some opponents cited a recent offer by the Communications Workers of America, the largest state employee union, to increase contributions after Christie said he will not negotiate medical benefits. The CWA said its plan would save $200 million by 2013.

If the CWA makes a deal with Christie, Sweeney said there “would be no need” for legislation: “I think they knew I’m serious about doing legislation. Now if they can accomplish it through collective bargaining, I think the governor should attempt it.”

Bill supporters say it’s a reasonable alternative to Christie’s plan, which calls for all public workers, regardless of income, to pay 30 percent of their medical premiums. Sweeney wants to phase in the increases over seven years and set a sliding scale of 12 to 30 percent of premiums, based on salary. Currently, public workers pay at least 1.5 percent of their pay for health benefits.

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As reported by app.com, New Jersey officials continued to move the State’s $71.6 billion pension fund into more aggressive, and riskier, investments, as returns have missed their targets for a decade. The decisions included putting $100 million into a private equity fund run by a big fundraiser for President Barack Obama.

State Investment Council Chairman Robert Grady contends the changes will not only provide better returns, but also make the overall pension portfolio safer by making it less subject to increasing interest rates or stock market swings. Union representatives on the council are opposed and prefer the State stick with a traditional mix of stock and bonds. The council voted 8-3 to take another step toward allowing the State’s money managers to invest more than a third, up to 38%, of the pension funds in so-called alternative investments: private equity, hedge funds, real estate, and commodities. The policy is expected to be approved in May.

Some unions, particularly Communications Workers of America Local 1033 representing rank and file state workers, have fought the effort to change the State’s investment strategy and said the State is taking undue risk with the money. The State faces a collective $53.8 billion unfunded liability in the pension fund over the next 30 years. Governor Chris Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney are both proposing sweeping changes to the pension system in an effort to reduce payouts.

The pension funds had gained an average of some 3 percent a year for the past 10 years as stocks swooned in 2001 and the recent financial crisis torpedoed investments broadly. The state pension system is constructed with the expectation that investments would earn 8.25 percent a year. Timothy Walsh, director of the Division of Investment, noted that the state’s pension funds were up just over 15 percent through the first eight months of the fiscal year that began in July, led by outsized gains in the U.S. stock market. Investment officials said the State had made $435 million from private equity firms in the past three months, and they expected greater gains in the months ahead.

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As reported by nj.com, a security decision by State Police to turn union members away from the Statehouse hours before the Senate went into session was criticized as unfair by a key lawmaker and public employee unions. About 50 public employee union members trying to participate in a lobbying day never got inside the Statehouse on March 21, 2011, which was the third day of collective bargaining meetings between Communication Workers of America, the state’s largest union, leaders and Governor Chris Christie’s office.

It is not unusual for groups to flood the Statehouse halls and meet with their individual representatives and talk to others in the hallways. It was the first time CWA political director Bob Master encountered a problem with members passing security. “This came as a complete surprise, and they dug out this policy from 1997, which no one had ever seen before,” Master said. “It seems like a systematic effort to prevent people from engaging in the democratic process.” 

People were delayed entering the building because they were headed to packed areas, said State Police spokesman Sgt. Stephen Jones. “We are in charge of the security of that building, and we’re only going to do things in the interest of that security,” Jones said. “There was no attempt to stifle any opinion or keep any group out. We’re only concerned with the security and safety of those in that building.” When someone enters the Statehouse, State Police require a destination be designated. When a large number of CWA members all gave the same destination, police stopped the group when the room’s maximum occupancy was reached, Jones said.    

Senator Loretta Weinberg questioned whether the size of the group, estimated by union officials at about 150, came close to creating any safety concerns, adding that the Statehouse has been filled with many more people on other days. Weinberg said she suspects someone told State Police to turn the union members away, but she does not know who was behind the restrictions. She added that she hopes legislation or a resolution is not needed to prevent a similar event from happening again. “I feel very passionately about this, the Statehouse is owned by the people,” Weinberg said. “I would never recommend to anyone that you try to control public opinion by controlling the public.”

Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said his office was not aware of the issue and no directive had come from the administration to turn people away. “I don’t think anybody should be turned away from the Statehouse, but we leave security decisions up to the State Police,” Drewniak said.

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As reported by nj.com, the state’s largest public employee union unveiled its plan for workers to contribute more for their medical coverage in hopes of convincing lawmakers and the public that real savings can be achieved at the bargaining table. 

The Communications Workers of America, which represents about 40,000 state workers, detailed a plan union leaders say would increase employees’ share of insurance premiums to about 14 percent and save taxpayers more than $200 million by 2013. The plan calls for increased monthly contributions and higher co-pays for doctor’s visits and prescription drugs.

Union leaders say they were forced to take the negotiations public after Governor Chris Christie made it clear a week ago that he was not interested in negotiating medical benefits. Those details should be handled through legislation, he said. “Governor Christie professes to love collective bargaining, but we have yet to see it,” said Bob Master, CWA political director. “What’s going on in New Jersey is no different than what’s going on in Wisconsin and Ohio.”

Momentum is building to require all public workers to contribute significantly more for medical benefits. Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney say broad-based legislation is the only way to bring parity between public and private workers and save the state millions. “We’re changing New Jersey, and the CWA has to be part of it,” Christie said at an appearance in Newark. “I know they don’t like the fact that someone will go to the Legislature and fight for the taxpayers rather than fleece the taxpayers, which they’ve been doing over history. Sorry, there’s a new game in town and they’re going to have to get used to it.”

Hetty Rosenstein, state director of CWA, said state workers understand they need to contribute more, but believe the terms should be negotiated, as they have been for decades. While the CWA is the largest state employee union, it represents only a fraction of the 510,000 public workers in the state, and Christie wants the health benefits law to cover all public workers. Christie is hoping to save more than $300 million in the proposed budget with the reform package. Rosenstein said she is trying to reach out to other public employee unions in hopes of having a “mass negotiation” that would help achieve the savings Christie is seeking while preserving the right to collectively bargain medical benefits.  

Under the CWA plan, workers would continue to pay 1.5 percent of their salaries toward medical costs but would also kick in an additional 5 percent of their premiums by 2013. The hybrid model is designed to take into account a worker’s salary. By the end of the contract, average workers would pay about 13.5 percent of their medical premium costs, about $210 a month for family coverage. Rosenstein said with co-pays and other changes, workers would pay about 22 percent of their premiums. Christie wants all public employees to pay 30 percent of their premiums, about $475 a month for family coverage. Sweeney wants workers to pay 12 to 30 percent of premiums, based on salary.

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As reported by nj.com, representatives for Governor Chris Christie have told the state’s largest union that the administration’s plan to sharply increase health care costs for public employees was not negotiable, union leaders said. 

The Governor’s issue first took the issue of health care costs off the table when negotiations over a new contract got underway. However, union officials said they were determined to have a voice in changes to their benefits. “It represents a pretty fundamental attack on a long-established right to bargain over health care which goes back as long as there has been unions in New Jersey,” said Bob Masters, political director for the Communications Workers of America, which represents that state’s public employees. “We are going to insist that our legal right to bargain over health care can be honored by this governor as it has been by every governor.”

Instead, a spokesman for Christie said the governor planned to stick to his plan to have state employees to pay 30 percent of their health care premiums by requiring it through having the legislature enact a law. Union members currently pay 1.5 percent of their salary for health care coverage. “We and the Senate president are pursuing that area in the same way through legislation,” the spokesman, Michael Drewniak, said.

Christie contends that he does not have to negotiate over increasing health care costs because in the past, the unions, at least in some instances, appealed directly to the Legislature. The last time employees saw an increase in their contributions was in 2007, when Governor Jon Corzine reached an agreement with the union requiring members to pay 1.5 percent of their salary for benefits.

Masters said the governor’s office could not provide an example of the union skipping collective bargaining. A spokesman for the Assembly Majority, Tom Hester said it was the responsibility of Christie’s office to engage in collective bargaining with the union. “This governor spends a lot of time bragging about his ability to shake up government,” Hester said, “so it’s time to him to back his talk and prove his worth at the bargaining table, where health insurance matters have traditionally been decided.”

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As reported by app.com, the union that represents some 35,000 state and local government workers is offering to make changes in New Jersey’s health insurance system that would, as one official promised, save “tens of millions of dollars.” The proposal by the Communication Workers of America came as union leaders and negotiators for Governor Chris Christie’s administration met for the first time.

Paul Alexander, president of the CWA Local 1038, said the package was drawn from reforms being instituted across the United States and from recommendations contained in a report from Harvard University. “It’s a very, very comprehensive plan,” Alexander said. “These are things being done in other areas, but for New Jersey, it may be unique. (Rising health costs) are not just a New Jersey problem, it’s a national problem.”

Alexander and CWA officials declined to detail the proposal. However, a letter sent to members and posted on a CWA website said the offer was an effort at “containing and sharing premium costs.”  The proposal also would expand the use of generic drugs and mail-order prescription services, the union letter said. The proposal would save the State about one-fifth of its premium costs the CWA claimed.

A Christie spokesman declined to comment. Christie, a Republican who frequently criticizes public sector unions, has said in recent weeks that he is looking forward to negotiating over contracts that are set to begin July 1. “It should be an adversarial situation,” Christie said on a televised interview last month. “Somebody should be representing the taxpayers.”

However, with the State facing rising health costs for current workers, a nearly $37 billion long term unfunded liability in the State portion of the pension system and another $56 billion for retiree health costs, Christie is pushing for system-wide changes through legislation. To this end, Christie has called for all state and local workers enrolled in the State’s health benefits plan to pay 30 percent of the premium.

A counter proposal by Democratic State Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney also would require premium payments by employees up to 30 percent, but that would only be for employees making more than $100,000 a year and seven years after their current contract ends.   An employee paid $60,000, close to the state average, would pay 7 percent of the premium at first, rising to 19 percent seven years later. That final figure would work out to $3,610 a year for family coverage in 2017.

Unions, however, want those health coverage changes to be adopted only through negotiation and not through state law, as proposed by Christie and Sweeney. Several hundred retired and current government workers jammed the hallways of the Statehouse as unions tried to meet with lawmakers and urge them not to pass the health care changes. Unions are arguing that the health care proposals amount to an attack on collective bargaining.

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As reported by nj.com, days before the governor’s office and the state’s largest public employees union are scheduled to sit down for the first time, lawmakers are receiving letters warning of dire results that could come from changing employee benefits through law.

A letter, cosigned by 48 labor attorneys, claims that if lawmakers move forward on Governor Chris Christie’s plan to force employees to pay 30 percent of the health costs, it would eliminate any future ability to negotiate on the subject. It is the latest in a brewing war between Christie and the state’s public employee unions over their benefits and whether they should be changed through legislation. 

“We want decision makers in Trenton to understand that we have a well-established legal right to negotiate over health benefits,” said Bob Masters, political director for the Communication Workers of America, which represents the majority of the state’s unionized employees.

Christie argues that since previous state employees received increases in benefits through legislation, there is nothing stopping him from reducing benefits through the same route. “They ought not complain when they have received benefits legislatively in the past,” Christie spokesman Kevin Roberts said.

The letters come in advance of a Friday meeting between the administration and the CWA. It will be the first meeting to discuss contracts that expire in June. The meeting will not include Christie, his spokesman Kevin Roberts said, but will be conducted by a representative of the administration. In previous contract negotiations, discussions between the administration and the unions began months earlier.

Christie has said he does not intend for health benefits to be a topic of this year’s negotiations. While the last contract, negotiated by former Gov. Jon Corzine, increased the cost of health benefits for employees, Christie says he will seek larger contributions and get them through law, not bargaining. Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney each have legislative proposals that would make state employees pay more for health insurance.   

The unions argue that historically only the pension benefits have been changed via legislation and that Sweeney’s bill, or any similar proposal, would strip them of bargaining rights they have previously been entitled to.

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As reported by trentonian.com, New Jersey’s state government unions are up against more than a combative Governor Chris Christie going into contract negotiations. They are up against numbers regarding their salary, which were recently released and could complicate their efforts to rally public opinion to their side.

More than 17,000 union represented state employees have salaries of $75,000 or higher. They account for a record 75 percent of total employees in this pay range, including management and patronage employees. Union represented employees now hold 43 percent of jobs paying $100,000 or more, also a record proportion. These Civil Service figures are as of January 1, 2010.

The two biggest of a dozen state employee unions are the Communications Workers of America, representing about 37,000 employees, and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (“AFSCME”), bargaining for about 9,900 state workers. Governor Christie has declared himself ready, even eager, to do some hard-nosed negotiations. He served notice at a recent town meeting that unions should not expect him to join them in “holding hands” around the bargaining table and singing “Kumbaya.”

Union representatives have no such expectations. “We’re aware of the [fiscal] situation and public mood,” said one AFSCME member, not authorized to speak for the union and commenting anonymously. “We’re not looking for a sweetheart contract or expecting one. We’re looking for a fair contract, one that doesn’t shift all the burden onto us.”

CWA says it has made concessions previously, contrary to the impression given by the blustery Christie. These concessions included a deferral of a scheduled raise in 2009, the acceptance of a pay cut in the form of uncompensated furlough days, and an agreement to take on a bigger employee share of pension and medical-coverage costs. 

New Jersey’s contract talks open at a time when states face big annual budget shortfalls and massive unfunded long-term liabilities in promised pension and health benefits. New Jersey liabilities by one official calculation surpass $120 billion, four times the annual state budget. Other calculations set the sum even higher.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, a Republican, has positioned himself in the center of America’s public sector labor battle zone. He’s proposing to sharply curtail bargaining parameters, including taking benefits off the table. He also proposed to stop payroll deductions for union dues, forcing the unions to collect their own dues, a potentially crippling blow to them financially. Christie has stopped short of going that far. But, he has drawn the national limelight, alongside Walker, with his union-taunting remarks and stated willingness to go to the mat.

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As reported by nj.com, the largest state employee unions in New Jersey are organizing a rally at the Statehouse on February 25, 2011 to express support for workers rallying in Wisconsin. The Communication Workers of America, which represents most of the state’s employees, will participate in the rally and National AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will address the crowd. The rally is organized by the AFL-CIO and supported by the Change to Win unions and the National Education Association.

“We are all Wisconsin public workers this week,” Hetty Rosenstein, CWA state director, said in a statement. “They’re trying to blame middle class workers for the financial mess that Wall Street caused. It’s more politics as usual and we’re ready to fight back.”

Wisconsin state employees have staged large rallies at the Madison capitol to protest a move by Governor Scott Walker to eliminate collective bargaining for most employees, except police officers and firefighters. Walker has said the changes are needed to balance the budget. The move would allow collective bargaining only for wages, but wages would be capped to growth equal to changes in the Consumer Price Index.

Governor Chris Christie has expressed support for Walker, saying he understands the need to make bold steps to balance a budget. Christie, who made national headlines fighting with the teachers union last year, will have his own time to do battle with the unions this year. Contracts for most of the state’s employees expire this year. Christie has said he looks forward to collective bargaining, saying he will be “vigorous and adversarial” during the process.

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As reported in the Trentonian on March 12, 2010, Governor Chris Christie is looking privatize State jobs. Yesterday, Governor Christie created a task force to look at ways to privatize State jobs to save money as he tries to find a plug for a projected $11 billion budget deficit for the 2011 fiscal year.

Christie signed an executive order creating the five-person group to look at “every aspect of the way government does business.” He said privatization could narrow the scope of public services provided by the State’s nearly 75,000 workers and increase efficiency. Christie also stated that he would have ordered the audit even if New Jersey was not in dire economic need. Privatizing jobs would inevitably mean layoffs for State workers, but Christie said he had not asked the task force to come back with a specific level of savings.     

The creation of the task force comes just days after the new Republican Governor said he was wrong to think he could alter a deal Governor Corzine made with State workers that allowed them to keep pay raises and take furloughs in exchange for a no-layoff pledge. Democrats estimate that for every 1,000 workers laid off, the State would realize $30 million to $40 million in savings. However, according to Bob Master, spokesman for the Communications Workers of America District 1, privatization is a “failed tactic from the past that’s based on an ideological hostility to government.” Specifically, he indicated, “you get a real deterioration of services and you don’t save any money.” 

Governor Christie’s potential privatization could have an enormous impact upon New Jersey Public Safety Officers. As such, please continue to check this blog periodically to ascertain updates regarding privatization and the workers it will affect.

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Employees in New Jersey’s largest state-worker union overwhelmingly ratified a revised contract agreement on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 that defers a raise and trades furloughs this year for future vacation days. With a little over 13,000 votes cast online or by phone by the deadline, the margin was 69 percent to 31 percent according to the Communication Workers of America. All four bargaining units, those represented clerical workers, professionals and two tiers of supervisors, voted for the revised deal, which bars layoffs until 2011. 

Workers in the CWA, which covers about half the state’s workforce, agreed to defer a 3.5 percent raise that was due July 1, 2009 by 18 months; they will get two 3.5 percent raises in fiscal 2011. Workers also agreed to nine furlough days over the coming year, on top of one taken in May. In exchange, they receive seven days off from work they can take starting in July 2010 or cash out when they leave state employment, at their pay rate at that time. 

The State agreed not to layoff any workers until January 2011 or add more unpaid furloughs before July 2011. If the State lays off any worker before January 2011, not counting any fired for disciplinary reasons or for cause, all state workers immediately get the deferred 3.5 percent raise and no further furloughs are required.

Workers due to receive increment raised in fiscal 2010 based on their years of service will get those increases. The nine unpaid furlough days include the day after Thanksgiving this year and Lincoln’s Birthday in 2010. The other seven dates will be worked out by workers and their supervisors and must be taken by the end of June 2010.

Republicans, who are hopeful that Governor Corzine will be replaced in this fall’s election, said the agreement ties the hands of the next governor to deal with next year’s multi-billion dollar deficit. “The governor did not need to negotiate these costly, election-year concessions. The courts had upheld his right to furlough workers as he originally proposed. The governor traded a plan that would have saved money during a recession for one that may very well slow the state’s recovery,” said Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr., R-Union.

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On June 3, 2009, the State of New Jersey’s largest public employee union indicated it would accept a wage freeze and unpaid furlough days to help reduce spending under a tentative deal according to Governor Jon Corzine.

Corzine called the agreement with the Communication Workers of America “very important for our budget to make sure that we get something that is a very substantial giveback.” According to Corzine, negotiations are continuing with other unions along with CWA.

Corzine stated, “There is a tentative agreement on wage givebacks and furloughs that has yet more details to be ironed out, and that has to be appropriately negotiated with other unions. I expect there will be an agreement on the terms that are negotiated at the collective bargaining table, not just with CWA but with all of the various parties that are involved.”

Although details of the deal were not provided, senior Democratic officials told the Star Ledger the pact would include ten (10) furlough days in the budget year starting July 1, along with a wage freeze and some “bankable” paid personal days that workers could take in the future.

Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee char Barbara Buono said the tentative agreement, if approved by other unions, would lead to at least $300 million in savings for the $28.6 billion budget proposed for the new fiscal year. 

Corzine imposed two furlough days before the current budget year ends June 30 and was seeking 12 more days in the new budget. Union members have protested the furloughs and criticized the Governor. 

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