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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, 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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On January 20, 2011, a New Jersey Superior Court Judge rejected an attempt by various public employee unions to overturn pension changes for new government employees enacted early last year. The laws challenged required new employees to pay 1.5 percent of their salaries toward current health benefits and 1.5 percent of their pensions after they retire. The laws also limited pensions to full-time employees and capped payments of unused sick time to $15,000.

The decisions, released by the Honorable Linda R. Feinberg, were largely expected.  The Communication Workers of America, AFL-CIO, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees all challenged the laws as vague and unconstitutional.  New Jersey’s largest teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association, the Teamsters Union, and the Fraternal Order of Police argued the Legislature overstepped its authority and that these new laws amounted to an unlawful “taking” by the government.

Feinberg rejected these and other arguments and dismissed the lawsuits “with prejudice,” meaning that the unions could not bring another lawsuit again on the claim. Please click on the links below to read the decisions in their entirety.

CWA Decision

NJSPBA Decision

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On Thursday, February 25, 2010, Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver and Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce announced bipartisan Assembly legislation to reform public worker pensions and health benefits has been introduced.

They also said additional legislation to target pension and benefit reforms at state authorities and agencies and to close a loophole that allows public employees to collect a full pension while collecting an additional public salary are being finalized and will soon also be introduced.

Oliver and DeCroce sponsored the bills introduced, but additional sponsors will soon be added. The following bills were introduced:

A2461, which would:

• Limit pension system enrollment to new full-time employees who work at least 35 hours per week for the State or 32 hours for local government and schools;
• Base pensions for new police and firefighters on the three highest salary years rather than the highest single year;
• Impose a pensionable salary cap for new employees of the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System and the State Police Retirement System; and
• Repeal 2003 legislation that allowed a police or firefighter to retire at any age with 25 years of service credit on a special retirement allowance of 70 percent of final compensation.

A2460, which would:

• Require all public employees to pay at least 1.5 percent of their salary toward health benefits after the expiration of a current contract;
• Require new state workers to work at least 35 per hours per week to qualify for health benefits; and
• Require all newly-hired employees to pay at least 1.5 percent of their base pension toward health benefits upon retirement.

A2459, which would:

• Eliminate the sick leave injury program; and

ACR115, which would:

• Ask voters during a November election to amend the State Constitution to eventually require the State to pay the full amount of its required pension fund contribution.

This legislation serves as a companion to the legislation that was recently introduced in the State Senate. As such, please continue to check this blog periodically to ascertain updates regarding the same as it has tremendous implications for New Jersey Public Safety Officers.

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