Christie Signs Budget, Bigger Fights Coming

Governor Christie reached a deal with Democrats in the state legislature on a $29.4 billion budget last week, which was passed and signed into law on Tuesday.

CWA acheived several hard-fought victories in the budget to preserve jobs:

• Because of the 2007 MOU, every state worker job is preserved until January 2011, and the July 2010 raises are preserved.
• Hagedorn Psychaitric Hospital, which Governor Christie proposed closing in his initial budget address, will remain open, thanks to a bipartisan coalition of legislators developed by CWA Local 1040, which represents workers at the facility.
• Workers at NJN will remain on the job pending a task force to review the best ways for the television network to remain operating, despite an earlier proposal from Christie to privatize and sell the network.  CWA Local 1032, which represents the workers, also developed a strong bipartisan coalition to halt privatization.

But the budget is far from ideal.

• Not a single penny will be put into the state pension fund this year.
• $408 million was cut from aid to localities, which will put considerable pressure on county and local governments.  Towns are already laying off police, teachers and public workers and increasing property taxes to make up the difference.
• The budget includes $50 million in savings from privatizing state worker jobs--Christie is expected to announce his plans to achieve those savings soon.
• Fees on Civil Service promotional exams and discipline appeals were increased to help pay for the budget.
• Other cuts include $3.5 million for school lunches for underprivileged children, $820 million for education, $7.4 million for health care servieces used by 135,000 women, cuts to property tax rebates and cuts to the Earned Income Tax Credit--a program providing tax rebates to those who work full time and live at or near the poverty line.
• The budget will increase taxes 30% for a family of four making $40,000 and increase taxes 17% for a family of four making $75,000--All while that same family making $1.2 million gets a $12,000 tax cut.

Now, Christie is calling the legislature into a special session starting July 1 to discuss his "Toolkit."

The 33 bills in the Toolkit won't save anyone any money.  It is a thinly veiled assault on workers' rights in New Jersey and it will decimate public servcies and our quality of life.

One of Christie's proposals is a 2.5% Constitutional cap on property taxes and a 2.5% cap on collective bargaining award increases, inclusive of pension and health care costs.  This proposal would bankrupt the pension system, end raises for public workers permanently, increase the inequalities in services across New Jersey's cities, and decimate the services New Jersey residents depend on.

Other proposals in the Toolkit would:

• Allow towns to opt out of Civil Service--the system that ensures fairness in hiring and promotions.
• Let management implement furlough days at will.
• Give management the ability to choose who keeps their jobs if layoff occur, and phohibit management from considering time on the job.
• Remove the requirement that management have cause to lay off an employee.
• Eliminate legal access to appeal an suspension of less than 30 days.
• Allow management to make "temporary appointments" of workers for up to nine months.

CWA will continue to fight the Toolkit using every means at its disposal.  For more information, and to find out how to get involved, check back often.