Negotiate costs of health care

In one breath, Gov. Chris Christie claims he supports the right of public employees to collectively bargain. In the next, he says he won't negotiate health care benefits with the state's unions.

Given the fiscal hole the state has dug for itself, we understand Christie's hesitation to do so. But it would be a mistake not to include health benefits in the negotiations, which began earlier this month. Contracts for the state's unions expire at the end of June.

Workers deserve the right to bargain for health benefits. They should not have their rights legislated away, which is what Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, both want. It's questionable whether addressing the issue of health care costs through legislation would withstand a court challenge. And it doesn't make much sense to do so when the administration has the statutory authority to impose its last final offer if it can't reach an agreement across the bargaining table.

Christie is seeking legislation that would push 30 percent of the cost of health insurance onto state workers by 2014, up significantly from the 1.5 percent of their salaries they pay now. Christie says it would save an estimated $323 million annually.

Under Sweeney's proposal, which would be phased in over seven years, all public employees would pay a percentage of their premiums on a sliding scale based on their salaries. When fully implemented after the seventh year, the lowest income workers would pay 12 percent of their premiums, while top earners would pay 30 percent. Annual payments would range from $2,280 to $5,700 a year. Sweeney says his plan would save as much as $1 billion annually within that seven years.

Sweeney and Christie both want a multi-tiered benefit plan in which employees could pay less for less coverage and more for increased coverage.

The CWA, which represents more than 50,000 state and local public employees, unveiled a proposal recently it says would result in workers paying 22 percent of their medical insurance costs by the end of their four-year contract, resulting in a savings of $240 million in the fourth year. We are somewhat skeptical about the projected savings. Nevertheless, it's a good starting point for serious negotiations.

We have long bemoaned the generous benefits packages public-sector employees have received from pliant state and local negotiators. We aren't suggesting Christie roll over as former Gov. Jon Corzine and his predecessors have done. We are simply saying that Christie should get the deal he wants through negotiations.

At one of Christie's town hall meetings earlier this year, he told the audience, "I love collective bargaining . . .Let me at them. Get me out of the cage and let me go."

No one is stopping him. The parameters have been established. Let the negotiations begin.