CWA Mounts Campaign Against Cuts - New Jersey a Prime Example Of State Budget Crises

CWA-represented state workers in New Jersey demonstrate to prevent budget and job cuts in the state parks program, one of many agencies targeted for devastating rollbacks. Cuts in federal aid are forcing states across the country to slash programs for seniors, children, the disabled and the poor.

Simply put, says CWA District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton, CWA's public sector members in New Jersey are facing their worst budget crisis in a decade.

Layoffs and a massive reduction in the workforce through early retirement incentives are on the table in what Shelton calls a "nightmare budget" that slashes public investment by $2.7 billion — hurting not just public workers but hospitals, parks, higher education, poverty and health care programs and the environment.

In part, union leaders say, it's the culmination of grossly irresponsible tax cuts in the 1990s by Republican Gov. Christine Todd Whitman. Combined with federal cuts in aid to states under the Bush White House, the legacy of Whitman's tax cuts and an assortment of bad decisions by the state legislature have created a crisis for state workers and the new governor they supported for election in 2005, Jon Corzine.

It's a scene being repeated in many states around the country, where previous rounds of tax cuts, loss of federal dollars and political battles in state legislatures are bringing anger and financial desperation to a boiling point.

In New Jersey, CWA is taking the lead with a media campaign that seeks to help all residents understand what's at stake and fight for solutions that won't devastate state programs and jobs.

In addition, "we will be working with the New Jersey Working Families Alliance to form a broad coalition of progressives and advocates for the poor, seniors, the environment, for health care and for seniors to oppose budget cuts and support new sources of revenue," Shelton said, explaining that CWA's goal is to build "a powerful new movement in New Jersey to change the direction of the state's fiscal debate."

When it comes to budget shortfalls, states have it much harder than the federal government. States have to balance their budgets, while the United States can operate in the red. And during the Bush administration the White House has done so to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars a year, piling onto what is now nearly $10 trillion in national debt.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported in mid-April that, like New Jersey, at least 20 states so far this year had made or were proposing cuts in vital services that would hurt many of their most vulnerable residents.

For instance, at least 13 states plan to reduce the numbers of low-income children and families eligible for health care; at least five states are cutting programs for the elderly and disabled; nine states are making cuts in K-12 education; and 12 states are reducing higher education spending, among scores of other rollbacks.

"When states cut spending, they lay off employees, cancel contracts with vendors, reduce payments to businesses and nonprofits that provide services, and cut benefit payments to individuals," says CBPP, which advocates more federal aid for states to stop the bloodletting. "All of these steps remove demand from the economy, which only worsens a downturn.