CWA, N.J. Reach Agreement That Preserves Jobs, Contract

CWA has reached an agreement with New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine that provides a no-layoff guarantee for 18 months and creates a 7-day paid leave bank to offset 10 furlough days for state workers.

The agreement helps save as many as 7,000 state worker jobs that were at risk because of the state's $9 billion budget shortfall. The state is required by law to reach a budget agreement by June 30, 2009.

Under the agreement, wage increases that were scheduled to take effect on July 1 will be postponed until Jan. 1, 2011. Workers' pension benefits will accrue based on including the postponed wage increases in the pension calculation. At the end of the current collective bargaining agreement on June 30, 2011, all the provisions of the contract that took effect in July 2007 will be intact.

"Given the realities of the current economic crisis, and soaring levels of unemployment, our two top priorities in these negotiations were the protection of all of our members' jobs and preserving the integrity of the collective bargaining agreement," said Chris Shelton, Vice President, CWA District One.  "We achieved those goals."

"We recognized the seriousness of the state's fiscal crisis and we said all along that we were willing to do our fair share, through the collective bargaining process," said Shelton.  "State workers have stepped up, and done what is best for the state, and what was necessary to ensure that not a single member loses his or her job in the midst of the worst recession since the 1930s."

The state and the union have agreed to request jointly that the Civil Service Commission rescind the recently adopted rule permitting the implementation of "staggered furloughs" without collective bargaining.  A 16-member Study Commission on Alternatives to Permanent Layoffs, with at least 6 union member representatives, will be established to address these issues.

The proposed agreement must be ratified by state worker members of CWA, and the ratification process will be overseen by the American Arbitration Association.

CWA members mobilized for months over the proposals that sought to "balance the state budget on our backs." CWA state worker locals held several "lobby days" at the Statehouse in Trenton, organized a letter-writing campaign to state legislators and set up informational picket lines outside more than 100 work locations to focus attention on how the governor's proposals would hurt public workers and New Jersey families.