CWAers in NJ: 'We Will Fight And We Will Win'

New Jersey's top court has failed working families by siding with Republican Gov. Chris Christie in the fight with unions over funding the public workers' pension system.

The State Supreme Court, in a 5-2 ruling on Tuesday, overturned a lower-court decision that said Christie broke the law when he cut $1.57 billion from a promised payment and ordered his administration to work with the legislature to remedy the shortfall.

"We hoped the Court would uphold the basic tenet that the law is what it says it is. But the fact that they didn't rule for us is merely another obstacle that we will overcome," said CWA's New Jersey director Hetty Rosenstein. "Governor Christie broke his word, and whatever shred of credibility he had left when he refused to fund the pension. Our union will never permit the destruction of the pension system and, as such, the destruction of New Jersey's economy. If it is unconstitutional to meet the pension obligation, perhaps we will have to change the constitution. But one thing I know is this: we will fight, and we will win."

In 2011, Christie and state lawmakers passed a law raising workers' pension contributions, bumping up the age of retirement, and reducing cost-of-living adjustments. In return, the state promised to start making bigger contributions into the pension system to make up for a history of scarce payments. But while workers held up their end of the bargain, Christie reneged and slashed the required payment to fill a gap in his troubled budget.

Despite the lower court's ruling earlier this year, Christie continued to ignore the 2011 law. Unions sued, charging that the governor has a constitutionally protected contractual obligation to increase the state's payments.

This week the State Supreme Court didn't necessarily agree with Christie's backtracking, but rather conveyed an unwillingness to intervene.

"That the state must get its financial house in order is plain," Justice Jaynee LaVecchia, who was appointed by Republican Gov. Christie Whitman. "The need is compelling in respect of the state's ability to honor its compensation commitment to retired employees. But the court cannot resolve that need in place of the political branches. They will have to deal with one another to forge a solution to the tenuous financial status of New Jersey's pension funding in a way that comports with the strictures of our Constitution."