N.J. CWAers Determined to Defeat Anti-Worker Candidate for Governor

CWA members in New Jersey, already working hard to re-elect Governor Jon Corzine, have been fired up by new attacks on public workers and CWA by the Republican candidate for governor, Chris Christie.

Earlier, Christie had declared war on state workers, bragging in campaign ads and interviews that he'll bust contracts and lay off thousands of employees. Now, his team has posted a new YouTube attack on CWA.

CWAers have made more than 90,000 phone calls to CWA families and have knocked on thousands of doors to build support for Corzine. The election is Nov. 3

Christie wants to lay off up to 20,000 state workers and curtail collective bargaining. He pledged that, "I'm going to do everything I can not to honor this deal," referring to contract provisions that Corzine recently negotiated with CWA and other public worker unions. Christie also vowed to eliminate workers' defined benefit pension plan. CWA represents 60,000 public workers in New Jersey.

Hetty Rosenstein, CWA state director for New Jersey, said Christie has even ridiculed the work some CWA members do, working with children in child care and early education. "He has referred to preschool and early childhood education as babysitting," Rosenstein said. "We have child care workers who provide a very important service, and we have people in early childhood education and child welfare. He's said that he would break up parts of the child welfare system and privatize it."

Christie opposes paid family leave and prevailing wages on state projects, among other anti-worker positions.