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New Jersey State Worker Pact Boosts Wages 15.3%
A mail ballot ratification vote was underway at press time among 35,000 state workers following a tentative agreement highlighted by wage hikes of 15.3 percent compounded over four years - the biggest economic settlement in the mid-Atlantic region this year for public workers, reported District 1 Vice President Larry Mancino. Ballots will be counted on Aug. 24.
The settlement preserves wholly paid health coverage under the statewide preferred provider network despite the governor's firm declaration that workers would have to share costs for all health benefit options. Workers in HMOs will pay 5 percent of the premium to remain in an HMO (about $5 a week) after July 2000 or else they can shift to the PPO for free coverage, and in most cases they can keep their own doctors, Mancino reported.
Looming over the contract talks with the hostile Christine Todd Whitman administration was a separate issue of the governor's plan to change civil service rules in a way that attacks layoff and seniority rights. Despite the administration's position that it would not negotiate on this issue - the plan was unilaterally put in place - in the end the state agreed to several union demands to minimize its negative impact.
"It was solely the power of our mobilization program and pressure on the governor and legislature by our locals and members that forced the state to sit down at the bargaining table and modify this plan after months of telling us that it flat wasn't negotiable," said Mancino.
"We continue to oppose the governor's plan entirely and we'll fight in three years, when the rules automatically `sunset,' to eliminate them," he said. "But we had an opportunity to force significant improvements as part of our bargaining mobilization, and we seized that opportunity."
A substantial wage package was a key goal to make up for stagnant pay levels in previous years. "Our members took it on the chin in the last contract," Mancino noted. "Today, with a soaring budget surplus, the state can afford to pay a decent wage increase so state workers can begin catching up."
CWA locals put together a mobilization "Committee of 1,000" activists at a bargaining kickoff rally in March, and conducted numerous public demonstrations including a massive Lobby Day event in Trenton on June 10 to demand a fair contract as well as protest the assault on seniority in layoffs. The mobilization was backed up by a CWA radio campaign appealing to the public. "Tell your legislators: stand up for New Jersey families," was the message.
The settlement preserves wholly paid health coverage under the statewide preferred provider network despite the governor's firm declaration that workers would have to share costs for all health benefit options. Workers in HMOs will pay 5 percent of the premium to remain in an HMO (about $5 a week) after July 2000 or else they can shift to the PPO for free coverage, and in most cases they can keep their own doctors, Mancino reported.
Looming over the contract talks with the hostile Christine Todd Whitman administration was a separate issue of the governor's plan to change civil service rules in a way that attacks layoff and seniority rights. Despite the administration's position that it would not negotiate on this issue - the plan was unilaterally put in place - in the end the state agreed to several union demands to minimize its negative impact.
"It was solely the power of our mobilization program and pressure on the governor and legislature by our locals and members that forced the state to sit down at the bargaining table and modify this plan after months of telling us that it flat wasn't negotiable," said Mancino.
"We continue to oppose the governor's plan entirely and we'll fight in three years, when the rules automatically `sunset,' to eliminate them," he said. "But we had an opportunity to force significant improvements as part of our bargaining mobilization, and we seized that opportunity."
A substantial wage package was a key goal to make up for stagnant pay levels in previous years. "Our members took it on the chin in the last contract," Mancino noted. "Today, with a soaring budget surplus, the state can afford to pay a decent wage increase so state workers can begin catching up."
CWA locals put together a mobilization "Committee of 1,000" activists at a bargaining kickoff rally in March, and conducted numerous public demonstrations including a massive Lobby Day event in Trenton on June 10 to demand a fair contract as well as protest the assault on seniority in layoffs. The mobilization was backed up by a CWA radio campaign appealing to the public. "Tell your legislators: stand up for New Jersey families," was the message.