NJ State Workers Stand Firm as Leaders Face Budget Crisis

The good news — thanks to the hard work of CWA and other unions — is that there's a new worker-friendly governor in New Jersey and he's got a Democratic legislature working with him.

The bad news is that they've inherited the economic fallout from years of Republican tax cuts and other mismanagement beginning in the early 1990s.

Taken together, the news means that New Jersey state workers represented by CWA are cautiously optimistic that the leaders they helped elect will treat them fairly as the government grapples with a budget and pension crisis.

But they're not letting their guard down, preparing to do battle as necessary to protect their jobs, pensions and state services. Republican leaders are provoking a fight, loudly decrying Gov. Jon Corzine's proposed remedies, particularly his call to raise the state sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent.

Even former Gov. Christine Whitman, whose anti-tax economic policies in the 1990s helped bring on the crisis, denounced Corzine in a newspaper column in March that took aim at jobs and services. "Rather than eliminating wasteful spending and rooting out waste in government, New Jersey families are being forced to bear the burden of balancing the budget," Whitman wrote.

State workers have reason to be hopeful. They have built strong ties with pro-worker forces in the statehouse over years of campaigns and lobbying. Last year, they won card-check recognition for public workers, leading them to organize prosecutors in Trenton and, most recently, a unit of 129 professional employees at the state's Housing Mortgage and Finance Agency. Other legislative victories include getting seniority rights recognized by law.

"CWA is a significant player in state politics," said Bob Master, CWA District 1 legislative and political director. More than 1,300 members, for instance, turned out on the governor's election day last November for phone banks and other get-out-the-vote activities.

Master said state workers generally feel Corzine is trying to fairly address the long-term budget problems and that, in backing the sales tax hike, has shown a willingness to do what's politically unpopular.

But pensions especially are a big concern. Master said Corzine has "taken a half-step in the right direction" on the state's unfunded pension liability. Failure to fund the plan began early in Whitman's administration and the shortfall is now estimated to be a staggering $12 billion to $30 billion depending on various calculations.

So far Corzine has directed to the pension fund about two-thirds of the $1.8 billion contribution required this year. But that figure "represents just the first down payment on what is really needed to ensure that state workers' pensions will be there when they retire," District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton said.

Even though Corzine is a "pro-labor progressive who was elected with strong labor support," Shelton said a tough fight lies ahead at a time when private sector pension systems are collapsing. "Discontinuation of defined benefit pension plans at enormously profitable private sector employers such as Verizon and IBM, and the massive givebacks suffered by workers in the auto and airlines industries, have put public sector defined benefit pensions in the cross-hairs," he said.