CWA District 1 Slams New Jersey Budget Deal for Punishing New Jersey Working Families with Higher Healthcare Costs in Backroom Agreement

TRENTON, N.J. ‒ The Communications Workers of America (CWA) District 1 today sharply condemned Governor Murphy, Speaker Coughlin, and Senate President Scutari for approving a budget deal that forces state employees and retirees to shoulder an arbitrary $100 million healthcare cut on top of unprecedented healthcare premium increases.

“Working men and women across New Jersey—from nurses and clerks to office workers and caseworkers—were blindsided,” said Billy Gallagher, Assistant to the Vice President, CWA  District 1. “This backroom budget gamble shifts costs onto the backs of the very people who keep our state running, while violating collective bargaining rights and threatening every single union in this state.”

The budget agreement made public earlier this week through the media, leaving legislators themselves completely out of the loop, requires the Plan Design Committee (PDC) to gut health benefits for middle-class public workers, increasing co-pays, increasing deductibles, and increasing out-of-pocket costs for 100,000 working families. If the PDC cannot come up with adequate savings, the legislature would be forced to do it. If that fails, it moves on to a newly invented “neutral” arbitration panel.

By requiring the PDC, the legislature, or an arbitration panel to be involved, the negotiated process outlined in CWA’s collective bargaining agreement is sidelined. By agreeing to this deal, the Governor and Legislative leadership are putting every legislator in the position to vote against collective bargaining rights—and put themselves in the middle of making future benefits decisions while ignoring much-needed relief for State and Local Governments. 

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The Communications Workers of America represents working people in public service, telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, healthcare and education, manufacturing, tech, and other fields. CWA represents roughly 75,000 public sector workers throughout New Jersey.

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