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BY TOM HESTER SR.
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Members of the largest state employees union have ratified a revised and controversial contract pact with the Corzine administration that calls for 10 unpaid furlough days and delays pay hikes in exchange for no layoffs.
Leaders of the Communications Workers of America announced Tuesday that 69 percent of the 13,055 members who voted supported the new pact. Member of four separate CWA state employee locals voted.
One unit, CWA Local 1033, voted against the pact, contending that it "breaks our contract and is not enforceable.''
Under the revised contract, employees will have to take 10 unpaid furlough days while seeing a wage hike delayed though December 2010 in return for the no-layoffs pledge. The workers will also be able to accrue up to seven paid leave days that can be used after next June 30. They will also not sustain any loss to their pension benefits.Gov. Jon Corzine maintains the new pact will save more than $300 million in the 2009-10 budget he signed Monday but Republican legislative leaders and GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie contend the agreement will cost taxpayers more than that amount in the future, including two pay increases in 2011.
"I am pleased that our state workforce chose a path that will allow the state to continue to provide vital public services without disruption while achieving over $300 million in cost savings and averting major layoffs,'' Corzine said. "This was truly an important achievement for both the state and public employees, who were willing to negotiate an unprecedented agreement as part of our continuing effort to secure savings and protect jobs in the face of an unprecedented economic crisis and revenue decline."
State Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean (R-Union) called the agreement an election year gimmick.
He said in return for the agreement, Corzine agreed to give workers a 7 percent raise in fiscal 2010-11, provide seven extra paid days off, add a paid holiday, and vow not to lay off or furlough any workers in 2010-11.
"The governor did not need to negotiate these costly, election-year concessions," Kean said. "The courts had upheld his right to furlough workers as he originally proposed. The governor traded a plan that would have saved money during a recession for one that may very well slow the state's recovery.
"This new agreement seeks to tie the hands of the next governor, who will need every tool possible to bring future budgets into balance,'' Kean said. "Estimates are that the state will have an $8 billion to $10 billion deficit next year.
"I urged the governor to come forward now with his best estimate of next year's deficit, and to explain how he intends to close it now that he has greatly reduced the state's options if this recession continues,'' Kean said.
