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Philadelphia Inquirer - N.J. Senate panel advances plan for public employees to pay more for benefits
Star Ledger - N.J. Senate committee approves health, pension benefit reform despite union protests …”In an effort to tamp down criticism, Sweeney made two last-minute changes to the bill: he locked in retirement benefits for current employees with at least 20 years on the job instead of 25 years, and broadened exceptions to a controversial provision that limits workers to in-state hospitals…”
Northjersey.com - N.J. Senate budget committee advances pension, health benefits bill
Politickernj.com - As protesters call out bosses, sources admit 'there is Norcross-Joe D fatigue' in Dem caucus Nj.com - Union leader compares Gov. Christie to Hitler at pension reform protest
Philadelphia Inquirer - N.J. Senate panel advances plan for public employees to pay more for benefits
Star Ledger - Moran: Real leadership sang louder than N.J. unions' tired refrains
Philadelphia Inquirer - N.J. Senate panel advances plan for public employees to pay more for benefits
By Maya Rao
Inquirer Trenton Bureau
TRENTON - A labor rally that included a comparison of Gov. Christie to Adolf Hitler and the arrests of two dozen union workers for disrupting a hearing did not deter a Senate committee Thursday from approving a plan for public employees to pay more for their benefits.
The Budget and Appropriations Committee voted, 9-4, for legislation expected to save millions of tax dollars by requiring greater pension and health-care contributions from government workers.
The bill, sponsored by Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester), goes for a vote Monday before the Senate, where it is expected to pass in a manner nearly unheard of in Trenton, with a small group of Democrats bucking opposition from their own party to join the GOP minority.
Labor leaders fumed that their traditional allies in the Democratic-controlled Legislature were working with the Republican governor to legislate benefits they would prefer to negotiate, and sent 3,500 workers to the Capitol.
As the budget panel heard testimony on the measure - two weeks before the deadline to pass a state budget - police and firefighters, teachers, and state employees used voices, whistles, and blow horns to make sure they were heard inside.
"Brothers and sisters, inside that hearing room they tell us they can't hear you!" screamed Hetty Rosenstein, a Communications Workers of America leader, before leading chants that included "Sweeney's a rat."
Sweeney, an ironworkers union official, also was called "swine" and "a bum." Threats were made that turncoat Democrats would pay in November, when all 120 legislative seats are up for election.
At the rally, CWA vice president Chris Shelton likened the Statehouse to Nazi Germany.
He said Hitler had attacked the unions just as Christie and his "two generals" were doing. That reference was to Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D., Essex), who hesitated for weeks to post the bill without the support of a majority of her caucus but joined Wednesday night with Christie and Sweeney to announce an agreement to support it.
The bill (S2937) would increase pension contribution rates for teachers and workers in the Public Employee Retirement System from 5.5 percent to 6.5 percent in the first year. It would phase in an additional 1 percent over seven years. Contributions would increase from 8.5 percent to 10 percent for police and fire employees.
The measure also would raise the retirement age to 65 for public employees hired after the law's effective date, compared to the limit of 60 for those enrolled before November 2008 and 62 for those hired after.
Cost-of-living adjustments would be eliminated until the pension system, currently funded at about 60 percent after governors have skipped billions in contributions, was restored to a healthier level of 80 percent.
To try to appease the unions, the law would expire four years after the effective date. It also would preserve the 9 percent pension increase approved in 2001, which Christie wanted to repeal.
Even union critics generally agree that the state must take steps to fix the troubled pension system and do not object to that being legislated. The sticking point has been that the bill would mandate that public workers, who now pay about 8 percent of their health-care premiums, would have to chip in increasingly more over the next four years.
Unions say they would rather make such concessions through a contract. Sweeney's bill would have workers making over $105,000 pay 35 percent of their health benefit costs. Those making less would pay a smaller amount. For example, a teacher making the average salary of $65,000 would fork over 19 percent.
Boos, hisses, and heckles repeatedly disrupted Sweeney's testimony before the Senate budget panel in a first-floor room of the Statehouse Annex, where the senator opened by saying, "When I wake up in the morning, I wake up as a labor leader."
He stood firm on his health benefits plan, saying the state must be fair to public workers.
"But we must also be fair to the taxpayers who are on the hook," Sweeney said.
Budget Committee Chairman Paul Sarlo (D., Bergen) had to repeatedly pound his gavel in the raucous hearing room, which was jammed by several hundred people.
Among the parade of labor leaders testifying in opposition was Bill Lavin, president of the New Jersey State Firefighters Mutual Benevolent Association.
The Legislature was disrespecting workers' rights, especially given that unions were being asked for input on the benefits issue even when Sweeney and Christie had already reached a deal, Lavin said. The governor, he said, is controlling the Democratic Party.
Tension reached a boiling point when union members in the front two rows stood, linked arms, and began chanting "Kill the bill" and "Workers' rights are human rights" as the state police led them out of the room.
Authorities arrested 25 people, charged them with disorderly conduct, and released them pending a hearing.
The four Democratic senators who joined with five Republicans to pass the bill were James Beach of Camden County, Teresa Ruiz of Essex County, Brian Stack of Hudson County, and Jeff Van Drew of Cape May County.
Sarlo, who voted "no" over concerns shared by the majority of Democrats, said after the hearing that Sweeney's pension proposal "is a great concept" but that the rest of the bill fails to lower health care costs and just passes them on to employees.
Before Monday, he said, "Hopefully we can continue to work with labor groups to find a way to resolve this matter."
"But let's not kid ourselves," Sarlo added. "The votes are there."
Star Ledger - N.J. Senate committee approves health, pension benefit reform despite union protests
Published: Friday, June 17, 2011, 6:00 AM Updated: Friday, June 17, 2011, 7:25 AM
By Jarrett Renshaw/Statehouse BureauThe Star-Ledger
TRENTON — Irate public employees converged on the Statehouse by the thousands Thursday tooting horns, carrying signs and disrupting a Senate hearing, but the show of force failed to break a legislative agreement overhauling their state health and pension benefits.
Union members gathered at the Statehouse steps and clogged a Senate hearing room in an effort to thwart the progress of a bipartisan bill that was worked out Wednesday night between Democrats and Republicans.
There was even an inflatable rat outside the Statehouse annex with a sign on its chest that said, "Pension betrayal."
It seemed at times as if the demonstrators didn’t know who they were maddest at: the Republican lawmakers doing the bidding of Gov. Chris Christie or their Democratic counterparts who joined in to support the measure now headed for votes on the Senate floor and the Assembly next week.
At one point the police led more than two dozen union workers from the hearing and charged them with disorderly conduct after they locked arms and began shouting "kill the bill" and "workers rights are human rights."
"There’s a lot of sheep inside, and the lions are out here fighting," Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer) told an estimated 3,500 public workers gathered outside the Statehouse in Trenton.
As the raucous crowd cheered on union leaders and disgruntled Democrats, the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee absorbed a litany of blistering criticism of the bill and the legislators who support it. The measure, if approved, will force the state’s 500,000 public workers to assume a much larger share of the costs for health care and pension benefits.
The labor leaders testified that health benefits should be negotiated, not legislated, and urged the panel to split the measure into separate bills.
For four hours, union leaders pleaded in vain with Democratic legislators to vote against the measure, which was approved by a 9-4 vote.
"You are trampling on our fundamental democratic rights," said Bob Master, political director of the Communications Workers of America, the state’s largest public employee union. "Real Democrats would kill this bill."
Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), the bill’s architect, began the four-hour hearing against the backdrop of jeers and insults. Union members hissed when his name was called and berated him as a "disgrace" and "turncoat."
Sweeney, a union ironworker, touted his union credentials, but said that as a legislator he also had a obligation to protect the state’s taxpayers.
"We need action," he said. "Reform is needed now. We have a pension system in crisis, one that is teetering on the brink of collapse. That is becoming clearer as we see record numbers of public employees retiring."
New Jersey is confronted by a $53.9 billion pension deficit because for years the state did not pay into it, the stock market swooned during the recession and benefits to the expanding work force increased. Health care costs have also soared, and there are $66.8 billion in unfunded liabilities.
Sweeney said the pension changes are about ensuring there is money to pay retirees and the health benefit overhaul is about protecting taxpayers. "Change is here and it is fair and affordable," he said.
Gov. Chris Christie praised the measure Thursday at the annual conference of the New Jersey Association of Counties meeting in Atlantic City. "New Jersey is setting a model for dealing with these problems in an honest, forthright and bipartisan way," he boasted.
But Senator Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex) challenged Sweeney’s contention that the only way to achieve savings is through legislation, calling it a false choice.
"I think that you can achieve the same savings through negotiations ... I am not sure what the governor’s afraid of," she said. "Instead, he’s going through the back door and changing the rules, that’s what I object to."
The bill shifts more of the costs of health and pension benefits onto public workers in the form of increased contributions, while also freezing cost of living adjustments for retirees and raising the retirement age.
Christie, who helped shape the bill, has said he hoped to save $300 million from health benefit reform, but a state treasury official testified Thursday hearing that the bill would only save $10 million. Christie and lawmakers have until June 30 to fill the gap and approve his $29.6 billion budget for the next fiscal year.
In an effort to tamp down criticism, Sweeney made two last-minute changes to the bill: he locked in retirement benefits for current employees with at least 20 years on the job instead of 25 years, and broadened exceptions to a controversial provision that limits workers to in-state hospitals.
The New Jersey Education Association insists the provision was tucked in the bill as a gift to Sweeney’s long-time friend and political patron, George Norcross, who is the chairman of Camden’s Cooper Hospital, which competes with hospitals in Philadelphia.
But at the end of the day the 9-4 vote, including support from four Democrats — Brian Stack (D-Hudson), Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May), James Beach (D-Camden), and Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex) — set up a vote by the full Senate on Monday, the same day the Assembly Budget Committee will hold its hearing. If approved, the full Assembly will vote on Thursday.
While Democrats control both chambers, a majority of them oppose the bill, so Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Shelia Oliver (D-Essex) — who accepted the deal much more reluctantly — are relying on Republicans to pass the bill.
Sweeney said he was not worried about being overthrown as Senate president by fellow Democrats. "I’ve been respectful of my colleagues and they’ve been respectful of me," he said.
But for their part, union leaders said they felt betrayed by Democrats, who have historically fought for middle-class workers.
"Do not think you can sell us out in June and buy us back in November," Barbara Keshishian, president of the NJEA told the mid-day crowd gathered outside the State, "I am mad as hell about politicians who were elected by the people but sell their votes to the powerful."
Standing in the crowd, Andrew Magee, a Camden firefighter for 18 years, said he had battled two blazes and had hardly slept but felt compelled to attend the rally. He said he gave his best years to the city, only to be confronted by a deal hammered out in private and not at the negotiating table.
"They’re discarding me as Thursday morning trash, putting me on the curb," he said. "That’s how I feel."
Staff writers Chris Megarian, Ginger Gibson Matt Friedman, Sal Rizzo, Megan DeMarco, MaryAnn Spoto and Christopher Baxter contributed to this report.
Northjersey.com - N.J. Senate budget committee advances pension, health benefits bill
Thursday, June 16, 2011 Last updated: Thursday June 16, 2011, 9:18 PM
BY JOHN REITMEYER
STATE HOUSE BUREAU
State House Bureau
Legislation forcing public employees to pay more toward their pensions and health benefit plans to ease government budget problems passed a contentious state Senate committee on Thursday. The legislation now heads to the full Senate on Monday, the same day the Assembly will take it up for the first time in committee.
Here’s a closer look at what the proposed changes mean for public workers, taxpayers, Governor Christie and others.
Public workers
Most government employees in New Jersey now contribute at least 1.5 percent of their salaries toward the cost of their health care. The legislation would change that contribution for most public employees to between 3.5 percent and 35 percent of the cost of the premium depending on salary, with higher earners paying more and lower earners paying less. Those changes would be phased in over several years. The legislation would also increase the portion of a public worker’s salary that is dedicated to the pension system by a few percentage points, depending on what job the worker holds.
Taxpayers
New Jersey taxpayers foot much of the bill for public employee pension and health benefits, even into the workers’ retirements. The changes in the state law would shift more of the burden onto the public workers, which means less reliance on property taxes to fund county, municipal and school board worker benefits, and less reliance on income, sales and business taxes to pay for state worker benefits. The savings would build as the increased employee contributions are fully phased in.
State finances
New Jersey’s bond rating was lowered by two different Wall Street ratings agencies earlier this year, largely in response to the huge unfunded liabilities in the state’s pension and health benefits systems. The state’s bond rating is an important factor in determining how cheap and easy it is for government to borrow money to pay for capital improvements that cannot be funded in one budget year, such as roads, bridges and schools. The pension system is underfunded by an estimated $54 billion, and the health benefits system is underfunded by $67 billion. The legislation would prevent the state from skipping its contribution to the pension system, something that has helped build the unfunded liabilities. The changes would reduce the liabilities and likely improve the bond rating by sending a signal to Wall Street that the state is working to address its biggest fiscal problems.
Lawmakers
The changes being made would affect lawmakers as well because they are state employees and can enroll in the state benefits plans, although those seated after 2007 are blocked from the pension system already. And the legislation impacts some lawmakers doubly since many also hold other offices and jobs at other levels of government in New Jersey. The bill also eliminates a loophole allowing lawmakers and some other public employees to retire and begin collecting a public pension without actually leaving their elected office. And the legislation also has political implications for lawmakers since all 120 seats in the Legislature are up for grabs this fall.
Governor Christie
Though not on the ballot with lawmakers this year, the governor, who was in Atlantic City on Thursday, has been the loudest voice for reforming public employee benefits since taking office in 2010. Convincing the Democratic-controlled Legislature to pass the benefit-reform bill would score two big victories for Christie, who many see as a potential candidate for national office and even the White House. The governor shows he can work with Democrats to enact meaningful reform, and he also gets to build a budget with millions that used to go to employee benefits freed up for other purposes or tax cuts.
E-mail: reitmeyer@northjersey.com
Politickernj.com - As protesters call out bosses, sources admit 'there is Norcross-Joe D fatigue' in Dem caucus
By Max Pizarro | June 16th, 2011 - 11:36am
TRENTON – The health benefits and pension reform deal struck by Gov. Chris Christie and Democratic leadership will pass out of the budget committee next Monday by a 7-5 vote, say sources, cut along the same regional and party lines that will be visible in larger dimensions once the bill makes the full floor.
Democratic Assemblyman John Burzichelli (D-3), Assemblyman Lou Greenwald (D-6) and Assemblyman Albert Coutinho (D-29) will vote in the affirmative with the four Republicans on the committee, sources say.
When the reform measure heads to the full assembly (which includes a 2014 sunset provision), the same South Jersey/Essex County alliance will weld with Republican caucus members to make the bill happen, according to sources. But, “there is Norcross-Joe D. fatigue,” admitted a Democratic Party caucus member referring to the leaders who respectively wield power over the South Jersey Democratic contingent and Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-34) on yet another day when police, fire and CWA workers crammed West State Street.
"The double dipper in Essex County and the boss in South Jersey have more power than we have right now," said Keith Dunn, a leader with the state Police Benevolent Association (PBA).
Without offering specific details, a source said union leadership last night walked away from a good deal presented by the front office and the Democrats. “When rank and file members find out what their leaders left on the table, they’re going to be ticked,” said the source.
But the political optics of Democrats at war with their own base, of which public sector employees form a critical part, may make it hard for Oliver to weather a leadership challenge in November and could continue to pressure cook state Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3).
"You screw up here today and we will screw you in November," screamed an organizer before the chant of "Kill the bill" ripped through the crowd.
“She survives the summer but in November, it will be over,” said the source over the protests of Oliver’s allies, who insist it won’t happen, arguing that this health and pension benefits battle is simply one front and not indicative of the totality.
Nj.com - Union leader compares Gov. Christie to Hitler at pension reform protest
Published: Thursday, June 16, 2011, 9:50 PM Updated: Friday, June 17, 2011, 5:46 AM
By Salvador Rizzo/Statehouse BureauThe Star-Ledger
TRENTON — In an explosive tirade that fired up some demonstrators and embarrassed others, a national union leader went nuclear on Gov. Chris Christie, calling him a Nazi over and over.
"Welcome to Nazi Germany," Christopher Shelton, a top official at the Communication Workers of America, told thousands of protesters today outside the Statehouse in Trenton. "The first thing that the Nazis and Adolf Hitler did was go after the unions."
In an extreme example of disaffection with both parties, Shelton also went after Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex).
"Adolf Christie’s generals," he called them, because both are backing a bill that would increase pension and health benefit costs for public workers.
The legislation (S2937) drew a firestorm of criticism inside and outside the Statehouse before it passed the Senate budget committee.
"Any politician who stands up against collective bargaining, in this state or any other, is not a Democrat," Shelton said. "They’re Nazis, goddamn it."
That rhetoric immediately caused alarm among Democratic lawmakers waiting to address the crowd of more than 3,500 workers. State Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Union) took the microphone after Shelton and rebuked him immediately.
"I’m here to support the workers," Lesniak said. "I’m also here to denounce the comparisons between Governor Christie and Adolf Hitler, and Steve Sweeney and the Nazis."
Hours later, Shelton apologized after Sweeney and a New York-based group of Holocaust survivors also denounced his comments.
"His remarks trivialize the horrors of the Holocaust and are an offense to all victims of Nazi crimes, Jew and non-Jew," said Elan Steinberg of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants.
The crowd, which had been cheering lightly while Shelton spoke, became more subdued once Lesniak made his point. The protest would peak later, during remarks by other national union leaders.
Lee Saunders, the No. 2 national officer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, sent the decibel level soaring by linking Christie and Sweeney to greedy heads of corporations instead.
"They are nothing more than fronts for corporate CEOs," he said.
Star Ledger - Moran: Real leadership sang louder than N.J. unions' tired refrains
Published: Friday, June 17, 2011, 6:30 AM Updated: Friday, June 17, 2011, 8:02 AM
By Tom Moran/ The Star-LedgerThe Star-Ledger
TRENTON — The public worker unions know every step of this dance by heart, and they executed it perfectly Thursday.
The big rally. The civil disobedience. The songs about the working class. Even the giant inflatable rat, with a sign hung around its waist saying simply: "Betrayal"
But this time, something remarkable happened: It didn’t work. The unions, finally, lost a big one.
Inside the Statehouse, within earshot of the rally, senators on the budget committee cast a vote that amounted to a punch in the gut. Public workers would pay more for less, bringing their health and pension benefits back to earth.
"You saw the unions today do their best to intimidate people," said Senate President Steve Sweeney. "But guess what? We’re in charge. I didn’t come down here to be told what to do."
Mark this as the day that the spell was broken, the day that the public worker unions finally lost their stranglehold on the Legislature, the day that Democrats ginned up the courage to confront the most important special interest group in their coalition.
Union leaders were in a daze, like jilted lovers who couldn’t believe the breakup was actually happening.
This is Jersey, and they have been kings for a long time, even when Republicans were in power. A decade ago, they got a 9 percent pension boost just for asking. They rigged the rules on collective bargaining so they couldn’t lose, sending the average police salary to nearly $100,000. It became almost impossible to fire them, so no one even tried.
Then two things happened: The costs grew and grew, and the recession hit.
That led to the breakup. Because while politicians felt the fury of their taxpayers, the unions didn’t.
Teachers refused to take a pay freeze, despite the recession. Cops wouldn’t yield on benefits, forcing mass layoffs in violent cities like Camden and Newark. Firefighters fought to keep giant payouts for unused sick time, even as union members in the private sector were taking a pounding.
"I’m an ironworker and we have 40 percent unemployment," Sweeney said. "I got guys with tears in their eyes saying they can’t send their kids to college."
Even Thursday, when their doom was obvious, the unions didn’t seem to get it. At the rally, they sang songs about the working class and the rich, as if they were coal miners eeking out a meager wage, as if middle-class taxpayers were the greedy mine owners.
"Have we dealt with this situation well?" asked Vince Giordano, the political operative for the state’s teachers union. "Yes, without question."
Of course, this is not all about clueless unions. Believe it or not, this is also a story about effective politics.
That’s right. New Jersey politics worked Thursday because the leadership on all sides showed courage. Strange as it may seem to say this, the state was well served by its politicians.
Gov. Chris Christie pushed this cause hard, and to great effect. Despite his pugilistic style in public, he made key compromises behind closed doors that allowed this to happen.
Senate President Steve Sweeney came up large as well. Many of his fellow Democrats hate him for it, as do the public worker unions. He wants to run for higher office, and this could snuff his chances. But he did it anyway.
The surprise was Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver. Her fellow Democrats constantly whisper that she is a weak leader, and is tainted because she won the speakership through a backroom deal arranged by the bosses.
But this was her defining moment. She hammered out the final compromise, and she has agreed to put the bill to a floor vote despite the fact that a heavy majority of her fellow Democrats oppose the reform.
Her caucus is even more angry about this than Sweeney’s caucus. She faces a possible revolt from more militant Democrats led by Assemblyman Joe Cryan (D-Union), her majority leader. But she did it anyway.
We don’t see this kind of behavior in Washington these days. Sweeney and Oliver are confronting their own coalition, telling the unions they can’t have their way because its simply unreasonable. It’s the equivalent of Washington Republicans telling their team that tax hikes must be part of the answer to the debt problem. It’s grown-up politics. It’s leadership.
For the union members, ill-served by their leadership, this is a rotten twist. At Thursday’s rally, they went through the motions, cheering when another militant Democrats vowed to keep fighting.
But many of them knew they just lost a big one.
"What do we do now?" asked Edward Pierce, a CWA member, one of hundreds at the rally wearing the union’s trademark red t-shirt. "I think we need to take a more creative approach. They’re coming after us."
That people like Pierce will lose health and pension benefits is no cause for celebration. He takes care of the disabled at a developmental center. He is no millionaire. He is not the greedy thug of the governor’s imagination.
At the end, he turned to head home as an off-key version of "Solidarity Forever" blared from the scratchy loudspeakers near the podium.
His final message was for the Democrats, and it underscored why they deserve a lot credit for this one.
"In November," he said, taking a final pull from his cigar. "We’ll remember."
