We know that Senators and members of Congress get an annual salary of over $150,000 a year FOR LIFE. But what of the governor of New Jersey. Is there a pension assigned to the Governors office?
I observed the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today and expected fireworks in the hearing to confirm Bob Hanna to be President of the Board of Public Utilities, but instead of fireworks, we got a dud.
Hanna's confirmation was a love fest, and the committee unanimously advanced it to the full Senate for final approval. From what I can tell, although Hanna has had limited experience in the world of utilities and telecommunications, he's a well-respected lawyer and public servant, and there's no reason to deny the Governor's appointment of Mr. Hanna to the BPU.
But our state senators are not shrinking violets (more on this later), and this hearing was a golden opportunity to raise some concerns and get Hanna's response. No doubt he agrees with the Governor on the important issues facing the board, but he should have been asked about the state's withdrawal from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (right after the Governor had a secret meeting with the Koch Brothers), the impact of the Governor's de-emphasis of renewable energy in the state's Energy Master Plan, and the Governor's hidden tax increase when Mr. Christie took the money from the Societal Benefit Fund (a surcharge on your utility bill) to help balance the budget instead of investing those dollars in clean energy.
I'm not sure where to begin. I have been thinking about the repercussions of the Christie/Sweeney benefit and pension laws that were recently enacted. The increased health and pension benefit contributions, combined with cap law and the polarization of PERC will ensure for me, and tens of thousands more, a pay cut for the next 5 years. My disposable income in 2011 will be more than it will be in 2016. I know this makes many feel good. The greedy public worker finally gets what has been coming to him. It was a good call to arms by Christie to rally those who have suffered from the greed and selfishness from the Wall Street thieves. A common enemy in a depressed economy is a fabulous way to propagate an ideology to make others feel someone should suffer. So here we are.....tens of thousands will not see pay increases as the cost of living increases and the value of investments and real estate plummet.
To me the question is, what is the value of this law and union busting to the general economy? The issue of health insurance and its ever increasing costs is where the answers lie, the real ideological difference between left and right. Should the ability to see a doctor for a reasonable cost be a human right, or should it be a privilege for those fortunate enough to participate in a for profit health insurance scheme? The answer is obviously that Christie and Sweeney believe that perpetuating a privileged, for profit health care system is the America they would prefer to see. The cost of health insurance is where they decided to target, they could have chose a Massachusetts style reform, or expanding the SHBP by making public employers mandatorily participate and increasing the negotiating power of the state. The governor and legislature chose perpetuating the current broken, privileged, for profit system of delivering health care.
The economy is another ideological difference here. Any economist will tell you, and history will prove that government should spend during a recession, not curl into a ball and let things fall apart. Christie and Sweeney took this opportunity to pursue their ideological fantasies to screw public sector unions. Each public sector employee will now take a multi-thousand dollar pay cut, money that will not be spent on cars, home improvements, and flat screens. The lack of spending will reduce commission paid to sales people and sales tax paid to the state of NJ. Some may not be able to afford their homes any longer, adding more stock to available real estate, thus pushing real estate values lower and decreasing the value of real estate taxes. As day care, fuel, electricity, and food costs continue to rise this will further diminish purchasing power of the middle class. Increased cost of living combined with legislated pay cuts to the public sector will further decrease sales tax revenues.
The Christie/Sweeney pension and benefit reform may produce some short term relief for municipal budgets as the public sector is now required by law to take a pay cut. I question if taxes will really go down as government is subject to the same uncontrollable costs as every other citizen. Real, long lasting reform could have been accomplished by fixing real problems (like our broken health care system). The pension-benefit law will do more harm than good. It fulfills an ideological hatred for government and its employees. The damaging effects of this recession and its impact on those most vulnerable creates a real need for competent government. Shrinking government when those who need it most is insane. Perpetuating a broken system on the backs of the middle class is insane. Legislating a pay cut that will further damage a weak economy is insane. It may take decades to correct the Christie legacy, if we are lucky enough to make a correction.
Once upon a time in the State of New Jersey, we had a situation where the public workers (of the state) such as teachers, nurses, police, and others were blatantly violating the laws of NJ by not contributing into their pension funds. In fact for 11 of the last 15 years, these irresponsible people paid ZERO DOLLARS into the funds. During this time the State of New Jersey has been paying its full share amount into each pension fund all along. Now the pension system is severely underfunded and it is time for those who have not been paying into the system to pay up. Why should the State/taxpayers have to make up the difference when these people were so irresponsible? Those who have been paying their fair share should not be made to bear the burden for the irresponsibility of those who did not.
In an admirable bipartisan spirit, Governor Chris Christie (Republican) has worked closely with Senate President Stephen Sweeney (Democrat) and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (Democrat) to forge a Pension-Benefits Reduction Bill that will restore solvency to the pension system. This bill will hold those who have not paid their fair share responsible for restoring solvency to the system through additional deductions, reduced health care benefits, no cost of living increases for pensioners, the establishment of a board that would offer plans with fewer benefits as well as increased co-pays and prescriptions and most importantly the stripping of the unions' right to negotiate their health-care insurance coverage and contribution levels.
THE ONLY PROBLEM WITH THE ABOVE PARAGRAPHS IS THAT THE ROLES ARE EXACTLY REVERSED AND IT WAS THE STATE THAT WAS PAYING ZERO FOR 11 OUT OF THE LAST 15 YEARS. THE WORKERS WERE PAYING THEIR FAIR SHARE DURING THIS ENTIRE TIME! Unfortunately it is the workers who have been responsible all along that are now the victims of this bill.
So again, why should those who have been paying their fair share be made to bear the burden of the irresponsibility of those who did not? The pensioners will no longer receive cost-of-living increases until the system is "determined to be solvent". These are people who paid faithfully into the system their entire professional lives. While this might sound like a reasonable concession on the surface, if you look deeper, it will devastate this group. According to a well respected data site, shadowstats.org, the current annual inflation rate is 12% and is climbing. This means that pensioners will lose half their buying power in 4 years. In 8 to 12 years they will be living in poverty!
During the courtship of Governor Christie, Senator Sweeney and Sheila Oliver failed to strong arm their Democratic Caucuses to support the bill and were not successful at getting a majority to do so. However, in North Jersey (Essex area) and in Southern New Jersey, the very powerful party bosses were able to order enough Democrats to betray their principles, so that when combined with the Republican minority in both houses, the Pension-Benefits Reduction Bill was able to pass.
In a cynical move, to protect themselves from the inevitable backlash for their betrayal, the vote on this Pension-Benefits Reduction Bill was purposely withheld until after the primary elections had been completed and the deadline had passed for adding names to the coming election ballot.
This betrayal of organized labor by the South Jersey Democrats has ignited a firestorm among this core constituent group as well as others who recognize the injustice of making some pay for the irresponsibility of others. Meetings were called and the NJ Progressive Democrats of America (no affiliation to the Democratic Party) charted a strategy. During these meetings the Democratic legislators who betrayed their constituents were renamed "Christiecrats".
These Christiecrats claim that they are looking to make the fund solvent, but where were they during all the years the Democrats controlled the Senate and Assembly and the state was not making its contributions into the fund? Their silence was deafening.
On Monday, August 8, at the War Memorial in Trenton, the NJ Progressive Democrats of America will be starting a petition drive for the removal of Stephen Sweeney from the Senate Presidency and Sheila Oliver from the Assembly Speakership. The petition will be presented to NJ State Democratic Committee chair John Wisniewski.
In these times when public workers are under increasing attack by the corporate controlled media, it is important to remember that:
1. it was not the public workers who instigated multi $trillion bond fraud on Wall Street
2. it was not the public workers who lobbied for financial deregulation
3. it was not the public workers who gambled in derivatives with other peoples' money
4. it was not the public workers who accepted $billions in bailouts
5. it was not the public workers who paid themselves huge bonuses
6. it was not the public workers who brought the economy to its knees
Remember, the media will try to redirect your anger away from the Wall Street aristocracy. In a classic case of divide and conquer they will try to turn you against other middle class workers, and then place the question in your mind, "why does the bus mechanic who works for the state have full benefits?" WRONG QUESTION! You should be asking why you do not have them.
Chris Christie just loves to brag on his pen/ben bill. He's convinced he made "tough choices" and forced "shared sacrifice" and "stood up to the bullying unions" so he could get "real tax relief" for New Jersey.
The press and punditocracy have been happy to buy into this line. "It's the first real reform we've had!" "We're starting to bring costs under control!"
Although New Jersey will have to pay less than it would have without the changes, state revenues still must grow by at least 3 percent a year simply to cover the added costs for increasing payments, a Gannett State Bureau analysis shows.
Even if state revenues rise by 5 percent annually, state pension contributions would consume nearly half of that extra money. That would put pressure on available funds for aid to schools, worker salaries, and a host of social and other programs.
Keith Brainard, research director for the National Association of State Retirement Administrators, said New Jersey's big mistake was abandoning annual required contributions into the pension system in the late 1990s.
"Once the money is gone, the revenue stream must be re-created," Brainard said. "They've taken a big step with the reforms, but ultimately they will have to find the money to make the contribution."
State pension contributions must ramp up to $5 billion annually by fiscal year 2018, even under the new reforms. This year's $468 million bill will double to $1 billion by next July.
Does anyone know what sort of pension and benefits Chris Christie will recieve after his term in office as governor? Also, any word with regard to any benefits from his other government jobs?
Yesterday, somebody asked me if they should go off somewhere and do something else, or stay glued to the Assembly vote, which was in a dramatic holding pattern for five-and-a-half hours. Stay with the Assembly, I said. It will be national news. And it is. The Assembly vote, and Senate vote before it, are not a victory for New Jersey because too many of our neighbors, fathers, and co-workers are getting screwed. It's certainly not a victory for the Democratic Party, which now faces an enthusiasm gap and loss of reliable union ground troops, with a huge election looming. No, it was a victory for Christopher James Christie, delivered perhaps at their own cost, by a new class of Christie enablers with nominal "D's" on their backs. Watch Christie step out front now, before other one-term GOP governors getting ahead on the backs of their state's working people. Comer. Hotshot. Buzzmaster. And it was only a matter of hours before Gov. Christie was on TV letting Matt Lauer talk about his 2012 presidential sizzle, feeding into that by wasting no time going after President Obama. And thanking the Democratic leadership that put him in the Today Show's exclusive interview chair, thanking his enablers inside 10 seconds after he opened his mouth.
So, in case you missed it, is Chris Christie on the morning after. Right below it, for counter-point, is CWA President Hetty Rosenstein on MSNBC's boutique, and NJ-savvy The Ed Show (MSNBC):
Blue Jersey's TGIF News Roundup will be a little late this morning, yesterday was a very long day.
Meanwhile, Gov. Christie will be on The Today Show (NBC) sometime this morning, if you want your chance to see him talk about what had to be done, and how proud he is of New Jersey's new bi-partisanship.
I support the NJEA, CWA, PBA, FOP, and other unions that may be in Trenton today protesting the pension/benefits reforms. They are standing up against the bullies in the legislature and the governor's office. They are doing their best to defend collective bargaining and standing up for the working class.
Let's assume the legislature passes this legislation tonight. What happens tomorrow?
There may be legal challenges to the entire law or certain parts of the law. Some may challenge the fact that two topics were placed into one law, which many would argue is unconstitutional. Some may challenge the freezing of COLAs for retired pensioners. Some may lobby the legislature to make more changes to the law. Some people may decide to retire. Some may decide to try to find work in the private sector.
But what happens to the rest of us that have to go back to work for the government?
When this is all said and done, I call on ALL the unions and their locals to take some time to explain, in detail, how this legislation will affect each of their members. They have done a pretty good job of explaining that their members will have to pay more money. But they have done a poor job explaining details beyond that.
I call on the unions to create programs for their members that promote good financial decisions. Since members are losing a significant amount of money, I would love to see a program that teaches members how to create a family budget and how to abide by that budget. You would think that every family should know how to do that already, but with a sudden loss of income, they may need a refresher course.
I call on the unions to promote programs that would assist their members financially. That could mean an expansion of their scholarship program. That could mean that unions use some of their union dues for a financial-hardship assistance program.
There are a lot of positive things the unions can start doing tomorrow. Naturally they will still be involved in political activism. We still need someone to finance the voice of the working class. But what else will the unions do tomorrow?
To begin to dissolve the collective bargaining rights that New Jersey's public workers have counted on for decades, Gov. Chris Christie employed a masterful communications strategy. It isn't easy to convince well-educated voters that the people who live down the street, or across town, are your enemy.
To do it, Christie had to turn ... the bus driver you see every day ... your kid's math teacher ... the guy who works at the library ... the lady who makes lunches for the folks at Vineland Developmental Center .. the cop ... the firefighter ... the woman sitting up all night helping a WWII veteran die peacefully ... into caricature. They are middle class, or working class. But he calls them rich, tells you they're cheating you every day, that they're the ones responsible for a deadened economy. Because they're greedy. Bloodsuckers.
He has to depersonalize them in order to do all that. He's good at it, too. We hear he's going places. And some Democrats stand behind him. The ones that do not deserve to know how many people are standing behind them. Waving across the country now, with some powerful interests behind it, is an effort to get people to turn against each other, blame each other, instead of seeking better governmental solutions, better lawmakers, better spending priorities.
Tomorrow, the NJ Assembly votes on a bill hostile to our public workers. It will make national news. If you can get there, come to the State House at noon. Thousands of people will await the vote. As Couch Potato Politics tells us, it's not too late to call Assembly members.
Meanwhile, here's a reminder of who Chris Christie's talking about when he tells you who New Jersey's public workers are:
The rights of New Jersey labor unions to collective bargaining were recognized and supported this morning by a broad coaltion of groups, including community groups, consumer groups, and faith-based organizations. These are groups strongly opposed to the pension and benefits bill put forward by Senate President Steve Sweeney in cooperation with Gov. Chris Christie. The letter was released as the Assembly Budget Committee began debate on A-4133, the companion bill to Sweeney's S2937, with assemblymen Lou Greenwald and Declan O'Scanlon as primary sponsors.
The bill will legislatively mandate the level of contributions public workers will make to pension and health care plans. Phyllis Salowe-Kaye is Exec. Dir. of New Jersey Citizen Action:
The right of workers to bargain collectively for the terms of their employment is a cornerstone of our modern democracy and must be protected. These are the people who take care of our sick and elderly, teach our children and keep our streets safe. Why are legislators attacking their fundamental rights?
Additional statements made at this morning's press conference, after the jump.
Note: We don't normally post press releases, but I thought this info was interesting and germane to the proceedings going on right now in the State House, in terms of their impact, according to NAACP, on a particular population segment of African-American women & professionals. And, with all that's going on, I don't have time to tease this into a diary. So, here word-for-word is what NAACP has to say -
Study: Black Women, Professionals Would be Disproportionately Affected by Trenton's Cuts
Ben Jealous, President and CEO of the NAACP issued a strongly worded statement, calling on Trenton leaders to respect the right to collective bargaining as a new report says moves to significantly cut the health care and pension benefits of state workers could fall hardest on New Jersey's black middle-class - particularly on black women and black workers with professional degrees. Ben Jealous:
We see this same pattern in many states and cities across the nation. Public sector jobs are critical in communities of color and attacks on bargaining rights and health care disproportionately affect our communities. The NAACP nationally and in NJ supports bargaining rights, not stripping these rights at this critical time. This recession will never end if benefits and wages continue to decline in all sectors. Now public workers are under attack everywhere and we stand with them.
Public sector jobs have served as the gateway to the middle-class for thousands of black New Jerseyans," said Jeffrey Keefe, a professor of Labor and Employment Relations at the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations and author of today's report. "But those quality jobs are now threatened by Trenton's proposed cuts to public workers. These cuts will fall disproportionately on African-American workers and their families, further damaging a community still struggling to recover from the economic downtown. Black women, who make up 78% of the black public sector workforce, and Black workers with professional degrees will be particularly hard hit.
The report's key findings include:
Black workers earn 93% more each year working in the public sector than the private sector ($38,091 compared to $19,698).
89% of Black public employees have employer-provided health insurance, compared to just 50% of Black workers in the private sector.
Public sector jobs are particularly important for Black women. 78% of the Black public sector labor force is female, compared to 53% of the private sector Black work force.
The public sector employs five times the proportion of Black professionals as the private sector. 40% of Black workers employed in the public sector are professionals.
The public sector employs college-educated Black workers at 2.5 times the rate of the private sector.
Approximately, 37% of Black public employees are college-educated, compared to 15% of private sector Black workers.
Welcome to the second in my series of posts delving into the details of the health/pension "reform" passed by the Senate Budget Committee yesterday. This is the crowd-sourcing edition, because this gets into a level of detail on health care policy that is beyond me.
Section 52 of the bill states that local governments "shall establish such a plan for medical or dental expenses not covered by a health benefits plan." It then goes on to say "The plan SHALL (changing the wording of current law which is "may") provide for a reduction in an employee's salary, through payroll deductions or otherwise, in exchange for payment by the employer of medical or dental expenses not covered by a health benefits plan" and then adds "and may provide for a reduction in an employee's salary, through payroll deductions or otherwise, in exchange for payment by the employer of dependent care expenses."
Via Capitol Quickies, pretty much at the last minute, the pension and benefit reforms bill is out and will be formally introduced today.
It's 120 pages long. A plain-language conclusion starts at the bottom of Page 114, concluding on page 120. Haven't got time to parse it at the moment, so let's call this an open thread, for your comments as you read it.
Workers will have to pay up to 30% of the costs of their health insurance premiums. But what, if anything, will be done to check the skyrocketing price of those premiums? Sweeney won't say.
The double dippery just doesn't stop under Chris Christie. There's the still unreconciled situation involving "retired" Monmouth Sheriff Michael Donovan, Jr. and Lt. Gov. Guadagno, and of course the pesky claptrap surrounding noted pension reform champion Joe D. from Essex County. But the most recent revelation is perhaps the most salacious, because it's happening right in Chris Christie's cabinet.
PolitickerNJ.com has the run-down on Cabinet Secretary Lou Goetting, who's raking in nearly a quarter of a million taxpayer dollars a year.
As expected, Christie spokesperson Mike Drewniak snapped, "We will hand you a turd and call it roses. Shut the fuck up and stop asking questions the answers to which you could never possibly comprehend. Drewnie out."
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie urged lawmakers Monday to abolish the practice that allows politicians to get a pension and salary for the same job, but he didn't get rough with a political ally who is doing just that.
Mr. Christie, a Republican, said he had spoken privately with Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, a Democrat, to say he didn't approve of the practice.
"I have expressed to him very clearly that I do not think it is the right thing to do," Mr. Christie said. [emphasis mine]
Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo is double dipping at the public employee pay trough, and New Jersey's largest police union wants him out of office.
The State Policemen's Benevolent Association revealed Friday that DiVincenzo is taking advantage of a loophole that allows him to collect a $68,861 annual pension for serving as the county top official and $153,207 annually for continuing to serve in the position.
That makes DiVincenzo's total take home $222,069 annually and more than what the governor, his cabinet members or any of New Jersey's U.S. senators and members of Congress make. In August, as he was seeking another term as county executive, DiVincenzo quietly put in his retirement papers for a pension he earned as a parks supervisor and school athletics coordinator. [emphasis mine]
Well, which is it? Is the pension drawn from his position as Executive, or from his previous public jobs?
I can be called one of those "double dippers". Since "hiding" things about my public life is not comfortable for me, here goes:
After spending approximately 35 years in full time public service as an Assistant Bergen County Administrator, Legislative Director and then an Assemblywoman and now a Senator, (paying my portion into the pension during that entire period) I decided to finally apply for my public pension. Of course, I could have done that some 5 to 10 years earlier, but since I had enjoyed the fruits of a family business built with my husband, and had some good investments (or so I thought), I never looked into that "pension thing".
After a major financial setback resulting from my so-called "Financial Advisor" investing all my money (including my IRA) with a man I never heard of (read: Bernie Madoff) a colleague suggested that I would most likely qualify for my pension. Based on age, number of years in the "system", and the years I spent as a full time Bergen County employee etc. I was informed I could formally retire, finally collect my pension and still continue as a State Legislator. So at age 75, I decided it was time and financially necessary.
I am now paid $49,000 for being a State Senator and about $36,000 annually in my state pension. Though I never went in to public service to make money, I am grateful for this income at this time of my life, because of the situation Bernie Madoff created for me. I never thought about hiding any of this, but the news about the Essex County Executive and the Cape May Surrogate has made me feel awkward. The circumstances might be very different, but the result is essentially the same.
So there you have it. I am not apologizing for any decisions I made. And it is legal! My public life, along with my personal disclosure forms, have been appropriately transparent. But I'll probably be more than usually interested in the comments section of today's column.
Now on to another subject! The Democratic map was accepted. Some districts will be a bit more competitive, but I feel confident that we will maintain majorities in both houses of the legislature. "Assemblyman" Jeff Gardner also does have a nice ring to it!
As the Senator from District 37, I know I'm sorry to lose Bergenfield from our district. This town was finally coming together with Mayor Timothy Driscoll and the incumbent council and turning its back on the old leadership who were so responsible for the issues around my selection as a State Senator. We're also losing Ridgefield Park which is home to a great group of citizens and the wonderful Mayor Fosdick, along with a terrific 4th of July parade. Maywood is another town we will miss.
But it's going to be fun and interesting to welcome back Ft. Lee which was part of the district 10 years ago along with the new communities of Northvale, Cresskill, Alpine and Rockleigh.
So here we go into another election season, facing tough budget problems, new towns, protecting collective bargaining, and speaking up for those who need government the most. I am glad Drumthwacket is being bathed in blue lights to call attention to autism awareness month, but restoring money for early intervention services for autistic children is infinitely more important.
...a group of about two dozen students from St. James School in Woodbridge — there to support passage of the Opportunity Scholarship Act, a proposed school voucher program — were part of the background.
Twenty-four students excused from school, to serve as props for public subsidizing of parochial schools? Why weren't these kids in school? Are they "drug mules" for the voucher lobby?
Remember the right-wing outrage over President Obama's televised back-to-school address to students? Where's the outrage here?
I would like to express how upsetting it is to me to hear how the Public Workers have it all & are blamed for the economy crisis. In hopes of educating those who are ignorant; I will tell my story which I'm sure some can relate too......
Seven years ago, I worked in the Private Sector as an AA; I paid into my healthcare,had annual raises, vacation time, paid overtime & even bonuses. I left this job when I got the opportunity to work for the State (DYFS)..... Being a single mother of 2, I figured this would give me stability & great benefits, & knew that they shared the same holidays as the schools & that would allow me to be home more often with my children. I took a little over a $10,000 annual pay cut without realizing how difficult the next few years would be. When I saw my 1st paycheck, I almost quit because I didn't know how I was going to make ends meet.
Here I am, thinking I have all these Cadillac Benefits & have to work a part-time to ensure I have food on the table for my kids & a place to call home! The hurt of coming home; my kids sleeping & not spending quality time but only on weekends was killing me!
Unfortunately, with the salary that I was making, I had no choice but to work a part-time and to my surprise, I qualified for state fundings! I received assistance from Catholic Charities, which helped me pay for my sons daycare on a sliding pay scale, assistance for paying my utilities etc. etc. At the end of the day, I had to readjust my ways of living & budget myself to make this work!!
Thankfully with the grace of God & family..... I've learned to manage!
Sadly to say that It's taken me nearly 7 years to earn what I was making when I left the Private Sector but of course with no bonuses and for the 1st time experienced salary freezes not to mention that I still had to pay taxes & towards my healthcare & pensions. Some people may say that I had the choice to leave but I truly enjoy my job. I could relate to those families in need & have always done my best to go above and beyond to make a difference in someone's life. Our workers have to meet certain state requirements & trainings......to ensure the quality of service being provided. Do you really think privatizing would ensure these regulations are followed?
People really need to try to understand the importance of our jobs & all the services being provided to those families in need & ensuring the well being of children. You never know, one day it could be you we're helping & wouldn't you want the peace of mind knowing that we can!! I agree that a change is needed to better our economy but not solely on the count of us Middle Class Workers!! In speaking for myself & public workers, we have done our fair share of sacrifices & after 7 years, I feel that I am being stripped away of all that I worked hard for! We all deserve the opportunity to live the American Dream & we can only reach it by working together, educating one another, & most of all respecting humanity and the morals which have been the foundation of the great America!!
In an admirable bipartisan spirit, Governor Chris Christie (Republican) has worked closely with Senate President Stephen Sweeney (Democrat) and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (Democrat) to forge a Pension-Benefits Reduction Bill that will restore solvency to the pension system. This bill will hold those who have not paid their fair share responsible for restoring solvency to the system through additional deductions, reduced health care benefits, no cost of living increases for pensioners, the establishment of a board that would offer plans with fewer benefits as well as increased co-pays and prescriptions and most importantly the stripping of the unions' right to negotiate their health-care insurance coverage and contribution levels.
