Yeah, I back the idea of eliminating sick day payouts. Not for the reason Steve Sweeney or Chris Christie are, to save money, but I do think it's a good idea.
Before I go any further, I agree with Jersey Jazzman that there should be some tat for this tit. As I said the Sweeney-Christie team are looking to reduce government costs, but I don't think that should be done on the backs of workers.
But sick days are necessary to the health of the employees, the health of the various governments and the health of the state.
Democrats had previously wanted to cap sick leave pay for future accumulated unused days at $15,000, then offered to lower the cap to $7,500. But Christie has been steadfast to his opposition to any compromise, lambasting the Democrats' proposals telling town hall gatherings "zero means zero."
Under Sweeney's proposal, payouts for unused sick leave would be limited to what workers have already earned.
Currently, state workers' retirement take home pay for unused sick days is capped at $15,000. But some local governments have no limits, causing budget strain.
Full disclosure: I am a public school teacher. And I am against this plan; here's why:
1) It is a well-established fact that public employees with significant experience or higher education make less in salaries than private sector employees. There is a body of excellent scholarship that shows teachers are relatively underpaid, and that benefits do not make up the gap in compensation. Recent studies have confirmed public workers make less than private workers, and the gap grows greater as the level of education of the employee rises.
(Blue Jersey is fortunate to have two teachers who are excellent Education writers. Here's the latest from Marie Corfield... - promoted by deciminyan)
Dear New Jersey Teachers,
No doubt over the next few days you will engage your students in discussions and activities surrounding the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. If not for your efforts, the only thing some children today would know about him is that they get a day off for his birthday.
Thank you.
And thank you for everything you do to enrich the lives of your students. You work hard both inside and outside the classroom to bring the world—past, present and future—to your charges. Sometimes you have to move mountains, sometimes you ride waves, sometimes you're doing both simultaneously, but you do it all because it's your passion, your calling. You can't think of anything else you'd rather be doing than teaching 24 wide-eyed first graders about the developmental stages of a butterfly. Or helping one terminally stuck 9th grader slog through algebra (that was me).
And your dedication shows. New Jersey has one of the best public education systems in the country.
But, as you all know, that is changing. I won't go on about corporate education 'reform' because I'd be preaching to the choir. But if somehow you missed what's been happening in New Jersey education policy over the past two years, I suggest you sit down and read every post ever written by Jersey Jazzman. Then read columnist and author, Chris Hedges, beautifully poignant piece about why the United States is destroying its education system.
By Michael Yun, President, The Central Avenue SID and Ann Twomey, President, Health Professionals and Allied Employees
For nearly 140 years the residents of Jersey City and surrounding communities have been relying on Christ Hospital and its dedicated staff for safe and effective health care. Each year, the staff helps deliver more than 1200 babies; cares for over 8000 hospitalized adults and nearly 600 hospitalized children; treats more than 45,000 residents in the Emergency Room; and provides the largest inpatient pediatric service in Hudson County.
Christ Hospital belongs to the community it protects, and its future should not be decided by a handful of people behind closed doors. That is why community, civic and religious leaders have teamed up with healthcare providers and elected officials to protect our community hospital and its mission to provide care to all who need it.
"If American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain when I'm in the White House, I will put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself, I will walk on that picket line with you as President of the United States of America. Because workers deserve to know that somebody is standing in their corner." Sen. Barack Obama - Presidential Campaign Speech in 2007
Those words still resonate in the ears of many American working class families who gave their dollars and their votes to elevate Barack Obama into the office of President of the United States and now many of those same American working class families are asking whatever happened to those comfortable shoes or the candidate who promised to wear them and stand with working class American union members in defense of their rights.
The last two years have seen some of the most egregious and draconian attacks on public unions and middle class families in the last 30 years and President Obama has remained mostly silent and conspicuously detached from all of it.
Hamilton Township is the Birthplace of the Modern Day Tactics of Union Busting
Well, to start, there is no Labor Day Parade in Hamilton Township, but that is merely a by-product of Labor unfriendly leadership within the Township.
Long before Chris Christie became Governor of New Jersey. Long before Wisconsin's actions against Collective Bargaining. Long before John Boehner became Speaker of the House. Long before Republican Mitch McConnell became Senate Minority Leader...Hamilton Township has had John Bencivengo, Kevin Meara and Kelly Yaede hard at work busting up the Public Workers' unions of the CWA, AFSCME and the PBA.
As we analyze what has happened in Hamilton Township it is as though Christie, Wisconsin and the Congressional Republicans ripped a page out of the Hamilton Republican's playbook.
Claim a fiscal crisis and blame the public workers.
Bencivengo and team came into office by accident. On Election Day 2007, the Times of Trenton headlines screamed deficit and these three rode into office. http://nl.newsbank.com/nojavas... .
Since then, they have seized upon this deficit claim to justify a host of actions against the Township's Public Workers, which they state were needed to save the money of Hamilton Township taxpayers.
With the backdrop set of "fiscal crisis" and historical deficit levels these three, along with the sitting Republicans on Township Council, began to work to bust up the CWA,
AFSCME and PBA workers.
What is remarkable is that they moved forward with tax hikes and public worker lay-offs and furloughs without ever having actually naming what this deficit amount was. They have said it was $10 million. Then they said it was $8.8 million and $14 million. Next they said it was $16 million. Finally, they said it was $5 million.
Below, in chronological order, are the links to the various deficit amount claims by the Republican incumbents.
So, in 2008, the first thing that they set about doing was lay-off 54 public employees and reorganizing the Police Division.
In March 2010 they forced 8 furlough days on the remaining public workers in the Township. But in June 2010 they found the money to propose giving John Bencivengo a raise and to actually give significant raises to the non-Union Department Directors.
In 2010 they privatized the Engineering and Planning Department as well as the Ecological Center - further displacing public workers.
A further indication of their disregard for Public Workers and Collective Bargaining is that the Township's Personnel Director is not an actual Personnel Director - lacking all Civil Service level requirements to hold such a position.
Bencivengo and the all Republican Council continually discuss how rising benefit costs are wrecking the Township's budgets and that these costs need to be brought under control.
All of this is poor politics and pure political spin. The largest single increased cost to Township residents is the enormous increased spedning and probable waste i.e. HAMStat, the reckless and very "un-Republican" 2008 $13.3 million permanent Tax Hike that these elected officials gave to residents. A tax increase that they instituted without knowing what the true financial picture of the Township was.
The next largest burden on the Township has been decreased State aide followed by the State's hijacking of the utility Gross Receipts tax then followed by the diminishing property tax receipts.
Yet, despite their cries about labor costs and benefits increasing so dramatically over the past four years they have still found themselves able to increase Township spending a cumulative $20 million.
Yes, there is a global recession. However, due in no small part of the $13.3 million annual tax hike, Hamilton Township has lost more revenue due to lost tax receipts from exodusing businesses and residents than what the increasing labor and benefit costs have been.
The Public Workers in Hamilton Township are hardworking and have sacrificed much for the betterment of the Township. Unfortunately, their sacrifices appear to be borne out of Bencivengo's, Meara's and Yasede's generalizations as well as their insincere and unsubstantiated claims of fiscal crisis.
(An instructive piece for leaders in ALL Unions to consider. - promoted by Jay Lassiter)
As I write this, I am getting ready to trundle my kids off to bed. Labor Day is coming to its close. So I thought I would share my thoughts about this vital holiday.
First, I celebrated Labor Day by sitting in Starbucks, hunched over my laptop, doing work that I will not get paid for, but is necessary for me to complete in order to actually do work I do get paid for. That strikes me as a bit ironic. But then, since organized labor has spent the last twenty-five years of my life ignoring me, I figure the least I can do is return the favor.
I have to say this: I believe that anyone who has a job needs a union. It's not only a vital right for workers, but it is a necessary check to the unlimited power employers wield in the work market. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell from my life, no union has cared at all about actually DOING...well, anything at all.
Woe's me. Woe's us! Today, less than 10% of the American workforce is Organized, Obama failed to fight for the Employee Free Choice Act, the National Labor Relations Board is about to again be down to 2 members which will lead to gridlock, in Wisconsin and Ohio we lost public sector collective bargaining rights in spite of help and support from the Democratic Party, in New Jersey we lost public sector collective bargaining rights because of the leadership of the Democratic Party.
The economy is going to worsen because our elected leaders are doing everything wrong. Everything wrong! Cutting the public sector instead of growing it. Ignoring climate change instead of embracing the actions that would change it and would grow the economy as a result. Attacking and cutting our public schools instead of pouring resources into them to make our citizenry the best educated in the world. Not regulating the banking and finance industry - that is back to reaping record profits, giving out record bonuses, and ripping us all off. Leaving undocumented workers out in the cold while the temperature is dropping precipitously. Not doing everything possible to support and improve desperately needed National Healthcare, and let's not forget the Elephant in the Room - continuing to support endless war all while pretending that it is cost free in terms of the budget, death, and our humanity.
Blue Jersey's Ed Reform 101
Part 4 - Myths about Teachers Unions
Governor Christie's attacks on teachers unions have been simply astonishing. Rather than reach out to unions to work for real educational progress, Christie has instead demonized unions to the point that he would rather give up federal funds than work with the NJEA.
What Christie ignores in all of his bluster, however, are a few important facts. Teacher pay has not kept pace with the average pay for all workers in the state. Teachers do not get "Cadillac" benefits, and they pay for those benefits themselves. And the teachers unions have supported meaningful versions of some of his reforms.
It appears that Chris Christie is more interested in making teachers unions the enemy than working with them. Let's take a look at some of the myths about unions and teacher pay that Christie continues to sell to New Jersey.
What you should know about Teachers Unions:
Teachers are not overpaid in New Jersey.
Teachers unions do not impede student learning in any way.
Teachers unions are for meaningful reforms to tenure and back high-quality charter schools.
Teachers pay their own dues and democratically elect their union leaders.
In a rather revealing interview for Ledger LiveTom Moran, Editorial Page Editor for the Star-Ledger, let it fly that he supports For-Profit Education LobbyistGovernor Christie's effort to bust the teachers unions.
Starting at 2:30
Moran: The next big fight coming up is over education reform and there the boogeyman again is the teachers union which is his favorite punching bag...
They are going to resist reforming tenure and things like that - I kind of hope he does go after them.
Ironically in the same interview Moran says he is upset on how Christie has attacked the "working poor" and that he has "protected the rich." I would say he has a clear case of schizophrenia but as I understand it one must have a brain in order to have that condition.
But oh my god how? Threats of violence, unreturned phone calls, potty talk - how did they manage to even get in a room together?
Oh... that's right it was all total bullcrap. Woops, almost forgot about that.
(Sweeney: Bro the press corpse totally bought it!
Christie: Told ya! They want me to be president so bad it's crazy.
Sweeney: I know but Ginger Gibson's stuff is reDONCulous!
Christie: Dude, she writes whatever I say it's hilarious, for realz.
Sweeney: It's like you're George Norcross and she's Steve Sweeney!)
The Verizon strike enters its third day as more than 45,000 employees protest the company's demand for more than $1 billion in cutbacks to health care, retirement and other benefits.
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.
The FAA is shutting down tonight for a simple reason. Republican extremists have decided that they need to pass anti-union legislation more than we need a functioning government. As the AP writes*:
The House bill also seeks to undo a ruling by the National Mediation Board approved last year that allows airline and railroad employees to form a union by a simple majority of those voting. Under the old rule, workers who didn't vote were treated as "no" votes.
Democrats have made clear they will not stand for this hostage taking by conservative extremists. Now New Jersey, and Atlantic City in particular, are getting hammered:
As a result, a partial shutdown of the FAA will occur tonight at midnight, furloughing nearly 650 workers at the FAA Tech Center in Atlantic City, delaying Teterboro Airport construction projects, and jeopardizing future airport construction projects in New Jersey and across the country.
Frank LoBiondo has been missing in action, sending out press releases blaming Harry Reid, but failing to get his Republican colleagues to compromise. That's always the problem with LoBiondo, who sometimes casts himself as a 1994 conservative revolutionary and sometimes as a moderate, but never has any actual influence with his party or its leadership. He relies on union support to discourage a Democratic challenger, but won't block anti-union legislation, even when it hurts his own people.
Now if Frank LoBiondo believes a real principle is at stake, he should resign from Congress and send his time suing to block every New Jersey school budget, because if not showing up for an election is a no vote none of these elections were ever valid. It might be crazy enough to make the Tea Party like him. Otherwise, he needs to be effective for the first time in his career, even if it annoys some extremists.
*The above AP link was actually recommended by Rep. LoBiondo's own website.
("I wish I could quit you... my poll numbers would be better")
Oh how the mighty fall. As arch-conservative Rupert Murdoch, along with eduscammer Joel Klein of Wireless Generation and Chris Cerf fame, face the music across the pond Governor Christie's poll numbers fall out of the sky:
In the first poll conducted after the signing of the budget and overhaul of public employee benefits, approval of Gov. Chris Christie's job performance dropped into negative territory... Of those surveyed, 53 percent disapprove of the governor's job performance and 43 percent approve according to Public Policy Polling.
Thump!
This confirms what most of us at Blue Jersey already suspected - people don't like Chris Christie. They never really have. He won a three way race with an unpopular governor, unions sitting it out and certain political bosses sabotaging their own GOTV already weakened by Operation Bid Rig busts. Christie also had an adoring media who loved the circus elephant turned carnival barker.
But when Christie came to power there was an unusual amount of bootlicking by the opposition party, none more than Senate President Sweeney whocame to power himself due to backroom deal making not popular support. Sweeney passed himself off as Christie's partner but it increasingly looked like sidekick as he would stand behind Christie or off to the side silently nodding and later offering words of strong support, I'm sure Mary Pat Christie wondered why she even showed up to half of these events - the supportive political wife was already there.
Sweeney would later make a mea culpa for not supporting the civil rights issue of our time, marriage equality. Sweeney claimed he relied too much on "political calculation" instead of doing the right thing. Glad to see him fess up but it wasn't an anomaly for Sweeney it was his modus operandi. And now after union busting and fake outrage it looks like Sidekick Sweeney's "political calculations" have erred once again as according to the Poll:
The only hypothetical match that Christie won was against Senate President Stephen Sweeney. Christie received 42 percent and Sweeney 40 percent.
I guess Sweeney forgot, no one likes the Sidekick either.
In New Jersey, most Democratic legislators opposed this reform. A good liberal, they said, would never oppose the unions.
Yeah, no liberal would ever ... wait, what? That's not what we said. What we said that no Democrat should shove things down union members' throats without at least trying to bargain the changes. The Unions came to the table repeatedly with different proposals, but Christie and Sweeney ignored them because bargaining was too difficult. They preferred playing bully and slamming it through the legislature.
That's not even close to saying we shouldn't oppose the unions. There are thousands of liberal elected officials on school boards and municipal governing bodies who have negotiated and gotten givebacks from unions. Corzine, not really a liberal but a Democratic governor, did the same.
In fact we do want to fight the unions, because the adversarial bargaining system is what ensures that the unions don't get too much and the government doesn't give too little. It was Christie and Sweeney who didn't want to fight choosing instead to carpet bomb the situation so they didn't have to do any fighting, and then strutting around in a flight suit as if they were tough.
But is it liberal to give public workers these benefits if it means you have to cut back on preschool, job-training and health care for the working poor?
No, Tom, it is not. What's your point? I don't recall anyone but, well, you saying such a thing. Putting sentences in close proximity (the three blockquotes are all in order in his column today) doesn't create the reality of cohesion, just the illusion.
Not hardly. In austere times, the first job is to make government lean, to harden its muscles so it can survive the storm.
I guess it had to be done because those poor people in need are much more important than making the Republicans take cheap symbolic votes that go nowhere - woops, I got that backwards.
After Democrats made the Republicans take a bunch of cheap symbolic votes that they knew were going nowhere none of those hurt by the cuts are any better off. Maybe, some people, really stupid people, will be impressed with cheap symbolic votes. I guess the joke is on them.
The New Jersey Democratic Party itself is becoming quite a joke; unable to pass Marriage Equality (which NY does and gets the tourist money), giving Christie a big assist on union busting, failing miserably to put together any jobs agenda, taking Corporate money to help wreck Public Education and a general inability to not look like idiots in public because Christie keeps eating their lunch.
The only thing shocking about today's events is that the session has ended and the NJ Dems are walking out with the same piss poor leadership that has made them such a joke.
It wasn't so long ago that Senate President Steve Sweeney first started pretending to be outraged over Christie's budget cuts. Some people even believed him, well initially. He even went on the Nordubato Party Network to double down and pretend he cared about "the little guy" despite his actions/career. Not surprisingly no one bought that either. Then came the stories.
If Sweeney's tirade about the Republican governor was intended to win back an alienated Democratic base -- as many suspect -- the effort failed spectacularly, sources say.
No kidding. But it's not just whiny bloggers, the Courier Post again:
"It's going to be a long, long time before working families forget that the one deal that Steve Sweeney did manage to seal with Christie was rolling back bargaining rights and imposing thousands and thousands of dollars of increased health and pension costs on middle-class public workers," said Bob Master of the Communications Workers of America.
There were apparently some behind the scenes defenders of the narrative willing to come forward:
A Democratic source further defended Sweeney's interview with the Star-Ledger as genuine."Steve really felt like there was a partnership. He really feels hurt and jilted." It also didn't help that the governor made Sweeney "look like an idiot," the source added.
Interesting defense but not more interesting than the timing was what one insider had to tell C-P:
"This is the most conveniently well-timed break-up in political history," scoffed a top lobbyist who remains angry at Sweeney.
What about the seasoned pros, the people who have seen it all before and know the pretensions of Jersey politics?
Police, Firefighters, Teachers, Gays, Public Sector Workers, Progressives - you name parts of "the base" of the Democratic Party in New Jersey and they aren't fans of Senator Steve Sweeney right now.
But then comes the party bosses, men who make their living lying, cheating and stealing as many elections as they can. Needless to say, you have to watch them and take whatever they say with a big grain of salt.
Enter Ray Lesniak, Senator and Party Boss who openly endorsed Sweeney's Kabuki Theater to a comical degree:
"This was a crossing of the Rubicon for Steve Sweeney," said the Union County power-broker. "It absolutely put him in play as a statewide candidate... By stating what he did in no uncertain terms, it put him on the same terms with Chris Christie..."Right now he's my hero," Lesniak said.
Guess you have to lay it on thick to cover up a big crack. But wow, he really supports Sweeney then again (same article):
Although he supported Sweeney for senate president in 2009, Lesniak has been critical of some of Sweeney's tactical decisions even as party progressives find in the gay marriage-abstaining, public pension-reforming South Jersey Senate prez a Stonehenge-sized target... Lesniak admitted. "Folks (like Sweeney) who sought a kinder and gentler mode of conduct, found out you can't negotiate with someone as mean-spirited as Gov. Chris Christie."
But here is the kicker:
But critics of the Senate president's say Lesniak and Adbuato are merely trying to cover up their wrong-headed move in backing the ginger-footed Sweeney to begin with, and quietly called into question the judgment of a leader who trusted Christie not to make the deeper budget cuts he exacted last Thursday.
Yeah I wonder who those "critics" are and who is backing their criticism. Watch your back Steve. More Union problems.
A scorpion, being a poor swimmer, asked the big, strong turtle to carry him on his back across the river.
"Oh, no, no, no, I'm smarter than that!" said the turtle. "You'd sting me!"
"That's ridiculous," laughed the scorpion. "If I stung you, I'd go down, too! Right?"
Convinced, the turtle invited the scorpion to climb on his mighty back, and paddled him across the river. Just before they reached the other shore, the scorpion slithered off to dry ground, and turned around and gave the turtle a vigorous and fatal sting.
Governor Christie's attacks on teachers unions have been simply astonishing. Rather than reach out to unions to work for real educational progress, Christie has instead demonized unions to the point that he would rather 
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.
