The New Jersey Education Association’s (NJEA) PAC Operating Committee this past weekend voted in favor of beginning the process of screening 2017 candidates for governor and the legislature.
It’s probably safe to say that Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) doesn’t need to bother showing up for that process.
He’s identified in a leadership letter to NJEA members as the instigator of “betrayal,” for failing to secure a public payment pension question on the 2016 ballot, and then lashing out at the NJEA in a letter to law enforcement.
IFPTE & IBEW Financial Terms Protect Taxpayers, Ensure Public Services
Trenton, NJ , Governor Chris Christie today announced a key public employee contract agreement with the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), as well as two agreements with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). These state worker contracts, reflective of the state’s fiscal realities and budget challenges, will not require tax hikes, as taxpayers routinely experienced under past governors.
IFPTE’s negotiated settlement, ratified by the union last month, is retroactive to July 1, 2015 and extends through Fiscal Year 2019. Its financial terms include the following across-the-board salary increases: July 1, 2015 – 0 percent; July 1, 2016 – 0 percent; July 1, 2017 – 1.75 percent, and July 1, 2018 – 1.5 percent. This contract covers approximately 4,500 employees of the state and public higher education institutions.
The two negotiated settlements ratified by IBEW locals this month are also retroactive to July 1, 2015 and extend through Fiscal Year 2019, including the same across-the-board salary increases as IFPTE’s settlement. These two contracts cover an approximate total of 1,150 state employees, including several hundred in various managerial positions and hundreds of state attorneys.
“We have again negotiated fiscally responsible state employee contracts that protect taxpayers, provide the budgetary flexibility to fund public services and keep government wages in line with the private sector,” Governor Christie said. “This is how public worker negotiations should be, with union leaders and membership agreeing to sustainable fiscal decisions that they understand will benefit all residents. These are model public employee contracts to be followed by government at all levels in New Jersey and across the country.”
As Governor Christie has previously noted, he has similar expectations from the other public employee unions with which the Administration continues to negotiate another round of labor contracts.
In its first round of agreements with state employee unions, the Christie administration stood with taxpayers to produce 0-percent wage increases for tens of thousands of employees in 2011 and 2012, followed by a 1-percent increase and 1.75-percent increase in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Under the governor’s leadership, across-the-board wage increases have totaled only 6 percent over eight-years of negotiated agreements, an average of just .75 percent per year, which is in addition to the landmark pension and health benefit reforms enacted to save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.
Half of American voters think labor unions have an outsized role in the country’s politics, a new poll has found.
Additionally, according to a new survey from Rasmussen Reports, 57 percent of respondents say union leaders are out of touch with their members. Just one in five Americans believe labor executives do a good job representing union members.
The same rate of of respondents who are now or have ever been union members said union leaders are out of touch and the groups have too much political clout. One in three current or former union members say unions do not have enough influence, compared to one in four among the general population and just one in five among non-union members.
Democrats are, unsurprisingly, much more sympathetic to unions and their leaders. Just one-third of the more labor-friendly party think the groups have too much influence, while nearly 70 percent of Republicans say the same.
Fill ‘er up – for now. The Senate isn’t expected to take any action on either of the proposed bills that would raise the state’s gasoline tax by 23 cents overnight. If legislators passed and Christie signed a gasoline tax bill on Thursday, gasoline that costs $2.06 per gallon would have cost $2.29 per gallon on Friday morning. Mike Davis, Asbury Park Press Read more
By Brent Johnson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on June 30, 2016 at 7:00 AM, updated June 30, 2016 at 7:27 AM
TRENTON — Four days after a marathon session that didn’t end until after midnight, the state Legislature on Thursday could be in for another crazy day.
Here is a look at what state lawmakers may — and may not — tackle:
1. The gas tax/sales tax deal could be finalized. Or not at all.
Gov. Chris Christie and the state Assembly orchestrated a surprise deal Monday: one that would raise New Jersey’s gas tax 23 cents a gallon to replenish the state Transportation Trust Fund that pays for road projects in exchange for cutting the state’s sales tax by 1 penny by 2018. The Assembly passed the proposal just after 1 a.m.
But even though the fund expires Friday, Democratic leaders in the state Senate say they are not on board with the plan. Some Republicans have also expressed reservations.
Reader says , Thanks NJ for killing one of the few remaining good things about NJ (low gasoline prices)
.
Thanks for moving NJ’s gasoline tax
From the 2ND LOWEST state gasoline tax in the USA (49th place)
To the 7th HIGHEST state gasoline tax
.
thanks
If these morons had half a brain, the would find ways to LOWER gasoline prices and increase consumption.
This would:
– increase overall gasoline tax revenue
– increase business (which brings along increased job employment and increased spending) – resulting in even more tax revenue for the state
– result in happier residents and taxpayers who get to spend and save more money and enjoy their lives more.
.
too bad resident’s pursuit of happiness is not on the agenda for NJ politicians.
The constitutional amendment requiring quarterly pension payments to public employees (ACR109) was passed by the New Jersey Assembly on Monday. Alyana Alfaro, PolitickerNJ Read more
The Senate this afternoon voted in favor of the reappointment of Paul Escandon of Monmouth to a superior court judgeship, over the objections of state Senator Gerald Cardinale (R-39) of Bergen County. Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ Read more
The official formation of a new super PAC founded by Republican operatives Chris Russell and Rick Rosenberg drew a crowd of 300 to the Bell Works Complex in Holmdel. Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ Read more
A state environmental cleanup program may have to start work or stop paying its employees.The results of an Office of Legislative Services audit of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection were released Monday, showing that the NJDEP is five years behind on a deadline for ranking toxic sites in the state to establish which sites to clean up first. NJDEP employees, that report said, continued to be paid salaries from a fund intended to finance clean-up efforts that never began. JT Aregood, PolitickerNJ Read more
TRENTON NJ, Under a proposed bill customers would be required to pay 5 cents for every plastic or paper bag they use to carry their purchases .
An previous version of the bill (A3671) called for a bag ban by 2025, but sponsors discarded that idea. Efforts to curb plastic bag use have been under consideration since 2008 in the state legislature, including in 2012, although each time they have stalled.
California is the state that has a statewide ban on plastic bags and Hawaii has a de facto state ban because every county has adopted the policy.
If the bill becomes law, retail operators in New Jersey would begin charging 5-cent fee for each single-use carryout bag on June 1, 2017. Stores would keep a penny, as would the state Division of Taxation to administer the program.
The remaining 3 cents would be used to create the “Healthy Schools and Community Lead Abatement Fund” to support the testing of homes and schools’ water supply – a major cause of concern in the state.
While proponents of the ban claim “Plastic bags are a source of numerous environmental concerns,” We are still not sure how an additional tax is going to fix any environmental problems . Seems more to be another Trenton money grab using a “Feel good” ruse . Opponents say better yet to send the bags to Trenton so law makers can place them over their heads saving the taxpayers money and improving the quality of life in the state .
The warring tribes of Democrats in Trenton smoked a peace pipe on Thursday and tentatively agreed to rescue Atlantic City from bankruptcy at the last minute. Tom Moran, Star-Ledger Editorial Board Read more
In an effort to stem public corruption scandals, the state Senate on Mondayunanimously passed a bill that would require all New Jersey elected officials undergo ethics training as soon as they’re elected. S.P. Sullivan, NJ.com Read more
Following a rash of sudden disappearances from Thursday’s Assembly session and Speaker Vince Prieto’s decision not to post his competing Atlantic City takeover bill, Senate President and takeover sponsor Steve Sweeney was noticeably agitated after five hours of delay and closed-door caucus meetings. Sweeney reiterated his call for the Speaker to post the version of the takeover bill passed in the Senate. With an anticipated 39 votes out of the 41 needed to pass his bill, Prieto decided to fight another day earlier that afternoo JT Aregood, PolitickerNJ Read more
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