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.
RIDGEWOOD — The failure of a state-appointed super-conciliator to resolve a 19-month-long labor dispute between the Board of Education and district teachers union has left local officials and union heads considering their next move.
Disagreements over several issues — including salaries, proposed changes in the union insurance plan and how much the Ridgewood Education Association’s 547 members should contribute toward their health insurance premiums — have contributed to a breakdown in the negotiations, which began five months before the last contract expired on June 30, 2015.
file photo Sweeney & Prieto
By Samantha Marcus | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on August 25, 2016 at 5:11 PM
TRENTON — New Jersey’s public pension fund is shakier than all but two U.S. states also known for their notoriously underfunded retirement systems, according to a new comparison by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
The pension fund was just 42 percent funded in 2014, based on the latest data available for 238 retirement plans in 50 states, Pew said.
Illinois and Kentucky were each only 41 percent funded. Only three states — South Dakota, Oregon and Wisconsin — were more than 100 percent funded.
The time has long passed for pleasantries. And don’t fool yourself thinking that this blowback directed at the volunteers is uncalled for. To think that someone like Gail was donating her time because she was giving back is laughable. Look at the connections, connect the dots. It’s pretty simple to see the payday just a we bit over the horizon. As far as the over paid / over pensioned lot it’s been a long time coming…people have HAD IT with the continued abuse in the form of over taxation and as soon as I complain about a $100MM school budget or the local FD/PD taking a 100K pension after 20 I get some union lackey putting his foot up my arse because “its only fair”.
Well guess what? PARTY’S OVER.
Trenton, NJ – Governor Chris Christie announced his enactment of Executive Order 213, with the State Transportation Trust Fund Authority days away from exhausting all of its available funds.
“No evident progress has been made by the Legislature to pass a single, viable bill to reauthorize the TTFA,” Governor Christie stated. “A well-maintained transportation infrastructure is essential to the operation of New Jersey’s economy and the people who rely upon it in all aspects of their daily lives. The current situation will persist until the Senate and the General Assembly pass an acceptable TTFA funding bill. Until they do so, the State must use money from the General Fund for emergency road, bridge, and mass transportation work.”
Under Executive Order 213, attached, the state Treasurer is directed to make available general funds for expenses determined to be absolutely essential for the protection of the health, safety, and welfare of the people of the State of New Jersey, or that are required to ensure the receipt of federal funding, in accordance with Executive Order 210, until the Governor determines an emergency no longer exists.
By Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on August 16, 2016 at 2:49 PM, updated August 16, 2016 at 3:49 PM
A former writer for “The Daily Show” has produced a video explaining how red tape could delay the Gateway Tunnel project, potentially increasing gridlock and costing billions in tax dollars.
The video by Alex Marino explains the complex tunnel issues in “Transportation Armageddon.” It was produced for Common Good, which advocates cutting red tape and bureaucratic reform.
It warns how road gridlock would expand in New York and New Jersey if one of the existing 106-year old tunnels has to be taken out of service for rehabilitation and rail commuters instead have to use their cars.
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.
The state can’t scrape up the money to fix the state’s roads and bridges, fully fund its schools or pay for the pensions of retired state workers. But, somehow, it found a way this week to approve an $800 million bond after previously authorizing $350 million in tax breaks for a $3.1 billion megamall in the Meadowlands.
The state’s Local Finance Board, an arm of the state Department of Community Affairs, this week approved the bond for the massive Meadowland America Dream shopping and entertainment complex, known during a previous incarnation as Xanadu. After two false starts attributable to the project’s inability to get private financing, the project was taken over in 2011 by Triple Five, a Canadian firm, nearly a decade after it was first approved.
Last week’s approval by the Local Finance Board, and the approval of a financing agreement a day earlier by the mall’s landlord, the N.J. Sports & Exposition Authority, came unaccompanied by any outrage from state lawmakers other than Michael Doherty, R-Warren.
Why the silence? Perhaps legislators didn’t want to call further attention to the irony of their providing bonding for a private venture at a time they can’t scrape up enough money for the state’s basic needs, despite having the highest property taxes in the nation.
By Matt Arco | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on August 09, 2016 at 7:30 AM, updated August 09, 2016 at 7:56 AM
TRENTON — With a ballot question asking voters to constitutionally guarantee state payments into the public worker pension fund dead on arrival this year, the head of the state’s largest teachers’ union suggested that Senate PresidentStephen Sweeney’s likely 2017 gubernatorial campaign will meet the same fate.
Wendell Steinhauer, president of the New Jersey Education Association, stopped short on Monday of calling Sweeney’s refusal to post the measure for a vote ahead of a Monday’s deadline to get it on the ballot this year a deal breaker.
But he was also clear about the NJEA’s priorities — more specifically, its top agenda item.
“Our No. 1 priority has been passing this constitutional amendment,” Wendell said.
“I’m telling you that we will certainly send out a questionnaire to all of the candidates and we will screen all of them,” he said. “But we are definitely going to get involved in the primaries this year.”
Plot Thickens in Monmouth as Ousted Republican Goes on the Attack
Early signs that Monmouth County will be one of the crucial proving grounds for a badly wounded Republican party in 2017 emerged Friday, as former Republican Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini called for her Democratic successors to acknowledge their ties to the NJEA. Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3) called for state and federal investigations of the group this week after the state’s largest teachers’ union threatened to withhold campaign cash from state Democrats. JT Aregood, PolitickerNJ Read more https://politickernj.com/2016/08/plot-thickens-in-monmouth-as-ousted-republican-goes-on-the-attack/
On the heels of Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3) firing off letters to the U.S. Attorney and Attorney General concerning allegations of strong-arming tactics by the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean called for the immediate passage of pay-to-play legislation (S-341). Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ Read more
A ballot question to mandate more funding for New Jersey’s troubled pension system – costing an estimated $25 billion over five years – is all but dead this year, Senate President Stephen Sweeney said Thursday. Salvador Rizzo, The Record Read more
On Wednesday, Senate President Stephen Sweeney called union threats to withhold campaign contributions unless the Senate passes pension legislation a “clear cut” case of extortion. Susan K. Livio, NJ.com Read more
Teachers in the photo above: Please read below written by a retired colleague. The taxpayers can no longer and will no longer agree to your sweetheart deals which is why so many of your brethren have retired early to “take the money and run.” So when you whine about your paychecks and benefits, remember, the rest of us have to live very carefully and save enough, cross our fingers Wall St. doesn’t do funny things just to make sure we might be able to retire (and we have to pay for our own supplemental medical insurance). Just because we live in Ridgewood does not mean we are 1%ers. Some of us, with college degrees earn less than you and have stressful demanding jobs so your protests fall on deaf ears. I don’t like or agree with much Christie does but this is one thing he got right and tried to fix.
The author of the guest essay below is a retired New Jersey teacher who considers her benefits package far too generous. Gov. Christie was right to confront the teachers’ union immediately after taking office, she says, since teacher benefits could eventually bankrupt the state, and many others, if outlays needed to pay those benefits continue to outstrip revenues. I have withheld the author’s name to protect her from retaliation by her former colleagues.
I watch with gratitude the commercial by Prudential that warns those who hope to retire to think about how much money they’ll need to do so comfortably. I am grateful because I need not worry so much about my money running out before my nest egg does. I am a retired New Jersey educator. My funds are as lengthy as my life. They will even continue to support my spouse after I am gone at a rate of 50%. His pension will additionally support me at a rate of 50% if he should pre-decease me.
I began teaching in 1972 at an annual salary of $7,700. It was not much. Incremental raises were small from year to year. I ended my career teaching after 30 years. I was 52 — three years below full retirement age. I decided for personal reasons to retire early at a penalty of 3% per annum below the full retirement age, which was recently moved down to 55. I was not concerned because the 9% decrease in my pension benefits would be more than offset by three additional years of benefits.
Although I am not well versed in the subject of finance, I am told that I would need to have amassed a nest egg substantially greater than a million dollars to provide as well for myself as New Jersey does. Since this is a near impossibility at my former pay scale, it is all the more amazing that New Jersey is so generously funding my golden years. Additionally, my healthcare benefits were covered by the state until Medicare kicked in. After that, my secondary insurance was picked up by the N.J. State Health Benefits Plan.
This is a rather lengthy prelude to the point I wish to convey about the state of pensions both in New Jersey and other states that confer similar benefits on government workers. It is clear that this level of pension funding cannot be sustained indefinitely. Public servants must be part of the solution to burgeoning budget deficits in every state in which they occur. I am not an actuary, nor am I an economist, but I can see the anger growing in the public-at-large that continues to question the demands of those who receive generous packages during their employment and afterwards. Surely, the cris de coeur about the plight of educators cannot reflect the economic realities of many of the constituents who pay the educators’ salaries.
Bergen County ‘Tops’ at $90K.
To give you an idea of how very generous teachers’ pensions are, I’ve appended average salaries for NJ districts in 2011-12 below. Benefits are calculated by taking the average salary of the last three years of employment multiplied by the number of years in New Jersey public education, divided by 60 (full retirement age). Thus, if you worked as teacher in Bergen County for 30 years, your annual pension benefit could be as high as $45,114 ($90,228 x 30 divided by 60). When I retired early, I received 30 years divided by 55 (which was for a short time considered full retirement age. Gov. Christie returned the full retirement age to 60 as a cost-saving measure). Tack on full health insurance until Medicare kicks in, plus, when you reach 65, the state picks up the supplemental costs. A pretty sweet deal, no?
Here are the salary averages, by county: 1. Northern Valley Regional (Bergen County) $90,228; 2. Ocean City (Cape May) $88,434; 3. Carlstadt-East Rutherford (Bergen) $87,502; 4. East Rutherford (Bergen) $86,624; 5. Edison (Middlesex) $84,159; 6. Margate (Atlantic) $83,820; 7. East Orange (Essex) $83,418; 8. Closter (Bergen) $82,558; 9. Wallkill Valley Regional (Sussex) $82,475; 10. High Point Regional (Sussex) $82,386; 11. Teaneck (Bergen) $82,116; 12. West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional (Mercer) $82,059; 13. Hackensack (Bergen) $81,900;14. Pascack Valley Regional (Bergen) $81,832;15. Mainland Regional (Atlantic) $81,100; 16. Trenton (Mercer) $80,886;17. Millburn (Essex) $80,774; 18. Pemberton (Burlington) $80,579; 19. River Dell Regional (Bergen) $79,564; 20. Freehold Regional (Monmouth) $79,185.
Often I feel like a traitor to my profession – or I am made to feel so by the constant postings of my former colleagues who seek every opportunity to defame Gov. Christie for his hardline stance on unsustainable obligations to retired educators. I am not, however, traitorous. A paradox arises out of this situation. Taxes rise to cover increasing costs. Retirees who cannot afford some of the highest property taxes and state taxes take their pensions out of state and live in tax free zones. It is time for us to become responsible adults and change a system which is antiquated and inequitable for those who are left to pay the price.
Angry over the uncertainty of a constitutional amendment requiring the state to contribute annually to their pensions, public workers on Monday rallied outside the Statehouse and called for Senate President Stephen Sweeney to put the measure up for a vote. Samantha Marcus, NJ.com Read more
