Posted on 03/09/2010 10:51:22 AM PST by mikelets456
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he was wrong to say during the campaign that he could change the state worker contract that Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine negotiated.
Corzine reopened the workers' contracts in late 2008 after state revenues plunged and New Jersey's budget deficit ballooned.
Under the renegotiated deal, the unions put off a 3.5 percent pay raise for 18 months and took furlough days in exchange for a no-layoff-pledge through December 2010.
Christie now said his lawyers have told him that laying off state workers would accelerate the raise payment schedule under the current contract.
The Republican said what he said during the campaign was what he "thought should be true."
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
so why not lay off more employees to make up the 3.5%?
Hell, why not lay off most of them and contract the work out? Would be loads cheaper.
ML/NJ
Christie gets the benefit of the doubt from me at this point. Keep plugging away, gov.
WHAAAAATTT???????
I TOOOOOOOLD you he was a RINO!!!!1!1!!
I don’t care about all the other good stuff he’s done in office so far, this one piece of news takes the cake!!!1!1!
What’s the unemployment rate in NJ? Fire all of the unionized state workers and hire the unemployed in their place.
FUGEDDABOUDIT...................
“Christie gets the benefit of the doubt from me at this point. Keep plugging away, gov.”
I agree. Let’s just wait and see.
Fracking brilliant! I mean, really, how much training does it take to be a state trooper? Or a forensic pathologist or criminalist with the state bureau of investigation? Or a bridge inspector? Or an engineer on NJTransit trains? Or an amusement park ride safety inspector? Or a corrections officer?
And we could eliminate all those toll booth attendant salaries by just ripping out all those damn toll booths!
That’s the problem with electing dems and liberals. The unwise, corrupt things they enact in office come with their own self defense mechanisms; namely the constituencies they create.
I've long maintained that if we did an honest audit and cost/benefit analysis of tolls, we'd do away with them entirely. Here in NY, we're paying pensions and health benefits for retards handing out tickets that a machine could easily spit out. It's not a profit making enterprise, it's a state jobs program and a complete waste of everyone's time and money.
But, I guess you take that personally because your livelihood relies upon the government teat. Well, that's just too bad. Don't worry, you have your outrageous pension and your Cadillac health plan to comfort you while you weep over how insensitive I am to your plight.
Interesting how an executive and a Union can usurp the power of the people and the Democratic process. When will the people of this country wake-up outlaw public employee unions?
Isnt it strange that the “pay czar” has no interest in the salaries of union bosses?
Rhetorical question.
Nope. I've been self-employed for more than three decades (sort of semi-retired now) and have paid for my own health insurance (Blue Cross/Blue Shield) the entire time. Built up my own retirement funds. Have no disability insurance or unemployment insurance. And because I'm self-employed, I've always paid double the going FICA rate than regular workers.
I ain't crying a river. I wouldn't have it any other way.
But, yeah, sure, fire (like, how? on what legal grounds?) all the state's unionized workers and bring in teeming masses of unemployed workers to take over their jobs (at minimum wage, I'm assuming). That'll work like a charm!
Well, I guess I should have written a whitepaper on how it could be done under NJ law? :p
It wasn’t exactly a serious proposal on a way forward for New Jersey.
I’m glad that as a self-employed person, you have sufficient reverence of your betters in the public sector. Unfortunately, as a self-employed person myself, I have not been enlightened to the point that I’m grateful for the services of those whose salaries I pay with the portion of my income confiscated at gunpoint by the state.
Every once in awhile on this forum I'm truly floored by how quickly someone attributes a mindset to someone they know nothing about. You sir, take the cake. Enjoy your self-righteous agenda. No one else will.
I'm guessing that your distaste for that process is selective, unless you really are upset to have a state police force and a national guard unit.
I'm for limited government, but I don't begrudge paying taxes for it, or the salaries of the people we hire to perform the necessary functions of government.
I do agree that there are probably a good number of state employees that are pretty easily replaceable.
I saw that article today also... the good quote here...
“A Corzine spokesman, Josh Zeitz, said Christie is free to fire workers after January 2011, with six months remaining in the fiscal year, without facing the penalty. For every 1,000 workers it sheds, the state would save as much as $40 million, he said Corzine estimated.”
Corzine cut the workforce by 8%. If Christie cut the workforce again by 8%, he’d cut about 5500-5800 jobs, saving per year about $225 million plus the longterm reduction of pension costs. The State operates on a fiscal year that begins on July 1, so Christie can still cut these jobs starting in January and get a 1/2 year of budget cuts out of it.
We’re going to have to wait and see.
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