TRENTON — Toll collectors for the New Jersey Turnpike have filed suit against the authority that oversees the state’s major toll road, saying the agency vindictively removed a clause that would have given existing collectors the first opportunity for jobs under a new privatized system that begins this summer. Toll collectors with the International Federation of Professional and Technical...
View looking south as cars file through the toll booths on the Garden State Parkway southbound through the Essex toll plaza.TRENTON — Toll collectors for the New Jersey Turnpike have filed suit against the authority that oversees the state’s major toll road, saying the agency vindictively removed a clause that would have given existing collectors the first opportunity for jobs under a new privatized system that begins this summer.
Toll collectors with the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local No. 94 said the "right of first refusal" provision was removed after the union spoke out against privatization. Union members called the move a violation of their First Amendment rights.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, calls for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority to halt the privatization of toll collection jobs until the right of first refusal provision is restored into the privatization proposal.
"We want them to negotiate and we want them to put back the right of first refusal," said Franceline Ehret, the union president. "We’ve been trying to get them to negotiate since January, and they’re ignoring us."
In a cost-saving move, the Turnpike and Garden State Parkway are moving toward privatizing toll collection. The contract with current toll collectors ends June 30, and the Turnpike Authority is fielding proposals from private contractors to take over the operation.
The union says it has offered $16 million in concessions, but Ronnie Hakim, the authority’s executive director, disputes that.
"Eight line items on a piece of paper is not a negotiation proposal," Hakim said.
Hakim said three of the eight items were put in boldface as "undetermined" and $10 million in savings was associated with the retirement of 100 toll collectors — which Hakim said was a fact, not a concession.
The union also offered salary concessions for new hires, but Hakim said that with trends pointing toward more people using E-ZPass — the E-ZPass penetration on the Turnpike is 76 percent and Parkway is 73 percent — there wouldn’t have been many new hires.
Hakim said the right of first refusal was removed from the privatization proposal because it was causing some prospective bidders to drop out.
Turnpike and Parkway toll collectors at the top of the pay scale make about $65,700 a year, more than collectors on the George Washington Bridge ($61,000 a year) and Pennsylvania Turnpike ($55,000).
"It’s just off the charts," Hakim said of the salaries for turnpike and parkway toll collectors.
Ehret said the authority was stalling while the union contract winds down and that the new administration has no attachment to the workers who have dedicated their lives to the Turnpike.
"It’s easy to slash and burn people you don’t know," said Ehret, a 26-year employee. "They just got here."