TRENTON — After asserting for months that state employee health benefits will be overhauled through legislation, Gov. Chris Christie’s office is now seeking the changes through collective bargaining with the state’s largest employee union. "He’s out of his cage!" read a memo to Communications Workers of America members obtained by The Star-Ledger, joking about Christie’s comments in March that...
Gov. Chris Christie speaks at a press conference at the Statehouse on Thursday.TRENTON — After asserting for months that state employee health benefits will be overhauled through legislation, Gov. Chris Christie’s office is now seeking the changes through collective bargaining with the state’s largest employee union.
"He’s out of his cage!" read a memo to Communications Workers of America members obtained by The Star-Ledger, joking about Christie’s comments in March that he was looking forward to collective bargaining.
"Let me at them," Christie said at the time, showing his willingness to go out and negotiate. "Get me out of the cage and let me go."
At a Statehouse news conference Thursday, Christie called the offer to unions a "good faith effort" but reiterated his desire to have the Legislature pass a bill and force the unions to accept his plan to make them pay 30 percent of the cost of health benefits.
"We can chew gum and walk at the same time," Christie said.
The CWA, the state’s largest employee union, filed a complaint with the Public Employee Relations Committee (PERC) alleging violations of state employment law when Christie refused to negotiate over health benefits. That complaint is still pending.
Hetty Rosenstein, the state director for the CWA, said she is optimistic moving forward.
"We hope that we can begin to engage in serious negotiations with the governor," Rosenstein said.
The governor’s initial offer to employees at the bargaining table was nearly identical to the proposal he sent to the Legislature — having workers pay 30 percent of the cost of their insurance premiums, according to the memo. In addition, the administration could increase co-pays for the duration of the four-year contract.
The offer came during the seventh meeting between the CWA and the governor’s office to negotiate a new contract for the 40,000 employees the union represents. The current contract expires on June 30.
Christie has been adamant for months that he would seek changes to employee health benefits through legislation, but so far he has sent no bills to the Legislature; only Democrat Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) has filed a proposal.
Under Sweeney’s plan, employees would pay for health benefits based on how much they earn, and the rates would increase over three years.
"The Senate president has said all along that he believes the governor should at least hear the unions out at the table, so he is very happy with the administration’s action," said Chris Donnelly, a Senate Democratic spokesman.
Jeff Keefe, a labor professor at Rutgers University, said Christie was probably trying to short-circuit the complaint, since efforts to legislate benefit changes could be halted if PERC sided with the union.
"I don’t think they’re going to have any meaningful give and take at the bargaining table," Keefe said. "He wants to avoid having PERC rule against him. That would throw the whole budget situation up in the air."
Christie’s apparent shift in tactics didn’t surprise Peter Woolley, a political science professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
"Underneath the direct exterior, the governor tends to be very pragmatic," Woolley said. "He tends to be very practical in looking how attack a problem."
Previous Coverage:
• Gov. Christie, state employees union begin bargaining over health benefits
• N.J. Gov. Christie, public workers union fight over changes in employee health benefits
• Christie, unions spar over history of skipping collective bargaining to change health benefits
• League of Municipalities president calls on Legislature for pension, benefit reform
• N.J. Senate President Sweeney says costs of benefits are breaking local government budgets