Government Union Monopolists Have Brought State to Brink of Ruin
(Source: May 2010 NRTWC Newsletter)
From 1999 to 2009, according to the U.S. Labor Department, New Jersey’s private-sector employment fell by 2.4%, a percentage decline seven times worse than the national average.
Over the same period, New Jersey’s state and local public employment jumped by a whopping 15.2%, substantially more than the hefty-enough nationwide increase of 12.5%.
For most hard-working Garden State workers and employers, these statistics sum up why New Jersey is in even worse shape, economically, than the nation as a whole.
For years, the state’s heavily unionized public sector has been sucking resources and vitality out of beleaguered private-sector employees and businesses.
But for government union officials, the relentless expansion of the Garden State’s public-sector employment from 1999 to 2009, even as the state’s private-sector employment alternately stagnated or shriveled, is a magnificent achievement that must be preserved and built upon, whatever the cost.
During his successful campaign for the state’s highest executive office and since he was inaugurated in January, GOP Gov. Chris Christie has sided with the vast majority of New Jerseyans who appreciate that state and local government must now be rolled back to give the private sector room to grow.
However, significantly rolling back government payrolls in New Jersey will be an extraordinarily difficult task because of the special monopoly-bargaining and forced-dues privileges government union bosses enjoy under state law.
New Jersey’s State and Local Tax Burden Ranks Highest in the Nation
According to labor economists Barry Hirsch and David Macpherson, last year New Jersey had roughly 606,000 public employees, of whom 404,000, or two-thirds, were forced to accept a single union as their “exclusive” (monopoly) bargaining agent in their dealings with their employer.
That’s a higher share of public employees under union monopoly-bargaining control than in all but two other states. And the vast majority of unionized public employees are forced to fork over union dues or fees as a condition of employment, even if they choose not to join the union or quit it.
New Jersey government union bosses enjoy enormous power primarily because state law actively promotes the corralling of public employees into unions.
“All by itself, one Garden State public-sector union, the New Jersey Education Association [NJEA/NEA], rakes in roughly $80,000,000 a year in union dues and fees, overwhelmingly compulsory,” noted Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Committee.
“And government union bosses divert a huge share of the conscripted revenue they rake in into efforts to elect and reelect politicians who will help them keep increasing the number of forced dues-paying public employees and retirees.
“No wonder New Jersey government has expanded and expanded, and, as the nonpartisan, D.C.-based Tax Foundation reports, New Jerseyans have to fork over a higher share of their incomes in state and local taxes than the residents of any other state.”
Facing Ferocious Big Labor Barrage, Governor Might as Well Be Bold
“Given that New Jersey’s projected deficit for just the upcoming fiscal year is a daunting $11 billion, the reforms Gov. Christie has so far sought, such as pressuring localities to freeze pay for some government employees for a year, are quite modest,” Mr. Mix continued.
“For this and other small steps such as promoting legislation that requires unionized public employees to contribute 1.5% of their salaries annually to help taxpayers cover government pension costs, Mr. Christie has incurred teacher union bigwigs’ wrath.
“One union official recently posted a prayer for Mr. Christie’s death on the NJEA’s Facebook page. And an NJEA union militant in Camden County actually likened Mr. Christie to genocidal Cambodian Communist dictator Pol Pot!
“However, as Mr. Christie said in his state budget address in March, New Jersey’s ‘day of reckoning has arrived.’
“The state’s situation is very dire. And the governor has already come under a furious Big Labor barrage simply for trimming at the edges of the public-sector union empire’s special privileges.
“Given the circumstances, Mr. Christie’s best option is to be bold and strike at the heart of the problem by proposing elimination, or minimally a sharp reduction in the scope, of New Jersey government union bosses’ monopoly-bargaining privileges.
“If you’re already in the fight of your life, why not seek a policy objective that would be truly transformative?”
FINALLY!!! Someone who is willing to tackle the problem in spite of the threats and lies put out by the opposition.
Newt is a card carrying member of the CFR, is an avowed globalist, baited us with “COntract with America,” promising a return to small, constitutional, fically responsible government then, betrayed us all as Speaker, leading the export of our industry and jobs overseas and selling off the HiB visas for foreigners to take the white collar jobs here, and the sell off of the rest of America.
Those of you who think this all started w/the Dem majority or Obama, think again.
It was Newt and the GOP that put our heads on this chopping block that henchmen Obama and Pelosi are happy to lob off.
BOTH parties in DC are global governance.
They have a conflict w/each other vying to see who delivers us to NWO and what brand of globalist governance will take place.
BOTH PLAN on dissolving the sovereign USA.
And as far as WE the people are concerned, they fight each other but stand together AGAINST US.
We no longer have a balance of power or a two party system. We have one power intent on killing off this nation and ONE party in DC againts America and Americans.
Newt run? That S.O.B. should be indicted and convicted of high treason. And all his cronies on BOTH sides of the aisle that facillitated this bloodless coups de etat of our (almost late) great nation.
Christie might be so fat because he is full of hot air! His budget doesn’t cut one single Trenton state job and he has yet to un-fund Abbott schools, the biggest drain on NJ property taxes or COAH (Council on ‘Affordable[free] Housing). There are many things that Christie can do with a stroke of a pen, and something called ‘Executive Order,’ but until then he’s just another politician with nothing special and lots of talk.
We dare you, governor, to actually do the hard work and make this a RIGHT TO WORK STATE!!! Restore New Jersey to the trend-setting state it was in days gone by!
Here’s how to save taxes and fix the schools. Figure out the average cost per pupil, per year. (Don’t figure in the Abbott disctrict students as that would obviously skew the results) Then, whatever it is, say $11-12-13,000, that is what the state will allocate for each enrolled student including those in the Abbott districts. Superintendants and teachers alike will be accountable for the success or failure of their schools. Then we will see who/where is getting the most bang for their buck. Then we will see who is and who isn’t getting the job done. Then the people in the failing districts can vote in a new school board and hire a new, more effective superintendant.
Problem solved, money saved. (obviously the real answer is much more complicated than this, but you get the basic idea)
The level of public education in US in general and in NJ in particular is low, everyone knows it, and international test scores show it.
Taxes in NJ are ones of the highest. At the same time superintendents’ salaries are huge. So, it’s not that there is lack of money in education. The approach, the system, qualities of teaching, textbooks, etc. must be changed.