After 'Accord' NJ Union Pulls Out of Pension Talks

For months, the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) has been in discussions with Governor Chris Christie's commission on pension and health benefit reforms. And in February, the Governor announced in his budget address that the union and the administration had reached an "unprecedented accord." But union president Wendell Steinhauer immediately countered that there was no deal. He said the governor "made political hay" out of a memo outlining some broad goals.

Steinhauer said the union is now bowing out of negotiations altogether, saying it couldn't sign on to recommendations such as deep cuts to health benefits. "I don't think there's any will amongst the legislature to do many of those things, or with our members, so there's not much sense in continuing those discussions," he said. 

The union and the commission had issued some recommendations in February, including making the union an administrator of its pension fund, with local school districts footing the bill, not the state. The recommendations were included in the commission's official report, but that document went further, advising changes to all public workers' benefits so that they "align" with the benefits provided by private companies, and shifting pensions from the current defined benefit plan to a "cash-balance" plan.

Steinhauer said funding the current pension system remains the union's top priority, and he's calling on the Governor to follow through with the payment schedule he outlined during his 2011 reforms instead of continuing to cut the pension payments to balance the budget.

A coalition of unions, including the teachers, are challenging the cuts to the state's pension payment in court.