CWA LOCAL 1031

John E. Rose, President

 

CWA Local 1031
John E. Rose, President
84 Culver Road
Monmouth Junction, New Jersey
United States 08852
Phone: (732) 274-2171
Fax: (732) 274-0154
Questions or Comments?  CLICK HERE

 

 

CWA Maplewood Update

 

On Tbursday, June 4th Maplewood Township Members held a meeting to vote on the proprosed contract changes. The Membershp voted 32-0 to accept the changes.

Contract Changes are as follows:

·        Full-time employees will be furloughed 12 Fridays beginning June 5, 2009.  Including the Librarian Custodian.

·        Part-time employees scheduled to work Fridays will be furloughed 12 Fridays beginning June 5, 2009.

·        Employees whose hours have been reduced from full-time to part-time will not be furloughed and will be expected to work their reduced hours Monday through Thursday during the summer.

·        All employees in the title of Crossing Guard and Jitney Driver are excluded from furloughs.

·        There will be 12 furlough days beginning June 5, 2009 through August 28, 2009.  Friday, July 3, 2009 will be treated as a holiday. Full-time employees will be paid for this day.

·        The contract with CWA on behalf of the Township Workers will be extended one year and will expire on December 31, 2011.

·        Effective January 1, 2011, full-time employees will receive a 3.5% increase. 

·        Effective January 1, 2011, part-time employees will receive a $.50 per hour increase.

·        Effective January 1, 2010, health benefit contributions made by CWA employees will be converted to: 

0 - $30,000                   $200

$30,001 - $50,000       $300

$50,001 - $70,000       $425

·        CWA workers whose hours were reduced from full-time to part-time will have health benefit coverage through December 31, 2010.

·        The Township commits to there not being any more layoffs or reduction in hours to CWA employees for the fiscal year 2009 provided they receive the projected level of funding from the State this June.  If the Township does layoff or reduce the hours of any more CWA employees in 2009, they will reimburse CWA employees out-of-pocket losses suffered by the furloughs.

·        The Township commits to meet with CWA prior to issuing any layoff notices or reductions in hours through the life of this contract.  (This will allow our workers to offer other alternatives then layoffs and furloughs.)

·        CWA will withdraw the Unfair Labor Practice Charge.

 

For more information, please refer to the most recent mailings, which can be viewed by clicking on the links:

May 28th Mailing – Township Ratification Update

May 19th Mailing - Update

CWA-UMDNJ Members



 

Update (May 21, 2009)

 

Negotiations

The CWA/UMDNJ contract expired June 30, 2008.  We are approaching one year without a contract.  With a few exceptions (the AAUP),most of the UMDNJ Union contracts expired last June and all of the Unions are without a contract.  CWA is in negotiations for an entire contract and the other Unions have wage re-openers.  UMDNJ has offered all Unions a wage freeze and demands that our members begin paying for health benefits at the rate of 1.5%, retroactive to July 2008.  The Coalition of Unions banded together last year and prevented UMDNJ from imposing the health benefits payments.

Currently the HPAE Nurses and Professionals are in mediation for their contracts.  They are meeting with a mediator and the University and are asking for UMDNJ to provide financial documents.  They are examining UMDNJ's claim that they do not have money to pay raises.  CWA is watching this closely before returning to the negotiation table.

UMDNJ Financial Situation

UMDNJ has experienced financial difficulties the past few years.  They do have some positive changes for the future. 

  • The Governor's budget provides additional funding of $30.9 million to UMDNJ, which is above the levels that the other State Colleges and Universities are receiving. The additional funding appears to be an offset of the losses experienced by UH for a year.
  • UMDNJ has successfully refinanced their debt.  Failure to do this would have required millions of dollars in repayment each month.  The $258 million in bond refinancing was achieved in April. 
  • The State has agreed to a settlement regarding the $46 million owed to Medicaid.  The State will waive $23 million owed by UMDNJ and set up a plan for UMDNJ to pay the other $23 million over the next few years.
  • The Medicaid reimbursement rate will change on 8/1/09 and will mean $8 million more in reimbursement for UMDNJ.
  • A tentative agreement has been reached in a law suit regarding billing irregularities.

UMDNJ claims they are working to make the UH and University more efficient. The losses experienced by UH have caused UMDNJ's financial hardships over the past 10 years.  CWA has experienced about 1 layoff a month for the past 15 months.  More than half of these CWA members are still fully employed at UMDNJ.

Coalition Meeting

The Coalition of Unions is scheduled to meet with President Owen on June 8th.  We plan to address UMDNJ's Budget, Negotiations, UMDNJ's plan to utilize the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act monies, Ethics and Compliance, the new Ombuds position, and Advisory Committees.  The Unions have asked for seats on an Advisory Committee.  The Coalition of Unions have also met recently regarding Health Benefits so that we can approach problems with a united front.

State of NJ

The state workers are civil service workers, at UMDNJ, you are public workers. You share the same health benefits and pensions as state workers but you are not covered by the state contract or civil service rules.  The state workers have a contract with a negotiated raise in July.  The Governor does not want to fund this contract and wants the state workers to be furloughed in order to save the State money.  The Civil Service Commission made temporary changes which are scheduled to become permanent later this week.  The changes permit the state to layoff or reduce hours of work through furloughs.  CWA and other state worker unions have challenged this in court and at PERC (the Public Employment Relations Commission).  The courts ruled that the State must close an entire agency at the same time when they furlough.  PERC ruled the State is allowed to furlough and is not required to negotiate with the Unions.  CWA brought forth the Township of Maplewood which has laid off workers and is proposing 12 furlough days throughout the summer.  PERC ruled that since Maplewood is not civil service the employer must negotiate with the union.  What does this mean for UMDNJ?  This means if UMDNJ attempts to furlough workers, they would have to negotiate with the Unions beforehand.  While it was always thought that furloughs at UMDNJ would be too difficult, especially because of the hospital, we wanted our members to understand that the furloughs are currently only for state workers.  The State has already closed DMV and will close the courts this Friday.  The furloughs of state workers are separate from UMDNJ. 

Conclusion

The Country, the State and UMDNJ are all having financial difficulties.  There are those who believe the economy is beginning to turn around.  There have been many changes this past year that will help UMDNJ's financial picture.  We will continue to monitor the negotiations of the other Unions at UMDNJ, we will continue to fight in Trenton for higher education funding to remain the same or be increased in the current budget, we will talk to UMDNJ about their financial plans for the future, as well as seek seats on Advisory Committees which formulate UMDNJ's future.  We will keep you informed in June of changes at UMDNJ and the state that could assist in getting a fair contract at UMDNJ and stop the layoffs and losses.

 

 

 

 

*Please note:  There is a typo in the Membership Benefits Booklet.  On Page 10 under "Savings through Union Privilege" the number for the Loan Program should be 1-888-235-2759. 

 

Last updated 7/28/10