May 19, 2009

CWA Maplewood Township Update

On February 6, 2009 the Township announced layoffs, reduction in hours and furloughs.  CWA requested details regarding the furloughs and filed a grievance over one of the layoffs.  Also at this time the State of NJ was announcing furloughs.  The state workers are civil service employees and the Civil Service Commission recently changed the rule that would permit furloughs.

CWA filed an Unfair Labor Practice Charge (ULP) and went to PERC (the Public Employment Relations Commission).  The hearing before PERC was last week and a decision was issued this past weekend.  PERC ruled that the State is permitted to furlough workers because of the temporary rule change in the civil service rules.  PERC also ruled that the Township of Maplewood could not reduce workers from full-time to part-time and furlough employees without negotiating with the CWA first.  As a result, we have scheduled a negotiation session for Wednesday, May 27, 2009.

While the PERC decision is a victory for CWA in Maplewood, we are not unrealistic about the furloughs.  If we fight the furloughs, we will face more layoffs.  We will negotiate guidelines for the furloughs and see if we can reduce the number of furlough days.  We will also seek language that would require the Town to negotiate with CWA before more layoffs and furloughs, as well as look for parity regarding health benefit payments and an additional year on the contract.  (The DPW and Firefighters recently settled contracts that require less then 1% health benefits contributions and received 3.5% increases for 2010.)

One of the issues that will be discussed at negotiations is that not all Township Workers will be furloughed at the same time.  The PERC ruling on this is unclear and both sides will be looking into this.  Specifically, full-time Recreation employees have been asked to furlough different days.  CWA has received phone calls about this.  We are currently telling out members to take off on Fridays as the rest of our workforce will be doing.  If the Township is permitted to have different furlough days for a department and if this is negotiated, we will make all attempts to meet our workers needs for the furlough day.

Any and all changes must be voted on by the membership.  Furloughs and health benefits are only going to affect the full-time workers.  As of the writing of this letter, the Township has stated that they do not intend to furlough any part-time workers.  All members will be eligible to vote on any proposed changes.  We will be announcing a membership meeting to answer questions and vote on contract changes after Wednesday, May 27, 2009.   We ask that the part-time workers hear the full-time workers concerns and take this into consideration when voting.

Look for another update and meeting announcement next week.

CWA Local 1031 84 Culver Rd. Monmouth junction, NJ 08852

P: 732 274-2171 <> F: 732 274-0154 <> Web: www.cwa1031.org