Posted on 03/10/2010 11:24:46 AM PST by Touch Not the Cat
Calling it an "exquisite pair of handcuffs" as he tries to plug a huge budget gap, Gov. Chris Christie today said he must follow a controversial deal former Gov. Jon Corzine gave unionized state workers last year that calls for a 7 percent pay raise in the upcoming fiscal year and bars him from ordering layoffs before January.
"My lawyers have now told me that I am bound by that deal," the governor said after meeting local officials in Haddon Heights. "If I could stop it, I would, except the previous governor tied my hands. I cannot lay off one state worker, I cannot furlough a state worker until January of 2011. That was a great election-year deal he made for us. It is an exquisite pair of handcuffs he put on his successor, but I guess he didn’t think he was going to have a successor." Christie, who will unveil his proposed budget next week, has called for cuts to all levels of government — including the public employee pension system, drawing the ire of worker unions.
Soon after he was elected, Christie said he was considering invoking emergency powers to break the deal. Today, he left open the door to "the exercise of executive authority" to address the deal but did not say exactly how that could happen. "I’m going to have to come up with some other ingenious ways to try to accomplish what I need to accomplish," he said. "We’re going to do what we need to do as best we can, but I cannot just disregard the law, either."
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
ML/NJ
How long before those who say that Christie has betrayed the conservative movement show up?
Did he get a “visit” from the local “family”?
Simple fix is to fire 10% of the workforce and give the rest a 7% raise. It could work. Or, give them the raise and reduce work week to 4 days (20% reduction). There are ways to game the game.
The best fix would be to fire them all. Then give the head of agencies the power to hire essential personnel immediately with a new salary structure and tell the Union to get bent.
” A legislature cannot bind future legislatures.”
The claim is that the governor, not the legislature, is bound.
If the agreement is part of the union contract, and it sounds like it is, then it does bind Christie. The contract is not a legislative act.
ML/NJ
This looks like one that would be worth slugging out in the courts, even if Christie were to ultimately lose in the end.
If the leeches went a year or two without paychecks while the Governor exhausted his appeals it might have the same effect.
Look for Democrats in other jurisdictions now to start signing long-term, no-layoff contracts to bind their future Republican successors.
Barksdale’s Brigade... men you want to have on your side in a fight.
The best fix would be to fire them all. Then give the head of agencies the power to hire essential personnel immediately with a new salary structure and tell the Union to get bent.
Anitius Severinus Boethius, that might be a much to pull off, it is afterall NJ. Just shrink the work week, maybe even shorten the school year for a start. Then maybe shrink it some more. As Gov you hang them out on a string but don’t cut them off. They will be torn between attacking you politically or trying to make nice with you. This allows the Gov the ability to divid and conquer. Work week shrinkage could last for a long while.
Pay them in scrip. Call them “Corzine Bucks” and make them redeemable only after some absurdly distant date.
Innovative.
Another option is to use our “Canadian Tire Money”. I’m sure I could work out a deal...
Good God....This clown is running a corrupt criminal enterprise in broad daylight....
The private sector are on their knees as millions of these tax consuming government employees cling to their backs.
Millions of unionized government employees are gang raping America
No, Christie will continue to live like a king...What it's doing is choking off the working class, who are now working for millions of these government tax consuming leaches.
Millions of unionized government employees are gang raping America
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