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March 11, 2010
NJ Gov. Christie to Privatize Thousands of Government Jobs
Posted by The MaryHunter at March 11, 2010 12:15 PM
New Jersey's Republican Governor Chris Christie didn't just blow hot air at his state legislature last month about reforming the state government. Now, he is taking decisive action to reduce the size of government.
Gov. Chris Christie today will create a commission to privatize as many as 2,000 state jobs beginning next January, officials said Wednesday night.
As he grapples with an $11 billion deficit in the budget he will present on Tuesday, Christie is also considering invoking the Disaster Control Act to suspend Civil Service rules to make it easier for him to lay off higher-paid workers, according to two administration officials.
Through this, he could actually prune the number of union employees on the government payroll.
Suspending civil service would allow Christie to order layoffs of higher-paid unionized state employees with many years of service, rather than the usual practice of layoffs that affect lower-paid new employees first, the officials said. Currently, workers with more seniority can "bump" less-experienced workers from their jobs.
The privatization effort deals a blow to state worker unions just 48 hours after Christie publicly acknowledged he is bound by the agreement struck by Corzine where state workers would get two 3.5 percent raises in the coming fiscal year -- one in July and one in January. They deferred one raise and took 10 unpaid furlough days last year in exchange for the no-layoff pledge.
Privatizing jobs would require layoffs. By beginning them in January, Christie would not be subject to a deal between former Gov. Jon Corzine and state worker unions that would require the state to pay millions in raises to remaining workers if he orders layoffs before then.
Lesson learned by state worker unions: never make a deal with an unpopular elected official, since elections always have consequences.
There's a new sheriff in town.
