Breaking: New Jersey Workers Headed for Trenton

Thousands of New Jersey union members and supporters are headed to the state capitol in Trenton right now, to send a message of solidarity to Wisconsin public workers and some advice to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie: stop the attacks on public workers.

"We are all Wisconsin public workers this week," said Hetty Rosenstein, CWA state director. Politicians "are trying to blame middle class workers for the financial mess that Wall Street caused. It's more politics as usual and we're ready to fight back."

Public workers in New Jersey are facing exactly the same kind of attacks as those in Wisconsin. In Fact, Christie has expressed his "admiration" for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's campaign to eliminate workers' bargaining rights.

For the 40,000 CWA state workers whose contract expires at the end of June, Christie has made his agenda clear.

Christie is calling for cuts in workers' pensions but wants to increase worker contributions. This isn't meant to fix the pension shortfall, because Christie said the state has no intention of making any contributions to the fund. The state had no problem, however, in giving people who earn more than $1 million a $40,000 tax break.

New Jersey workers have been making contributions to their pension plan year in and year out, never missing a payment. The state government, on the other hand, hasn't made a full pension payment in 15 years and missed payments completely in 13 of the last 17 years.

State workers also are facing higher health care costs, and in fact, would lose the right to bargain over health care and pensions if Christie and some state lawmakers get their way.

Christie also used New Jersey's budget situation to slash workers' rights, eliminating fairness in hiring and promotions and the ability to negotiate furloughs and appeal discipline. He's already threatened to go to the legislature to get what he wants in terms of public worker compensation if he can't do it at the bargaining table.

ALERT: Keep this in mind when you're at any demonstration: Right wing tea partiers and groups like FreedomWorks often show up at union events. They've been at state capitols in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and other events, trying to stir up trouble.

They have one mission: to provoke union activists. So don't fall for it. Don't argue with them. Smile at their cellphone cameras and walk away. We're winning the public opinion battle and we need to stick to our plan, not fall for theirs.