CWA Leaders in New Jersey Battle Governor to a Standstill

CWA public worker local leaders and members in New Jersey have got Gov. Christine Whitman - once the darling of the conservative branch of the Republican party - on the ropes in the fight to protect public services and state jobs.

Whitman started out 1998 determined to cut a wide swath of privatization throughout the state, undermining civil service protections for CWA members and handing juicy plums to her friends.

She now finds herself under a nearly constant barrage of criticism, accused of attempting to siphon off taxpayer money and funnel it to campaign contributors and cronies - while at the same time destroying good jobs for state workers.

Thanks to a highly-energized CWA mobilization campaign, backed up by a widespread media effort and growing support in the state legislature, Whitman's broad attacks on state workers have been brought to a virtual halt, at least temporarily. CWA - the state's largest public workers union representing more than 36,000 state workers - has played an "in your face" role at every step of the battle.

"Our local officers, stewards and members have shown an incredible willingness to agitate and fight for their jobs, and for the taxpayers of New Jersey," says Vice President Larry Mancino of District 1.

The presidents of the eight locals that represent state workers meet at least once a month, to coordinate and develop plans and lines of assault, as well as to maintain and build unity. They are Abby Demel-Brown of Local 1031, Monmouth Junction; James P. Marketti of Local 1032, Trenton; Rae C. Roeder of Local 1033, Trenton; James P. Mulholland of Local 1034, Trenton; Michael Hopkins of Local 1037, Newark; Paul M. Alexander of Local 1038, Woodbury Heights; Susanne P. Dyer of Local 1039, Trenton, and Carolyn Wade of Local 1040, Trenton.

Brooks Sunkett, CWA's vice president for public workers, praised the local presidents, other officers, stewards and members for coming together to fight the administration "in a spirit of unity. They have each been touched in one way or another by the Whitman ruse."

CWA local leaders and members have attacked the governor's privatization efforts on a broad array of fronts:

• At the height of the controversy, CWA released an analysis of New Jersey campaign finance records revealing that 48 engineering companies had contributed nearly $1.3 million to Whitman and her party since 1993 and that they have been rewarded with more than $690 million in state contracts. The analysis was developed by Local 1032 stewards.
  
• CWA has even gone to court to block the governor. The most recent example: an effort to get an injunction against a $400 million contract handed to a California company that was the only bidder on a project, to design, build, operate and maintain an enhanced motor vehicle inspection system. The California company, Parsons Infrastructure & Technology Group of Pasadena, dumped $94,000 into Whitman's campaign coffers in her 1997 reelection, records show. In return, the company is getting the most lucrative auto inspection contract in the nation.
  
• CWA even offered to stand aside on a Whitman proposal to raise the gas tax by four cents a gallon if the governor would give the union a written guarantee she was willing to drop plans to privatize various services within the departments of Commerce, Human Services, Transportation and Corrections. She refused. CWA opposed the plan to put the gas tax initiative on the November ballot, and it failed - although Republicans have a 48-32 majority in the state assembly. Jim Tarlau, treasurer of CWA Local 1032, Trenton, which represents about 2,500 highway workers, made it clear: "We're not supporting this thing (the gas tax increase) unless we get a commitment they're going to stop some of this privatization stuff."
  
• A world wide web site has even been developed, primarily by Local 1037, to call attention to some of Whitman's more egregious sins. Its Internet address: http://www.christiewatch.com.
  

'We're Ready for Her'

"In 1995, Whitman tried to wreak havoc on our workers through privatization, and she had some success," says Rae Roeder, president of CWA Local 1033, Trenton, which represents 6,000 Treasury, Education, Law and Public Safety and motor vehicle workers. "This time around, we are winning because we're ready for her and we're using one-on-one lobbying techniques, rallies, demonstrations and facts to make our case," Roeder says.

Locals have pulled out all the stops by forming coalitions, testifying before state legislative committees, conducting research into campaign contributions and exposing fraud. The fight is definitely not over, Roeder cautions, but "we've been able to sour some of her deals." Roeder thinks that Whitman's long-term agenda is nothing less than the destruction of viable public worker unions in New Jersey.

Roeder and others also believe that Whitman's reform proposals in 1998 are designed to gain the administration what Charles Stile, writing in the Trenton Times of Aug. 17, calls "critical leverage" as contract negotiations between the union and the state start next year. CWA's current four-year contract expires June 30.

Even some of Whitman's fellow members in the Republican party - which has majorities in both branches of the state legislature - are shying away from the governor's privatization schemes, CWA leaders say.

For example, in the legislative session just ended, lawmakers put money back into the budget that Whitman had tried to cut. She has since vetoed the efforts, and CWA and its allies will mount an effort to override the governor's veto when the legislature reconvenes on Sept. 17.

Jim Marketti, president of CWA Local 1032, says, "Privatization may not be dead, but its mention causes members of the legislature and average citizens to roll their eyes and reach for their wallets."

And, a Whitman attempt to undermine civil service protections - under the guise of reform - has been shunted off to a task force for further study, as urged by CWA and the rest of the state's labor movement.

Marketti, in an Aug. 5 letter to his members, says the reason that Local 1032 has been able to avoid the privatization knife so far is "because we have convinced the legislators that Whitman's privatization scams do not save money and are, in fact, payoffs to campaign contributors and prominent New Jersey Republicans who have been hired by contractors to grease the wheels."


The Case for Privacy
Roeder and members of Local 1033 are outraged that the Whitman administration has awarded a $1.5 million a year contract to Payco for processing state tax returns - work that had been performed by 500 "intermittent" workers in the Treasury Department's Division of Revenue at Mill Hill.

Payco, CWA pointed out, has a record of violations on file with the Federal Fair Trade Commission for abusive and illegal collection tactics, as well as selling information to third parties. Payco officials have been fined $500,000 for these abusive practices in other states.

The Trentonian, in a Dec. 17, 1997 article, pointed out that "Payco has another kind of record - one of receiving juicy state contracts for collecting delinquent taxes." Guarding Sensitive Data

Whitman's 1998 budget message to the state legislature revealed her "sinister plan" to privatize 138 data input/output workers in the Department of Motor Vehicles - 85 percent of whom are women and minorities, Roeder says.

These workers provide sensitive information to police, FBI and other enforcement agencies - information that, Roeder points out, should not be in the hands of a private corporation.

On March 12, members of Locals 1032 and 1033 staged a tightly-orchestrated, two-way swap rally, startling state officials. Nearly 300 workers whose one-hour lunch started at noon were bussed to a Department of Transportation location in Ewing, N.J., and were back at their desks by 1 p.m. - when a "second shift" with 1 p.m. lunch hours pulled the same stunt.

The two locals estimate that all together 800 DOT workers participated in the demonstration. Christie's Food Budget

When Whitman's not trying to cut jobs, she's squandering taxpayer money, CWA leaders say. They point to Whitman's plan to yank authority from the State Distribution Support Service Center - where 200 CWA members work - and shift the responsibility to one of two private companies (Sysco or JP Food Services.)

Either way, taxpayers would end up paying more - as much as $1.4 million more on just 21 items, out of a list of thousands of items that the center distributes to various state agencies, including corrections, day care centers, nursing homes, public schools, charter schools, state hospitals and others.

Based on pricing structures used by Sysco in New York state and JP Food Services in Massachusetts, state agencies would spend nearly $75,000 more a year on such a simple item as canned tomato soup.

"Similar markups on such staples as eggs, spaghetti and juices would end up costing taxpayers - the ultimate consumers - millions of dollars more than they now pay," Roeder notes.

Local 1033 stewards developed the facts - relying on public documents obtained in New York, Massachusetts and elsewhere. A Pact with Parsons

There was a media barrage of criticism before New Jersey State Treasurer James DiEleuterio eventually signed the seven-year contract with Parsons on Aug. 7. The following workday - Aug. 10 - CWA filed a motion with the Appellate Division of the Superior Court, seeking an injunction to block the contract.

The Parsons contract stinks, CWA says - and part of the stench comes from Parsons' plans to award subcontracts to Republican donors and friends, including Carl Golden, Whitman's former chief spokesman, Frank Holman, a former state GOP chairman, Anthony Sartor, a political supporter of Whitman, and Senate President Donald DiFrancesco (R-Union), according to CWA Representative Alan Kaufman. Golden, who is also a hired consultant to the Republican State Committee, will serve as Parsons' public information and education administrator, in charge of a $179,000-per-month public information campaign.

"The public deserves an independent audit. There's so much wrong with this whole process - the single bidder, the political connections and a sloppy economic analysis," Kaufman told Joe Donohue and Tom Johnson, reporters for the Newark Star-Ledger.

Parsons has a dubious record, at best. Three lawsuits in the company's native state charge Parsons with defrauding a California transit agency of at least $19 million. CWA has shown that state workers perform the work cheaper than Parsons. For example, Parsons will be paid $20.61 to conduct a standard emissions test - a test that now costs the state less than $7 per car. The additional costs to the state will range between $28.7 million and $46 million, depending on how many motorists choose the enhanced emissions test over the standard test, Kaufman said.

CWA also points out that the $400 million is just a starting point - and that the contract contains escalators for inflation that could end up costing taxpayers millions of dollars more in the long run. The base contract, without factoring in inflation, could run as high as $559 million, depending on the number of cars inspected.

State Assemblyman Neil Cohen (D-Union) claims the contract is already costing New Jersey taxpayers millions of dollars more than necessary - $26 million, as a matter of fact. Cohen says Parsons will be paid $2.91 for each computer transaction it performs for New Jersey, compared to a Parsons contract with Texas where the transaction fee is only 44 cents. "We'd save $26 million at the Texas price," Cohen points out.

When DiEleuterio finally signed the contract, Cohen rejoined, "Today, the Whitman administration effectively told taxpayers and motorists to take it up the tailpipe." CWA rejects that argument, insisting there is still time to find an alternative.

CWA Locals 1033, 1037 and 1038 represent some 300 supervisors at the DMV inspection sites who will eventually be affected by the Parsons contract.