CWA 1036 Education Committee Reads to Pre-K Kids in "Early Mercer Reads" Program
Friday, 12 April 2013 13:40
On April 12th, the CWA Local 1036 Education Committee and Mercer County Central Labor Council participated in the Mercer County Workforce Investment Board’s 5th Annual Early Mercer Reads initiative. The primary goals for this initiative are to have children throughout Mercer County read on a daily basis and instill in them a lifelong love of books, which can increase individual achievement, and improve their overall quality of life.
At the heart of this initiative is the time volunteered by companies and individuals to read and engage children at a center. Having people from the community go to the centers shows the children how special they are and emphasizes the importance of reading.
In total, Local 1036 & Mercer CLC had 10 volunteers read at 5 different locations throughout Mercer County. The children were absolutely wonderful and truly appreciative of our efforts. A good time was had by all!
Last Updated on Friday, 12 April 2013 14:04
CSC Proposal to Eliminate Civil Service - Update
Thursday, 11 April 2013 15:10
As you know, the Civil Service Commission held a public hearing yesterday (4/10/13) at 3pm on its proposal to replace current civil service rules with a new “job banding” system that would affect all classified employees in State, County, and Local Government.  In brief… - There was NO decision by the CSC at the hearing since it was only the first step in the public hearing process.
- Public comments are due by May 17th and Local 1036 is coordinating a public comment drive of its members, so stay tuned and come to a membership meeting near you.
- Sometime after the public comment period, the rule will be re-published.
- The full Commission will need to vote on adoption of the final rule. This may be rushed so stay tuned for critical dates where we will need to mobilize quickly.
Read More… The rule proposal would eliminate veteran’s preference, objective exams, lists and rankings, and the rule of three. The proposal would also base future promotional advancement solely on interviews of candidates that management deems “competent,” and anyone deemed not “competent” could potentially be demoted. In other words, the proposal is a giveaway to management patronage and will certainly lead to discrimination, favoritism, and other workplace problems. Yesterday was the first step in the process where the Commission is required under law to hold a public hearing. Unfortunately, despite repeated requests in advance and at the hearing to move the meeting to a larger room, the hearing room held less than 50 people. Over 100 members from many unions and many CWA locals picketed outside for the duration of the hearing. All testimony over the course of two hours was strongly against the rule proposal. There was not a single person who testified in support. Legislators testified against the rule: Senator Linda Greenstein, Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo, Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson-Coleman, and Assemblyman Dan Benson spoke about their personal experience with civil service and their strong opposition to the rule since it bypasses statute and collective bargaining. Community allies from Garden State Equality, Latino Action Network, Next Step, a disability rights group, and others spoke against the rule because it will eliminate protections for minorities, women, the disabled, and others who are more likely to suffer from discrimination and favoritism.
Labor testimony came from CWA, IFPTE, AFSCME, and others. CWA NJ Director Hetty Rosenstein cited how the CSC has not held one Labor Advisory Committee meeting of labor representatives during Gov. Christie’s term. Over 2,300 letters petitioning the CSC for additional public hearings were delivered by CWA Local 1036 President Adam Liebtag, Local 1032 President Patrick Kavanagh, and Local 1039 President Lionel Leach. In addition to the 2,300 CWA and community letters, the NJ AFL-CIO delivered another 700 letters collected from its membership, so there are now over 3,000 individual requests for additional public hearings.
CWA 1036 President Liebtag testified against the rule, tearing down the comparisons between the CSC rule and the Judiciary’s current broad banding system as well as criticizing the proposals to eliminate testing, give managers complete discretion to evaluate “competency” without an exam, and many other aspects of the rule.
Last Updated on Thursday, 11 April 2013 15:56
Civil Service Rule Proposal will gut protections, create patronage
Wednesday, 03 April 2013 09:47
 On April 10th, the Civil Service Commission will hold a public hearing on a rule proposal to eliminate civil service as we know it. The rule proposal bypasses the legislature and contract negotiations to "broad band" civil service titles, rewrite promotional rules, and eliminate or limit important protections like veteran preference, testing and ranking on lists, and layoff rights. Take action to ensure this rule isn't rubber-stamped after a single hearing! Make sure thousands of public employees and hundreds of thousands of residents can weigh in to shape or stop this rule. The “broad bands” of job titles would allow management at all levels of government (State, County, and Municipal) in the Civil Service System to group numerous job titles in large “bands.” Employers could hire, demote, or advance employees to jobs within the “band” based solely on management's assessment of your competency - without objective testing or lists. Even worse is the manner in which the Commission is trying to do this. They are only allowing one hearing on these changes—at 3pm on a work day when most workers and residents can not attend the hearing. Despite the fact that thousands of public employees would be harmed by the rule, the hearing room only holds 20 people. The Christie Administration wants to silence public input and push this change through with a rubber stamp after one meeting. We need to mobilize to stop it. We will be organizing public comment opposing the rule but the first step is to get the Commission to hold a real public hearing process.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 03 April 2013 10:06
Scholarships Now Available!
Wednesday, 27 March 2013 15:24
 Spring scholarship applications are now available from Local 1036 and many Central Labor Councils! Note there are different award amounts, application deadlines and requirements for each scholarship. Any full member of Local 1036, member's spouse, or member's child is eligible for these scholarships, regardless of where you live or work. Local 1036 is an affiliate of all of the CLCs below. Best of luck to all applicants!
Last Updated on Wednesday, 27 March 2013 16:21
CWA Endorses Buono for NJ Governor
Friday, 01 March 2013 14:11
On Friday, March 1st, CWA announced its endorsement of Barbara Buono for NJ Governor at a meeting of legislative-political activists in New Brunswick. "Barbara Buono is the clear choice for CWA members and our families this November," said President Adam Liebtag. "It should be no surprise that CWA is endorsing Barbara Buono for Governor because her record of supporting workers' rights, the environment, public health, women's issues, and other public services stands in stark contrast to her opponent. We know she will be the better leader for New Jersey." "Barbara Buono is a strong leader and fighter for the middle class and definitely understands the importance of collective bargaining as a tool for working families to build a career, afford a home, put our kids through college, and have a fair and secure retirement."
For press coverage of the endorsement: PolitickerNJ Star Ledger
Last Updated on Wednesday, 27 March 2013 16:25
State Budget Hearings
Monday, 18 March 2013 11:54
Below is the published schedule of legislative budget hearings for the State. Local 1036 will be attending and closely tracking budget hearings that affect our membership in DEP, DOH, Agriculture, and the Judiciary.
Assembly Budget Committee – Committee Room 11, 4th Floor, State House Annex - Thursday, April 4th
- 10 am – Budget Overview & Revenue Forecast (Office of Legislative Services)
- 2 pm – Budget Overview (State Treasurer)
- Tuesday, April 23rd
- 3:30 pm – Department of Agriculture
- Thursday, May 2nd
- 10 am – Department of Health
- Thursday, May 9th
- 2 pm – Department of Environmental Protection
- Tuesday, May 21st
- 10 am – Revenue Update (Office of Legislative Services)
- 2 pm – Revenue Update (State Treasurer)
Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee – Committee Room 4, 1st Floor, State House Annex - Monday, April 8th
- 10 am – Budget Overview & Revenue Forecast (Office of Legislative Services)
- 1 pm – Budget Overview (State Treasurer)
- Monday, April 15th
- 1 pm – Department of Environmental Protection
- Wednesday, April 17th
- 11 am – Department of Health
- Monday, May 20th
- 10 am – Revenue Updates (Office of Legislative Services)
- 1 pm – Revenue Updates (State Treasurer)
Last Updated on Friday, 22 March 2013 16:53
Hunterdon County Mediation Stalls, CWA Moves to Fact Finding
Thursday, 28 February 2013 07:35
 On Wednesday, February 20th the CWA 1036 Hunterdon County Bargaining Team met for a final mediation session with the County Team and the state-appointed mediator. The County delivered a salary proposal through the mediator that was not only unacceptable, but was worse than the previous Memorandum of Agreement-- actually worse than previous proposals submitted in mediation. The Bargaining Team believes this latest County proposal was in bad faith, because it was not a serious attempt to resolve a contract on reasonable terms, including fair wage and holiday proposals. The Union team declared an end to mediation is filing for the next step, called Fact Finding. Details on the Fact Finding process will be discussed at our next Hunterdon membership meeting, on March 12th at 5:00pm at the Route 12 Meeting Room. Over the next few weeks we’ll have additional updates on this process as well as on ways for CWA 1036 members to support fellow members in Hunterdon County.
Last Updated on Thursday, 28 February 2013 07:40
NJ State Executive Branch Contract
Sunday, 27 January 2013 18:08
July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2015Read the full text of the 2011-2015 NJ State and CWA collective bargaining agreement. Books are in the process of being printed and will be distributed when they become available.
Last Updated on Friday, 01 February 2013 11:08
Legislative Update: Bills degrading environmental protections opposed
Thursday, 17 January 2013 23:08
 Local 1036 testified against various bills in the Legislature that would potentially deteriorate environmental protection and the work of our career professional members in the Department of Environmental Protection. We opposed a bill that would change the makeup of the Drinking Water Quality Institute by adding polluters to the board, which helps create policy and regulation ensuring clean drinking water. We also questioned bills (up for discussion only) seeking to transfer Forestry and Fish and Wildlife programs out of the DEP. We will keep members posted on any new developments.
Last Updated on Friday, 18 January 2013 17:08
CWA 1036 Civil Rights and Equity Committee Survey on Workplace Bullying
Thursday, 17 January 2013 22:56
The Local 1036 Civil Rights and Equity Committee is working on a project in 2013 to raise awareness of workplace bullying. The introduction of this project is a workplace bullying survey to enable us to educate members about the issue and also take your pulse – have you experienced bullying in the workplace? Do you know someone who has? How was it handled and what was the outcome?
Last Updated on Thursday, 24 January 2013 10:31
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