Browsing Posts published by Gerard J. Meara

An AFSCME Member’s Opinion

May 18, 2012 Gerard J. Meara
Below is an opinion piece written by AFSCME Local 3287 member Ben Ritter that appeared in the Express Times last Sunday.
I think it speaks for all our members.
GUEST COLUMN: Public employees don’t deserve scorn for accepting benefits
Published: Sunday, May 13, 2012, 4:40 AM
By Express-Times guest columnist The Express-Times

BY Ben Ritter

I’m responding to the May 4 Express-Times editorial about “boat checks” and the cashing out of unused sick time by public employees.

In the state of New Jersey, we have the biggest bully in the world. Gov. Chris Christie has turned being a public servant (in reality, many honorable professions, including his) into something he thinks should be reviled.

He cherry-picks…

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An AFSCME Member’s Opinion

May 18, 2012 Gerard J. Meara

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Sen. Buono

April 30, 2012 Gerard J. Meara

Strong words from a strong lady.

Not hard to figure where Christie stands on collective bargaining for public employees if he’s actively supporting Walker in Wisconsin!

Gerard

Buono blasts Christie over Wisconsin trip
By Max Pizarro | April 30th, 2012 – 12:42pm

Likely 2013 gubernatorial challenger state Sen. Barbara Buono, (D-18), Metuchen, upbraided Gov. Chris Christie over the Republican governor’s scheduled trip to Wisconsin Tuesday.
Christie reportedly will appear at fundraisers for Gov. Scott Walker, who is facing a historic recall election in June.

More than 900,000 of Walker’s constituents signed petitions seeking his recall.

“Our governor seems more concerned with one man’s job in Wisconsin than the legions of unemployed constituents at home,” Buono said. “It’s not as if Scott…

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March 30, 2012 – Legislative Report

April 4, 2012 Gerard J. Meara

 

Since the beginning of the current legislative term in January, more than 5,000 bills and resolutions have already been introduced. This report highlights those proposals, which have direct impact on AFSCME Council 73 local unions and their members. The report is divided into three sections; bills supported by AFSCME Council 73, bills the union opposes that have been introduced by Republicans, and bills we oppose that have been sponsored by Democrats.

Bills Supported by AFSCME Council 73

A-529 (Spencer)  Broadens the mandatory scope of bargaining to include all employment issues not exempted by statute.

Status: Assembly Labor Committee

A-692 (Ramos)  Prohibits unilateral changing of terms and conditions of employment by public employers.

Status: Assembly Labor Committee

A-998 (Vanieri Huttle)

S-968  (Weinberg)

Prohibits…

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HERE IS THE NEXT LINE OF ATTACK ON UNIONS

March 16, 2012 Gerard J. Meara

Below is an opinion piece from George Will, a columnist for the Washington Post. It also appeared in today’s Trenton Times. The Republican party has been actively engaged in a campaign to destroy public employee unions.

Whether it’s here in New Jersey or Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, republicans have waged a war on us by attacking our pensions, health benefits and even our right to exist. Now, they are focusing on union release time that we use to represent our members. This article is so one-sided that it’s not even funny!

But, we will continue to fight the good fight. We will continue to bring our message directly to the people who support public employee unions. Just as Governor Walker overreached in…

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Sick Leave Upon Retirement Legislation

February 17, 2012 Gerard J. Meara

  

Below is an editorial from today’s Philadelphia Inquirer. I know this issue is angering our members and that you are getting an ear full about it. We are working with our friends in the Legislature to address your concerns and I have reached out to Senator Sweeney to meet and discuss his proposal.
 
As you read the editorial, it seems like they are endorsing Sweeney’s proposal. However, keep reading to the section I highlighted. You will see that they are calling for a more reasonable approach to addressing this problem. We all know that the problem of large payouts of sick leave upon retirement that we read about in the paper every month (and that Christie refers…

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CIVIL SERVICE THREATENED

November 30, 2011 Gerard J. Meara

We did very well in the November, 2011 Elections. With few exceptions, everyone we supported in the Senate, Assembly, County and local elections won.  More importantly, the Democrats retained control of both the Senate and Assembly. This will serve as a buffer to the anti-union, anti-public employee measures that Governor Christie and the republicans have tried to legislate.

Governor Christie is still pushing to do away with civil service in New Jersey. However, the Democrats are still opposing his efforts. Below is an Op Ed piece by Assemblywoman Linda Stender

Opinion

Assemblywomen Stender: Democrats have solution for civil service reform

Your Nov. 23 editorial “Christie vs. civil service” contained one glaring omission — the Legislature has indeed already passed a measure to…

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ELECTION DAY, November 8, 2011

October 18, 2011 Gerard J. Meara
According to this morning’s (10/18/2011) Monmouth University Poll:

Just over half (55%) of New Jersey voters reported being aware of the legislative election when contacted by Monmouth University pollsters just a month before the Nov. 8 ballot.  Only 3-in-10 voters (30%) say they have a lot of interest in this election, including 31% of self-identified Republicans, 30% of Democrats, and 31% of independents.  Another 34% of Garden State voters have some interest, 24% a little, and 12% none.

What this means is that with a low turnout, public employees and their unions can have a major impact on this election and send a message to Governor Christie to back off his anti-union rhetoric.

So, please engage your membership to vote on November 8th, Election…

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September, 2011

September 15, 2011 Gerard J. Meara

Since the Executive Board meeting of June 29, 2011, a battle over Governor Christie sweeping vetoes of the Democratic budget ensued. Shortly after Christie wiped out most Democratic sponsored restorations of funds for key state programs, Senate President Sweeney fiercely attacked the Governor and the vetoes, and attempted to override many of the line item vetoes in the FY ’12 Budget. However, with few exceptions, the Republicans backed Christie’s actions and the override attempts failed to win the two-thirds needed.

 

Recently, updated state revenue figures show that the Christie Administration underestimated FY ’12 revenues by $100 million. In fact, the new numbers are much closer to the Democrats and OLS’ budget estimates. Given this promising news there is speculation that the…

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AFSCME Council 73 2011 Scholarship Winners

August 30, 2011 Gerard J. Meara

AFSCME Council 73 2011 Scholarship Winners – Below are the winners of this year’s scholarships and information about them. Once again, because of the Golf Outing, we were able to give out 9 scholarships of $1500.

Olivia Foltiny is the daughter of Miklos Foltiny. Miklos is a member of AFSCME Local 2285, Mercer Board of Social Services. Olivia graduated from Burlington High School with a 5.1 GPA and was active in the Literary club, Falcon club (students who receive all A’s) and Prism club. Olivia will be attending Moore College of Art and Design.

Kyra and Kara Dayon are the daughters of Coral and Kevin Dayon. Coral is President of AFSCME Local 2208, Trenton Psych and Kevin is a member. Kyra and…

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