Collective Bargaining Report
Fiscal Year 2014-15
LABOR RELATIONS
We, who serve on the Collective Bargaining
Committee, hope that everyone has had an
enjoyable summer and a productive year.
GEORGE
O’BRIEN
As we look forward to the Fiscal Year 2015-16
and the challenges it will bring, we can take
comfort in the fact that we are well prepared to
meet those challenges with knowledge and the
ability to carry on.
The state of New Jersey received 152 collective bargaining agreements during Fiscal Year 2014-15 (FY 1415). This represents a 44% increase from the previous year.
Congratulations to Union County for submitting the greatest number of collective bargaining agreements of all
counties, a total of 18. Union County is doing an excellent job
getting their information into the state in a timely fashion. Last
year, Union County shared the first-place position with another county. There were two counties that failed to submit any
new contracts for FY 14-15.
I really can’t express how important it is for each Local State
Delegate to submit the newly-negotiated collective bargaining
agreements, not only for the rank-and-file unit, but for the
SOA’s as well. When submitting a new contract, it is important
to your members that you submit a signed copy of the agreement. Inasmuch as the NJ State PBA maintains each agreement on file for future reference - perhaps by a retiree or
current member doing research or when a governing body
decides to alter retiree’s benefits – a signed contract always
gives the ability to make stronger argument by a representative.
This updating of data also applies to the wage portion of the
spreadsheets. As in the past, the wages are separated into base
salary and salary with longevity. These groupings are to be
found in separate documents. In both instances, where a
change has taken place in the wage guide - i.e. the number of
steps to maximum wage - changes in the longevity benefit,
such as moving from a percentage increase to a fixed-dollar
amount or longevity being removed or lowered by increasing
the number of years to attain the next step, this information
can be found in the comments section at the back of the financial data. All this information is available to the locals at no
cost. To receive this data, the requesting Local should have its
collective bargaining agreement on file with the State PBA.
During FY 14-15, this office has distributed 4,918 pages of
data to 63 Locals. This represents a 34-percent increase of data
supplied to locals from the previous year.
Earlier this year, I was appointed to the Police & Fire Public
Interest Arbitration Impact Task Force replacing Robert A. Fagella at his request. There was one meeting in April when it was
decided that there was no immediate need to schedule another meeting in the immediate future. The Task Force is composed of the chairperson of PERC, union leaders, attorneys
and one legislator
The 29th Annual Collective Bargaining Seminar is
scheduled for Feb. 3-5, 2016 at Caesar’s on the Boardwalk in
Atlantic City. The State PBA meeting will be held on Feb. 3, also
at Caesar’s. Seminar applications will be available for distribution or pickup for the October 13 State PBA meeting.
As is reported at each State Board of Delegates meeting, it is
the responsibility of the State Delegate to submit collective
bargaining agreements, both rank-and-file and SOA, pursuant
to Article VII, Section 1, sub-section c. of the NJ State PBA Constitution and By-Laws. We are improving and getting better,
but we still have some ways to go at getting the contracts in the
State PBA office.
I would be remiss if I did not mention the tremendous loss
we all suffered due to the passing of Vincent J. Foti. Vince was
with the State PBA from the very first Collective Bargaining
Seminar at the La Sammana Hotel in Brigantine in 1986 and
every seminar thereafter. When asked by this committee to
perform a task, share his wisdom or prepare a document, he
did so without hesitation. He truly loved our organization and
the members it represented.
I would like to make mention that the committee is collecting data on all contracts that have successfully negotiated a
reduction of Health Benefit co-pays. To date, the PBA is aware
of four Locals that have reduced their co-payment from 35
percent to 15 percent and one local that negotiated a
reduction from 35 to 20 percent. If [