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2015the POWER LIST and LABOR NEWS ROUNDUP

the POWER LIST and LABOR NEWS ROUNDUP

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POLITICKERNJ.COM L A B O R I S S U E 2 0 1 5

W elcome to another PolitickerNJ Labor Power List, where we rank the strongest people in the labor movement in New Jersey.

It’s an interesting intellectual exercise, in part owing to the thorny relationship unions have with themselves in the typically transactional Garden State. There’s also the grassroots power of local labor unions versus the perceived top-down internationals. Given the complexity of labor’s power structure, we chose to cull players from all strata of the movement for an emblematic examination of labor influence more than a scientific power ranking.

Following the list, we invite you to the accompanying articles and interviews that round out this PolitickerNJ special edition for a more in-depth look at pertinent 2015 labor issues and trends at this time when New Jersey unemployment stands at 6.3%; or 7.9% if you are a military veteran, the second highest in the country; and in the double digits in many of New Jersey’s cities, including Newark and Camden.

Between an insolvent state Transportation Trust Fund (TTF), a dearth of big, high energy labor projects in the state and leadership defined more by upwardly mobile politicians and their relationships than

immediate jobs creation, longtime labor leader Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo (D-14), Hamilton, doesn’t see much to celebrate right now.

Since the last legislative election, the state lost two rock solid Building Trades labor votes in the New Jersey Legislature: Assemblyman Nelson Albano (D-1) on the Democratic side and Assemblyman John Amodeo (R-2) for the GOP. The Assembly also lost two strong public sector labor advocates in Joe Cryan (now sheriff of Union County) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (now a congresswoman from the 12th District), and stands to lose another two in Jason O’Donnell and Charles Mainor, neither of whom received the Hudson County Democratic Organization line this year toward their 2015 reelection.

Republicans earlier this month formally tapped Atlantic County Freeholder Will Pauls, an ironworker by trade, to run against the Democrats in battleground LD2; and retired state trooper David Jones to vie with DeAngelo.

Whatever happens, this much is true: don’t discount the relevance of labor in New Jersey politics, and never doubt PolitickerNJ’s commitment to be there between elections and on Election Day.

Editor’s Note

Introduction

1199SEIU.org/newjersey @1199SEIU_NJ 1199SEIUNJ

Everyday, the healthcare workers of 1199SEIU care for our seniors and

advocate for quality care and good jobs for all New Jerseyans. Milly Silva

Executive Vice President

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Steve SweeneySenate PresidentThe South Jerseyan remains in place as the state’s most powerful labor leader by virtue of his position as senate president and with that his ability to control legislation. But for a veto proof majority, Sweeney is the most powerful elected official in state politics. Yet for many Sweeney epitomizes a divide in labor between public sector unions and the building trades. A partner with Christie of a 2011 public pensions and benefits overhaul, Sweeney remains not just the public face of labor but (after Christie) public enemy number two. Over the course of the last year, Sweeney has worked to repair relations with public sector unions like the Communications Workers of America. The Building Trades formally urged his 2017 candidacy for governor. But will that be enough in a Democratic Primary to overcome the lingering ire of those public sector workers in search of payback?

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The Labor Power List 2015

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Bill MullenPresident of the New Jersey State Building and Construction Trades CouncilThe veteran labor leader holds together 15 trades organizations defined by intra-labor rivalry. Vis a vis the top three, Mullen’s a little like the warlord in Akira Kurosawa’s classic movie Ran who must harness the ambitions and cross purposes of Taro (Pocino), Jiro (Capelli) and Saburo (Lalevee).

Ray PocinoVice President and Eastern Regional Manager Laborers’ International Union of North AmericaThe Laborers – 40,000-members in his immediate sphere of influence - gutted out a big win last year with Ras Baraka the Newark Mayor’s race, the biggest contest of 2014. They also got one of their own on the Newark City Council (Eddie Osborne) the Essex County Freeholder Board (Wayne Richardson), and on the Hudson County Freeholder Board (Gerald Balmir). Granted, they backed the wrong candidate in the Bergen County Executive’s race, but overall maintain a strong position.

Mike CapelliExecutive Secretary-Treasurer, Northeast Regional Council of CarpentersLong the comer in New Jersey politics, Capelli played on the wrong side in the Newark contest, but notched wins with his organization’s endorsement of Bonnie Watson Coleman in CD12, James Tedesco in the Bergen County executive’s race, and Bruce Gargano in the Burlington County Freeholder’s contest.

Charles WowkanechPresident, New Jersey AFL-CIONo one else in the state has demonstrated the capacity to lead - for as long a period of time - such disparate groups as those AFL-CIO affiliated locals, councils and lodges that represent New Jersey labor. Wowkanech has served as the New Jersey AFL-CIO’s president since 1997. In 2014, he co-founded Working Families United for New Jersey, Inc., a 256-member coalition group dedicated to improving the lives of working families, a group that has successfully competed in elections and undertaken causes like paid sick leave since its inception.

Greg LaleveeBusiness Manager, Operating Engineers Local 825The comer. Lavellee represents 6,500 heavy equipment operators in New Jersey and the lower counties of New York, and that’s what his endorsement of candidates brought to elections last year: heavy equipment. He aggressively cut checks, playing on both sides and landing on the winning team of Democrat James Tedesco in the Bergen County Executive’s contest and with Republican U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur in CD3. Lalevee’s increased power derives in part from the collision between Laborers and Carpenters. Their rivalry gives the opportunistic operating engineers a chance to tie break.

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the NEW JERSEY EDUCATIONA S S O C I A T I O N

200,000Educators and school employees…

Speaking with ONE VOICE

for Great Public Schools for every child

Wendell Steinhauer President Marie Blistan Vice President Sean M. Spiller Secretary-Treasurer Edward J. Richardson Executive Director Steve Swetsky Asstistant Executive Director

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Wendell SteinhauerNew Jersey Education Association (NJEA) PresidentThe head of New Jersey’s biggest and most powerful teacher’s union (over 200,000 members), Steinhauer

relieved Sweeney as the public sector’s favorite target when Christie announced in his State of the State that the NJEA struck a private pension accord with the Republican governor. Later the NJEA maintained that Christie exaggerated the extent of a deal, and the governor once again became the object of public sector distress.

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Robert FoxPresident, New Jersey Fraternal Order of PoliceThe former Cherry Hill Police Officer gutted out a victory last year to land the FOP’s top leadership job for a two-year term and the chance to lead the 12,000-member organization. Fox takes over for Ed Brannigan, who retired after 12 years s president.

Joseph EganBusiness Manager, IBEW Local 456, AssemblymanAs chair of the Assembly Labor Committee, the veteran 17th District Assemblyman from New Brunswick handles all labor legislation in the State of New Jersey. In part his duties lately have included maintaining the training end for workers displaced by a stumbling casino industry. Egan has the added union muscle of serving as vice president of the electrical workers.

Donald NorcrossCongressman, 1st DistrictAn electrical worker by trade and the former assistant business manager of IBEW Local 351, the former state senator from the 5th District and younger brother of the state’s most powerful Democratic Party boss moved up to assume the 1st Congressional District seat and position himself as potentially a statewide player.

AJ SabathPartner, Advocacy and Management GroupThe former Commissioner of Labor under then-Governor Richard J. Codey, inveterate operative Sabath advises New Jersey Building and Construction Council president Bill Mullen and handles their politics at the State level. He also coordinates the legislative activity on behalf of their members and makes sure legislators and staff know where they stand on key issues. Right now, Sabath is focused on the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) and paid sick leave (mainly making sure the building trades carve out remains intact).

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Ed DonnellyPresident, New Jersey State Firefighters’ Mutual Benevolent Association

When Christie trumpeted what he cited as a deal with the NJEA to get the union involved in the management of their members’ own pension system, Donnelly showed his usual willingness to scrap. Schooled in labor representation as the president of Local 46 and unafraid to go on television to make his case, Donnelly derided the governor’s “accord,” and demanded that Christie and the state pay those pension and benefits bills as ordered by Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson.

Wayne DeAngeloPresident/Assistant Business Manager at IBEW/AssemblymanWith the retirement from the Assembly of Upendra Chivukula, the 14th District assemblyman landed the chairmanship of the powerful Public Utilities Committee, enhancing his standing as a labor leader. Unlike others in labor who started in politics and later gravitated to a combination of politics and labor, DeAngelo’s power derives in part from the fact that he spent 13 years in the field as an electrician and only later went into politics. It’s called street cred.

Hetty RosensteinNew Jersey Director, Communications Workers of America (CWA)Particularly in the lead up to the 2017 gubernatorial election, the CWA will play a vital role in state politics. Credit Rosenstein in part with making Sweeney work for the affections of the heretofore jilted public sector labor union.

Kevin BrownState Director 32BJ SEIUThe SEIU played hard in Newark to help propel Ras Baraka to victory in the 2014 mayor’s race. With Julie Diaz on board as state political director, SEIU is a key organizer of property service and airport workers.

Troy SingletonAssemblyman and Assistant to the Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Northeast Regional Council of CarpentersHe used to be that Trenton lawmaker most likely to hear the words “rising star” whenever he navigated the halls of the Statehouse. But the BurlCo Democrat has entrenched himself now as one of the party’s most complete players.

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AS TRADE UNIONISTS AND CITIZENS, WE ARE FOCUSED ON IMPROVING INDUSTRY STANDARDS AND EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNION CARPENTERS AND THE SMALL AND LARGE BUSINESSES THAT

EMPLOY THEM. OUR ADVOCACY IS CENTERED ON A SIMPLE AND ABIDING MOTTO:

“WHEN CARPENTERS WORK, NEW JERSEY AND NEW YORK WORK.”

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DEDICATED TO SOCIAL JUSTICE FOR THE HARD WORKING MEN AND WOMEN OF NEW JERSEY AND NEW YORK STATE

P O L I T I C A L E D U C AT I O N C O M M I T T E E

NORTHEAST CARPENTERS

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Pat ColliganPresident, New Jersey State Police Benevolent AssociationColligan and Donnelly have made it known that whatever divisions exist in labor, they will work hard to keep police and firefighters united around their particular issues.

Analilia MejiaDirector, New Jersey Working FamiliesWhether in the streets or on TV, the ubiquitous advocate continues to make the case that Christie protects the wealthy with corporate tax loop holes at the expense of fully funding the public pension plan.

Ann TwomeyPresident of the Health Professionals and Allied Employees The pioneering head of New Jersey’s organized nurses union. This year the legendary labor leader bulked up her political street cred – full disclosure – by signing on to run a regular column on PolitickerNJ.

Donna M. ChieraPresident, NJ American Federation of TeachersThe labor union has played a particulalry forceful local role in opposition to overhauls proposed and implemented by controversial state-appointed Newark Suprintendent of Schools Cami Anderson.

Tricia MuellerPolitical Director, Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters and Partner, Cammarano, Layton & Bombardieri Partners LLCThe 2008 general election state director for Barack Obama, Mueller serves as the political director to the Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters, right hand ninja of Mike Capelli. The politically savvy Mueller helps organize 30,000 carpenters across New Jersey and New York.

Seth HahnCWA Staff Representative As the CWA regroups to fight for a piece of the action and particularly in the lead up to the next statewide gubernatorial contest in 2017, Hahn will be a critical behind the scenes player.

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JUSTICE HONOR STRENGTH NEW JERSEY LABORERS PAC

104 Interchange Plaza, 3rd Floor Monroe Twp., NJ 08831

www.njlaborers.org

Raymond M. Pocino, Chairman John Duthie, Administrator

S ince 1903, the Laborers’ International Union of

North America (LIUNA) has represented the

interests of construction craft laborers both

inside and outside the workplace. To us, political

engagement means making use of our collective voice

in the democratic process. We advocate for the rights

of our members as well as workers everywhere. Our

industry partners are very important to us which is why

we work collaboratively with our employers and other

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Each day close to 25,000 safe, skilled, and productive

workers head to their place of employment with a

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shared principles of justice, honor, and strength. We

live those values everyday.

NJStateLaborersPAC

NJLaborersPAC

Paid for by the NJ State Laborers, PAC. John Duthie, Treasurer. 104 Interchange Plaza, 3rd Floor Monroe Twp., NJ 08831

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Tom GiblinLabor Union Officer, Local 68 Operating Engineers/AssemblymanSchooled in politics at a young age, Giblin has the advantage of not having to say anything to get what he wants. He’s one of the few people in New Jersey politics who just has to stand there to get people to start falling all over one another. That’s real power. Also, if someone schedules an event in North Jersey with the word “politics” even close to the agenda, count on Giblin to be there like a hungry hound. Close to Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.

Dan GumbleBusiness Manager, IBEW Local 164 Gumble made the list this year based on the electrical workers’ aggressive organizational push behind the successful Bergen County executive candidacy of James Tedesco. Many factors contributed to Tedesco’s win over time-tested incumbent Kathe Donovan but the biggest was organization, and labor anchored Tedesco’s organization.

Maggie MoranPresident and CEO of M Public Affairs

The intimidating intellect who learned politics in part from Tom Giblin is a close adviser and lethal consigliere to LABOR power pooh-bah Pocino and a sharp-elbowed backroom operative at the Statehouse.

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Communications Workers of America: protecting workers, protecting families

CWA

We are 65,000 members strong, working in state and local government, telecommunications, media, and industry. We work hard every day for the people of New Jersey. We are committed to working with our elected leaders to protect and improve the public services upon which New Jersey working families depend, and to ensure that every resident has access to a�ordable, high-speed telecommunications.

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Mike MaloneyPresident, Mercer County Central Labor CouncilThe business manager of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 9, Maloney is also the president of the Central Labor Council. The ever-present Maloney is positioned to advance to the presidency of the pipe trades.

Kevin McCabeChairman of the Middlesex County Democratic CommitteeThe veteran player from Iselin in addition to his county committee duties serves as president of the Carpenter Contractor Trust (CCT).

Rick SabatoPresident of the Bergen County Building TradesHe was integral in helping to put together the labor ground game that landed James Tedesco a win in the unforgettable 2014 Bergen County Executive’s race.

Ed GantBusiness Manager IBEW Local 351Gant’s power can’t be underestimated this year as Democrats labor to get rid of incumbent Republican Assemblyman Chris Brown. The GOP has shielded (or saddled, depending on your POV) Brown with ironworker Will Pauls. Gant will have to swim through the currents of that catastrophic cocktail of South Jersey power and party politics.

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Milly SilvaExecutive Vice President SEIU Local 1199

The 2013 Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, Silva is on SEIU’s frontline effort to organize those healthcare workers who labor in for-profit care centers.

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Labor and the 2017 democratic Primary for Governor: With Christie gone, the scars that won’t go away

Gov. Chris Christie built his reelection strategy on the prospect of a divided Democratic Party and a divided labor movement. In Christie’s absence come

2017, labor will face itself in the statewide mirror of a Democratic Primary for governor, and with it the iro-ny that the presence in the contest of the most power-ful man on this list, Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3), all but guarantees continuing division.

Insiders expect Sweeney to run for governor, and the senate president’s allies envision Building Trades mobilizing the largest scale operation in state history to get their brother union man the win in a Demo-cratic Primary.

As noted in the power list write-up, Sweeney continues to work hard to win the affections – or at the very least to dampen any simmering ill will – of the Communications Workers of America, the New

Essays

by max Pizarro

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Jersey Education Association and other labor groups over his role in the state overhauling of public pen-sions and benefits. But Sweeney’s controversial deal with Christie to get more buy in from workers to their pensions and benefits packages hangs ominously over him. Some believe it makes the support of most of public sector labor a non-starter for him. Also, sources say his Building Trades membership does not guarantee him the cemented support of the locals.

Sweeney’s work on the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) is a big deal. But so is Jersey City Mayor Ste-ven Fulop’s management of Jersey City and creation of jobs for union labor. North Jersey trades clearly are close to Fulop. And Sweeney has some very strong allies as well. At this early juncture, it is unclear where the trades go, but everyone wants to be close to both candidates, and there is a geographical tension within Building Trades just like the regular politics.

Backed by the Carpenters in his 2013 run for mayor, Fulop also possesses very clear and strong ties to the Laborers. Fulop’s close to Ray Pocino, and has helped the labor leader increase his clout with leaders in elected office, including Gerald Balmir as Hudson County freeholder and Eddie Osborne as Newark City councilman.

A source close to labor told PolitickerNJ that Sweeney’s origins will likely yield an endorsement from the umbrella of the Building Trades. But given the strength of both Fulop and Sweeney here, the locals could divide along regional lines, with Bergen and Hudson leaning Fulop because of Jersey City jobs and South Jersey mobilized behind Sweeney, the public face of South Jersey productivity.

The other issue is who will be able to coalesce public sector groups and PACs into an army, or - as is

more likely, just as with private sector labor - acquire key pieces.

Developing alliances and or legislative focus indicate the intent of Sweeney, Fulop and former U.S. Ambassador to Germany Phil Murphy to get public sector unions on their side. None appears to be a natural ally of public sector workers. A former Wall Street trader, Fulop built his political strength locally by winning school board contests against candidates backed by the NJEA and against a very well-heeled public sector labor advocate incumbent. While Fulop now possesses key allies in the public sector labor movement and has pivoted away from the schools reforms issue, going so far as to back tough-talking public school principal Ras Baraka in the 2014 Newark Mayor’s race, will it be enough to assuage old wounds with the teachers and convince public sector workers of his advocacy?

Just as Fulop has modified his public sector labor tones, so too does Sweeney grasp for a chance to try to rectify the past, notably in this year’s budget, where he wants to move closer to where public sector labor leaders need him to be. Will it be enough?

For his part, Murphy has the potential to win public sector support if he can leverage those unconvinced by Fulop’s and Sweeney’s mutual contortions. Same with Building Trades locals. If Fulop and Sweeney cancel each other out along regional lines, here stands a willing self-funding millionaire, or so runs Murph’s political calculation.

Given Fulop’s local political history and Sweeney’s pen/ben past and regional cross-purposes, it’s easy to see Murphy making a strong play for public sector and even local trades support in a Democratic Pri-mary. It’s early, but the battle lines are hardening. PNJ

“Sweeney’s work on the Transportation Trust Fund [TTF] is a big deal. But so is Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop’s management of Jersey City and creation of jobs for union labor.”

We are the 11,000 men and women who work hard day and night to maintain, protect and serve buildings all across New Jersey.

32BJ SEIU is the largest property service workers union in the country

1 Washington Park, Newark, NJ07102 • www.seiu32bj.org • /32BJSEIU • @32BJ_SEIU

TOGETHER WERAISE AMERICA

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the PoLitics of christie and the nJea

D uring his latest budget address last month, in front of a solemn legislature on the floor of the Assembly in the state-house, Gov. Chris Christie found himself

staring down a problem that most followers of New Jersey politics — including, probably, he himself — thought he had already vanquished: a large and chroni-cally underfunded public pension and benefit system.

With leaders of some of the state’s largest public labor unions looking on — from the AFL-CIO, to the Communications Workers of America, to the New Jersey Education Association — Christie announced the framework of a new plan for fixing the system, creatively titled “Roadmap for Reform.” Broadly, this roadmap would help steer the state away from its cur-rent pension system, which he argued was unsustain-able, and send it on its way to creating a fairer, more effective one.

There would be help. Christie also heralded what he called a new, “unprecedented accord” between his administration and the unions, one that would greatly increase the odds of getting the pension problem finally and unmistakably resolved.

“While this Roadmap is with the NJEA today, I hope other unions will follow suit tomorrow,” Christie said.

Yes, the two had done this dance before. Political observers will recall how in 2011, shortly after taking office, Christie made history by brokering a bipar-tisan compromise with public labor unions and a Democratic-controlled legislature that promised the state would meet its end of the bargain with annual payments if workers agreed to contribute more to their plans. They shook hands then, and Christie declared the problem, which had dogged the state going back four administrations before him, ‘fixed.’

Of course, it wasn’t. Three years and as many bud-gets later, the state’s pension fund is still in crisis mode.

This time around, though, the unions weren’t going to be so easily duped. Startled, but not necessarily surprised, by Christie’s implication that there had been an agreement between the two over his new roadmap, they struck back, issuing statement after statement

assuring the media and their own members that no deal had been officially reached, and that Christie had embellished whatever relationship the two had established.

Labor-aligned Democrats, led by Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3), also piled on, haranguing the new plan as a “roadmap on a cocktail napkin.”

“There was no deal,” Wendell Steinhauer, president of the NJEA, reiterated to PolitickerNJ in a phone interview last week. “What we signed was a good faith memo to continue talks about certain areas that interest us, and we pointed those interests out. And the governor overplayed that memo.”

One month after resurrecting the issue on the As-sembly floor that day, round two of Christie’s fight with public sector labor over the state’s ailing pension and benefit system is already turning out bloodier than the first. Unions like Steinhauer’s are largely resisting re-newed advances from Christie and his administration on the issue, refusing to let the incumbent renege on the promises of four years ago, which were supposed to result in full solvency of the state’s pension system by 2027. And Christie, determined not to let the problem become the political albatross it risks becoming, has

Essays

by chase brush

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pushed the issue back to the top of his priority list, touting his new plan — and the need to re-address the state’s pension problems— in front of supporters dur-ing stops on his new town hall circuit.

On the one hand, the situation emphasizes the precarious position Christie finds himself in ahead of 2016, when he’s widely expected to mount a presiden-tial campaign for the Republican Party’s nomination. A moderate from the east coast, Christie has sought in recent weeks to strengthen his conservative bona fides in preparation of what is shaping up to be a divisive primary, traveling to battleground state like Iowa and New Hampshire to woo voters and test the waters.

But in doing so, Christie has also struggled to maintain the image that made him so appealing as a candidate in the first place — a bi-partisan leader will-ing to reach across the aisle to get difficult tasks done — and has watched his standing in state and national polls tumble as a result.

Christie’s willingness to tackle the state’s pension mess and take on its public unions was, after all, what launched him into the national spotlight as a first-term governor. Party leaders had looked on with respect, and other governors in awe, as Christie took on the state’s biggest unions then, ultimately convincing them that giving up a large chunk of their benefits would be in the public’s best interest. And he did this not through unbending brute force, as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has on the pension front in his own state, but through sustained political compromise — or at least that was the idea.

By returning again to the issue that helped define him, one calculation goes, he may be able to regain some of the ground he’s since lost (and do it, also, in a way that would distinguish himself from a would-be primary frontrunner like Walker).

“I did not come here today just to identify the problem, shrug my shoulders and return to business as usual,” Christie said during his budget address. “This is the type of leadership our state requires. Coming to-gether. Thinking differently. Fighting for all the people. Addressing the long term. This is how we get things done. I will never stop working to fix the problems we have previously ignored.”

Earlier last year, when it became clear the state’s pension issue had not been resolved, Christie put together an independent pension and benefit com-mission to propose new ways of addressing the crisis, defined by a $37 billion unfunded pension liability — ballooning up to $83 billion under new account-ing rules — and $53 billion in unfunded health care liability. It was members of that commission who, in following their own findings, proposed another mas-sive overhaul of the system last month, one tenet of which includes freezing the existing pension system and replacing it with a new one, at some point to pos-sibly be managed by the NJEA itself (a.k.a Christie’s “Roadmap to Reform”).

But it was also with members of that commission that the NJEA agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding (a.k.a the roadmap “memo”), which Christie later brandished as evidence of the hereto-fore unseen level of consensus his administration had reached with the union.

Indeed, if there’s one other fact that Christie’s latest budget address underscored, it’s just how precarious a position the pension crisis puts public labor unions themselves, such as the NJEA, which includes in its ranks some 200,000 members. Taking the lead on renewed pension discussions, the union has risked fracturing the very ranks of public labor itself, which finds itself divided between organizations whose pen-

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sions are locally-funded and largely solvent, and those like the NJEA, whose pensions are mostly insolvent.

The private dealings between NJEA and Christie’s pension commission infuriated some of those smaller, safer unions, who lashed out against the union’s lead-ership for giving Christie room to maneuver following the governor’s budget address last month.

“The NJEA leadership should be ashamed of allow-ing Governor Christie to slash the terms of retirement their members have earned. We cannot allow the rules impacting people’s lives to change midstream, again. Standing shoulder to shoulder with my members, I will not allow that. WE will not allow that,” said Eddie Donnelly, president of the New Jersey State Firefight-ers Mutual Benevolent Association (NJFMBA), whose own pension, its members are quick to point out, is generally more stable than the teachers’ union’s.

The situation recalls Christie’s first round of pen-sion reform, which saw private and public sector labor pitted against each other as Christie used the former as an example of how retirement benefits should be managed.

But maybe that’s the price of playing politics in the Garden State. In a wager between the best and worst case scenario, where the best would be full funding of the public pension system by the state under the law, and the worst would be a continued avoidance by the state to fund said system, the NJEA has made a con-scious calculation to toe a somewhat uncomfortable line between the two: fighting mercilessly against the state to uphold its end of the bargain on the one hand, while at the same time leaving the door open to other — and, in some cases, more unsavory — alternatives.

Uncovering those alternatives requires working with a man — or at least a commission he convened — who they believe forced the debacle upon them in the first place.

“All we’re trying to do is explore other options in case what they’ve done over the last 10 to 20 years in

not funding the pension continues for another 12 years and nobody gets anything,” Steinhauer said, stressing that his organization did not confer with the governor’s people on the Roadmap plan, only the memo (in fact, the last and only time he’s met with Christie was dur-ing an NJEA candidate screening during the Republi-can’s re-election, Steinhauer said).

Whether or not dividing (then, conquering?) public labor this time around was part of Christie’s play, it’s clear he’ll need at least some of the group at the table if he wants to avoid what could be seen as political weakness in a national primary. Being made to bend to the will of public unions who would see the state meet its pension obligations in full doesn’t exactly add to a purportedly conservative candidate’s appeal among Republican voters, after all.

Neither, though, is being required by the state’s liberal courts to do so.

Preceding Christie’s budget address last month was a ruling by Superior Court Justice Mary Jacobson that sided with public labor unions, including the NJEA, in arguing the state has a constitutional obligation to its workers. The NJEA, together with groups like the CWA and ALF-CIO, had earlier sued the administra-tion for failing to meet that obligation, when Christie put up a payment that fell short nearly $1.6 billion for fiscal year 2015.

Making matters more complicated, the ruling dropped less than 24 hours before Christie took to the podium last month — which, in many observers’ eyes, helped turn the governor’s address into the at-times contradictory affair it inevitably became.

Some watchers — including Steinhauer, who called it a classic case of political “deflection” — pointed to Jacobson’s ruling as the main reason why Christie risked a virtual public relations crisis by exaggerating his administration relationship with the NJEA.

But the problem, for Christie, isn’t likely to let up soon. The governor’s latest budget — for fiscal year 2016 — includes yet another partial pension fund payment of just $1.3 out of a scheduled $3 billion. The same group of unions that sued the governor last year are preparing to file a follow-up lawsuit in the next few weeks, aiming to similarly ensure the state makes its full pension payment going forward.

How Christie manages the court mandate — and, by extension, the state’s pension crisis — will likely become the defining question of the last two years of the Republican’s tenure — if not the defining question of his political career.

“To be clear, our number one priority is in plan A, which is to fund the law, and put money into the pen-sion system to make it solvent by 2027,” Steinhauer said. PNJ

“The NJEA leadership should be ashamed of allowing Governor Christie to slash the terms of retirement their members have earned.”

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assembLyman Wayne deanGeLo and the endurinG anGer of Labor

TRENTON - Crowning the bar in Tir Na Nog amid the Gerry Adams portrait, GPO grotto and shrines to the Kennedys, Barack Obama and Bobby Sands, rises

a Celtic Cross fashioned by Irish Republican Army prisoners and right now, as he considers labor oppor-tunity in New Jersey, Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo (D-14) feels like the state is in chains.

His daughter marches Saturday in the Hamilton St. Patrick’s Day Parade and DeAngelo is proud, but he can only grimly regard the scope of work beyond the fringes of the parade.

He’s angry. For the past six years, unemployment in the Electri-

cal Workers local stands at 15 to 20%. DeAngelo left the hall earlier the same day where he checked on the numbers again. One hundred and fifty-one out of 926 workers sit at home right now, jobless.

He swears a successful 2013 higher education bond referendum and the subsequent distribution of $750 million helps labor’s cause. But it’s not enough. It’s never enough.

“Everything’s a battle,” DeAngelo told PolitickerNJ in Tir Na Nog. “We were good in the 1990s, fair in the early 2000s. But in 2006, things started to fall apart. One hundred and fifty-one guys are collecting unem-ployment. Some have exhausted their unemployment claims.”

Essays

by max Pizarro

Morris RubinoIron WorkersJoseph Egan

Electrical Workers Joseph Demark, Jr.

Sheet MetalRaymond Pocino

Laborers Richard Tolson

Bricklayers & Allied CraftsMarc Gallo

Plasterers & CementRobert Critchley

Roofers Michael Capelli

Carpenters

Vice Presidents

Greg Lalevee Operating Engineers

Anthony Valdner Teamsters

Fred DumontInsulators & Allied Workers

James ChewBoilermakers

Leonard LegotteElevator Constructors

Vincent LanePainters & Allied Trades

Michael MaloneyPipe Trades

New Jersey State Building &Construction Trades Council

~Over 100 Years Strong~

WILLIAM T. MULLEN, President DAVID CRITCHLEY, Secy-Treas.

77 Brant Avenue - Suite 102, Clark, New Jersey 07066Phone: (732) 499-0100 Fax: (732) 499-0150 Website: NJBCTC.org

BUILDING CAREERSBUILDING COMMUNITIES

BUILDING NEW JERSEY

pnj q1 2015 24


Newly appointed chairman of the powerful Assem-bly’s Public Utilities Committee, DeAngelo expects the coming loss of 100s of jobs with the closing of the 650-megawatt Oyster Creek facility in Forked River. Part of his job, as he sees it, is to find a way to re-chan-nel those men and women into other jobs, but there’s scant landing opportunity.

One of multiple labor leaders who sit in the legisla-ture (the names of his colleagues adorn this list), the assemblyman says politicians have failed to transmit to the public the value of their work. “The public doesn’t trust us,” said the deputy speaker of the As-sembly. “That’s the underlying issue. I’ve been called a union hack, a union thug. I’m trying to talk about job creation. I’m not going to say we’re in the right direction. I’m not doing cartwheels yet. If we were to put in a new tunnel, expand our airports, continue to fix roads and infrastructure, give money back to the school districts then I might feel better. But not as long you can’t get in and out of New York City.”

DeAngelo cites Gov. Chris Christie’s decision to kill the Access to the Region’s Core Tunnel as a costly mis-take for labor, and Trenton’s subsequent inability amid a crossfire of political interests, including Christie’s own bid for the presidency, as another awful blunder. “Big mistake,” he said of Christie’s tunnel-killing deci-sion. “A major mistake.”

Why should people back candidates backed by labor?

In a political environment increasingly defined by the presence of political action committees (PACs) and their ability to influence elections with the money of undisclosed contributors, DeAngelo underscores the difference between corporate and labor PACs.

“Our labor PACs are voluntary,” said the assembly-man. “It amounts to a paycheck deduction for our members to get our message out. In the case of the electrical PAC, and all the trades, for that matter, it’s a voluntary paycheck deduction. We do an hourly deduction. If a member has a problem they don’t have to contribute.”

Like his building trades compadre Assemblyman Troy Singleon (D-7), DeAngelo has an early choice in the 2017 gubernatorial election. “I see Sweeney,” he said. “He’s the guy who has the contacts and the fi-nancial resources. The other candidate. Steve Fulop, is young clean and sharp, but I think he needs to focus on his job as mayor of Jersey City before governor. The machine is behind Sweeney. The resources are behind him. Sweeney doesn’t give a speech he talks to people.”

For DeAngelo it comes down to protecting jobs for workers. He remembers. He knows personally the im-pact of labor. He graduated in the bottom ten percent of his class at Steinhart High School.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do and so I became

an electrician and did everything from digging ditches to working on high rise lights to power houses to telecommunications - every aspect of energy creation on the ground, everything that entails getting service to where it’s up to code,’ DeAngelo said. “In 1993 there was an opening for recording secretary of our union. I was a deejay at the college radio station at Mercer County Community College and so I interviewed for the job and got involved because I was afraid of being lost. I did 13 years in the field, from 1986-1999.

“In the 1970s, everything was unionized, but the North American Free Trade Agreement changed that,” he added. “It’s ironic that Bill Clinton was responsible for that - one of my favorite presidents. I liked the way he talked but he killed us. All those jobs, they’re all gone. General Motors American, the factories; the union building trades went with it. They’ve gone to work at Home Depot. Locally, when Glen Gilmore was mayor [of Hamilton], we were labor friendly; we demanded the hiring of local people. But now it’s strictly a business friendly town. The town right now isn’t an advocate for labor, as it was when I Glen was mayor and I was on the council. I was an advocate for labor. [Mayor] Kelly Yaede is not prioritizing labor. I need an advocate.”

The labor leader acknowledged that the legislature’s consideration of how to pay for the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) is one of the most difficult conver-sations in the state. “The gas tax shouldn’t be the only option,” he said. “We can’t have just one mechanism to fix the system. It has to be a combination of the gas and sales tax, but we wait too long to start a discussion of fixing things.”

Though deeply rooted, the challenges are not unfix-able, he insists. Although angry, for the moment he celebrates with pride the appearance of his daughter Julia DeAngelo as Hamilton’s Miss St. Patrick and takes some small comfort in the present.

“If it wasn’t for the unions I’d be flipping pancakes at Perkins Pancake House,” DeAngelo said. PNJ

I’ve been called a union hack, a union thug. I’m trying to talk about job creation. I’m not going to say we’re in the right direction. I’m not doing cartwheels yet.”

pnj q1 2015 25


for neW Jersey’s seiu Leader, Labor PoWer must modify to be maintained

Essays

by mark bonamo

W hen assessing his charge in the labor movement, Kevin Brown, the New Jersey state director of the Service Employees International Union

(SEIU) Local 32BJ, used the words most targeted by New Jersey union leaders and politicos alike.

“Our union is all about helping our members come from poverty and bringing people into the middle class,” said Brown, whose union represents more than 10,000 workers in New Jersey. “The most im-portant thing that we can bring to a candidate is help-

ing them to understand the needs of working people. We think that our process represents the values of working people.”

If labor unions are supposed to be the vanguard of the working people, Brown believes certain policy issues deserve extra focus.

“I think that one of the issues that people care the most about right now is a living wage, period,” said Brown, pointing to a nationwide union effort to elevate the minimum wage to $15 per hour. “Half of all American wage earners in this country earn

Proud to put the organized

in organized labor.

pnj q1 2015 27


below $15 an hour. That’s astounding. Those are the people who need help, and that’s what we do. We’re not about nickels and dimes. That doesn’t change anything. What unions can be the most successful at is finding huge groups of workers who are making nothing and helping that whole group to organize together to raise up their living standards. That’s the hardest thing to do, but that makes the most differ-ence.”

Immigration reform is another concern for Brown and his union.

“Right now, there is a two-tier class of people in this country – those who have papers, and those who don’t,” Brown said. “President Obama’s executive order was the best we could get for now, but we’re fighting for comprehensive immigration reform so that people can begin the process to become citizens and fully participate in our society.”

On issues such as the minimum wage and state-wide paid sick leave, unions have faced a consistent foe in New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

“Things have been very difficult with this gover-nor because I don’t think that he stands for working peoples’ issues,” Brown said. “People think he’s pay-ing more attention to what’s going on with [running] for President than working peoples’ wages or health care.”

Brown believes that when dealing with organized labor, Christie has been taking cues from a potential competitor for the 2016 GOP nomination: Wiscon-sin Governor Scott Walker, who has a reputation for union-busting.

“Almost every Republican candidate goes to the right during the primaries. You can’t go to the right, then start over again and come back to the middle. You have to hold people accountable,” Brown said.

“When we have a new governor, I think we’ll be able to get paid sick leave passed. But in the meantime, the Legislature can stand up for the values that working people, our members, care about and pass it.”

As for which of the 2017 New Jersey gubernatorial hopefuls will eventually get the top job in Trenton, they all have to get through a unique electoral exam.

“They have to pass what we call ‘the couch test’,” Brown said. “If they are to come to one of our mem-ber’s houses, sit down on the couch and feel com-fortable, then they pass. Not all of them can. Then they have to be able to talk about what they’ve done, while giving people a sense of hope. If someone can’t inspire our members, then they won’t be able to inspire the public.”

Unions have experienced an overall diminishment in political powers in the past few decades, with what’s happened in Wisconsin being the most recent example. While labor in New Jersey still holds seri-ous sway, Brown examined how to keep it that way.

“The labor movement needs to take a hard look at itself, and think about what are the ways that we can fundamentally change the way that we function,” Brown said, “Labor as a whole, both in the public sector and in the private sector, is not organizing industry-wide. That’s our model in SEIU, but very few other unions do that. People need to take a look at how they can organize on scale. We have political clubs of members set up all across the state.

“Right now, we’re organizing Newark Airport. There are all kinds of different classifications, contractors and airlines there, but they have one thing in common – workers are making a lousy wage, with no health care,” Brown added. “Our job is to fight for them. And when somebody stands up for those issues that matter in people’s lives, we’ll stand up for them.” PNJ

They have to pass what we call ‘the couch test.’ If they are to come to one of our member’s houses, sit down on the couch and feel comfortable, then they pass. Not all of them can.”


T he two most contentious and closely-watched New Jersey elections of 2014 happened in two very different places: the non-partisan Newark mayoral race

clash between Ras Baraka and Shavar Jeffries in May and the Bergen County Executive race between then-incumbent Republican Kathleen Donovan and Democrat Jim Tedesco in November. One factor that united these urban and suburban elections was labor as a decisive force behind the victories of Baraka and Tedesco.

In the Newark mayoral race, Baraka, formerly a high school principal, received the backing of multiple prominent labor outfits, including the powerful New Jersey Laborers Union, the 20,000-member affiliate of the Laborers’ International Union of North Amer-ica (LIUNA) and the Communications Workers of America (CWA), New Jersey’s largest public workers union. The Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters (NRCC) put $250,000 into the Newark race through the independent expenditure fund behind Jeffries.

According to an analysis report issued in January by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Com-mission (ELEC), both sides spent $12.6 million on the Newark election, including independent expenditure funds. Baraka experienced a decided monetary disad-vantage in the last weeks of the campaign, outspent by an approximately 7-1 margin on media.

But Analilia Mejia, executive director of New Jersey Working Families, an independent, progressive political organization that often backs candidates with favorable views toward organized labor, spoke to a key factor that can prove to be more critical than cash.

“Organized people can beat organized money,” Me-jia said, pointing to Baraka’s 54 percent to 45 percent win over Jeffries. “For campaigns, your best bet is to have labor not only support your campaign by talk-ing to their members, but mobilizing the significant numbers of bodies that they have to give an additional boost in getting out your target voters. Ras Baraka blew it out of the water in terms of endorsements that came with commitments. That’s what collective action is all about.”

Look for the union LabeL: How Labor Shaped the 2014 Elections in Newark and Bergen County

Essays

by mark bonamo

pnj q1 2015 29


The labor situation in the Bergen County Execu-tive race was not initially as clear-cut. Donovan got some early union endorsements, including from the Laborers, who cited her support for the Bergen-based American Dream Meadowlands and LG Electronics development projects. Donovan had other unions, such as those representing bricklayers and sheet metal workers, behind her as well.

Tedesco, however, secured the support of the Car-penters, another potent labor force in state politics, as the race went on. Other unions, such as International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 164, Operating Engineers Local 825, Health Profes-sionals and Allied Employees (HPAE) and the 32BJ chapter of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) came on board as momentum started to shift toward Tedesco.

The shift became a swift surge for Tedesco on Election Day when another group of union members came out to support him. Tedesco’s support of local law enforcement, particularly in context of his sup-port for the merger of the Bergen County Police with the county’s Sheriff’s Office, paid off in a critical way. Sheriff’s officers and other law enforcement person-nel manned the phones and worked the streets for Tedesco, contributing significantly to his 54 percent to 46 percent victory over Donovan.

Michael Schneider, president of the Bergen County Central Labor Council, noted why labor unions still

play a prominent role in Bergen politics. “Our organization represents over 50 affiliated

unions, everybody from private sector to public sector, from teachers to construction workers. We turn out big numbers,” Schneider, of Rochelle Park, who sup-ported Tedesco, said. “There are places where labor is losing its hold. But we’ll sit with all the politicians, whether they’re Republicans or Democrats. Any-body whose ideals are similar to ours, who believes in middle-class, working people, we’ll support them. We have many union brothers and sisters who are elected officials now, all over the state. What we have here is special.”

Adam Silverstein, a Democratic campaign strate-gist who played a key role in Tedesco’s victory, noted his candidate’s more than 30 years of service as a volunteer firefighter in his hometown of Paramus as an important psychic bridge between Tedesco and organized labor.

“No one other candidate could have solidified labor behind them like Jim Tedesco did,” said Silverstein. “Labor was such an important component in terms of resources on every level. They helped us get the mes-sage out by putting bodies on the ground and helping us to raise money. Don’t underestimate what boots on the ground mean to a campaign. When you’re dealing with the size of Bergen County, when you need to be just about everywhere, labor can help you knock on all those doors. The support of labor was pivotal.” PNJ

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