VWXY BARGAINING REPORT 12-04-20

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On December 4, 2020, our CWA bargaining committee met with the State of New Jersey for negotiations regarding VWXY employees who are now included in CWA.

In addition to these negotiations, CWA continues to meet separately with the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations to discuss including additional VWXY employees in CWA bargaining units.

Our CWA bargaining committee’s goal is to bring all included VWXY employees fully into the CWA-State of NJ contract, inclusive of all terms and conditions of employment spelled out in our contract.

At negotiations on December 4, the State of NJ took the position that they need more information from Departments before agreeing to include VWXY employees, who have been moved into CWA bargaining units, under all provisions of the current CWA State of NJ contract. The State asserted that there may be a need for some carve outs of particular titles or positions from coverage under particular portions of our contract. CWA’s position remains that all VWXY employees who are included in CWA bargaining units must be under all terms and conditions of the contract.

At the session, our CWA Bargaining Team also questioned the State about the status of included VWXY employees with regard to health care benefits. On 12/08/20, the State confirmed to CWA that all included VWXY employees have been moved to the NJ Direct/CWA Unity Plan and are now paying CWA rates.

CWA again specified the information we still need from the State in order to move forward with negotiations. Our committee is awaiting a timeline on the provision of this information, but suggested a follow up bargaining session be scheduled for December 18, 2020.

There was agreement that we would begin the process of determining appropriate CWA titles and appropriate bargaining unit placement for VWXY employees. The Office of Employee Relations will coordinate with CWA to convene meetings with CWA and management in various departments to begin this process.

CWA also proposed 30-minute union orientation meetings for VWXY employees who are being included in CWA in keeping with language in our existing contract.

If you have any questions, please call or email: bbradley@cwa-union.org (609) 278-6588