New Jeresy CWA Members Fight Back Against Healthcare Premium Increases

CWA local and county government workers in New Jersey demonstrated outside their worksites on October 20th to fight back against huge increases to health care premiums. 

A coalition of state employee unions, including CWA, recently settled negotiations to minimize a similar increase. The issue is trickier for local and county government employees because it requires an appropriation over $300 million dollars to be passed by the state legislature that would then need to be signed by the governor. If a deal is not reached, it could also mean significant tax increases in counties, cities and towns throughout the state. 

CWA joined with the other affected unions under the banner of the Labor Coalition for Affordable Healthcare in a digital media campaign, with an ad buy on two of the state’s major political news outlets, NJGlobe.com and InsiderNJ.com, IP ads targeting elected leadership, two billboards on the NJ Turnpike, and a banner plane over the Phillies home game against the Padres this past Sunday and the Jets home game against the Patriots this coming Sunday. The ads go to affordablenj.org​, where visitors can send emails to their elected leaders, find a patch through number in order to call the Governor, Senate President and Assembly Speaker, and find other information about what caused the 24% increase and solutions proposed by the union coalition. 

Lunchtime demonstrations will continue outside county and local government worksites every Thursday until a solution is reached!

Read more here.