NJ Workers Vote for PERS Board

From April 1 – May 31, 2015, New Jersey State and County workers are voting to elect Trustees to the Public Employees’ Retirement (PERS) Board.

This election is important. Last June, the PERS Board voted to join our lawsuit to sue Christie for his failure to make the legally-required pension contributions. If we lose either the state worker representative or the county worker representative to the management-backed candidates, the Board will be controlled again by Chris Christie, and we will lose a key ally in holding Christie accountable for his failure to find our pensions and mismanaging the funds for Wall Street's benefit.

In April, the PERS Board voted to launch an investigation into the amount of fees paid to Wall Street firms to manage the pension systems after state officials admitted not all fees were disclosed. Under Governor Christie, NJ has paid over $1.5 billion in fees.

If management wins the election and retakes a majority on the Board, they will likely vote to end the current lawsuit – and let Christie off the hook. We can’t let that happen.

If you are a NJ County or State employee, please visit CWANJ.org for more information on how you can vote in the election.

CWA is endorsing Carey Brown, CWA Local 1037 Shop Steward, and Tracy Smith, an active member of AFSCME Local 3287.

“Public workers dedicate our entire careers to serving the public and making New Jersey a better place,” said Brown. “Many of us plan to rely on our pension when we retire – and we deserve a strong and outspoken advocate at the table. I will be that person.”


Coming Up:
This week, the Supreme Court of NJ is hearing Christie’s appeal for the funding for FY2015.
Next week, the Superior Court of NJ will hear the case for FY2016.