In an opinion piece on NJ.com and published in the Times of Trenton newspaper on Saturday, July 18, 2015, NJ State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech lays out common-sense measures that can be taken now that would add as much as $1.6 billion to New Jersey's public pension system without costing 99 percent of taxpayers a penny.

The NJ AFL-CIO and its affiliated unions are leading the search for solutions to NJ's pension funding problem. Please CLICK HERE to read the full op-ed.

The New Jersey State AFL-CIO is pleased to report that an important milestone has been reached in the ongoing effort to control public employees’ health care costs without sacrificing quality of care. A patient-centered health care plan has been approved and will be available to employees on a pilot basis beginning early next year.

We commend our union representatives for overseeing the design of public-employee health benefit plans and for their five months of hard work and negotiation in getting this innovative new health care delivery model approved. We also applaud Senate President Stephen Sweeney for spearheading the program. Senator Sweeney called the approval of the plan “a great victory” and he credited the members of our affiliated unions with making it happen.

As Fourth of July weekend approaches, we are reminded of the many rights and freedoms that others around the world lack: freedom to join a union, freedom to vote in elections and to do our jobs in workplaces free of intimidation and suppression.

These freedoms were not achieved easily. But for the blood spilled by our ancestors, who had the courage to seek independence, and the sacrifices of our union brothers and sisters, we would not have the many rights and freedoms that we enjoy today.

The New Jersey State AFL-CIO is pleased to share the news that our IBEW 827 brothers and sisters at Comcast joined together in solidarity to soundly defeat the company’s aggressive campaign to decertify the union. This victory is a testament to the strength, solidarity, and hard work of union members and the IBEW 827 organizing team. On behalf of our one-million member union family, we congratulate our IBEW 827 brothers and sisters, Business Manager Robert Speer, Business Agent Rich Spieler, Lead Organizer Joe Mastrogiovanni and Chief Stewards Leah Connelly and Glenn Yeary on a job well done.

As Gov. Christie launched his bid for the Republican nomination for president on Tuesday, the New Jersey State AFL-CIO reviewed his record on issues important to working families. Here are the results:

New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech and Secretary-Treasurer Laurel Brennan expressed the federation’s support for a proposal by Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto calling on Gov. Christie to make the state’s annual pension payment at the start of the fiscal year, rather than waiting until the end of the year.

Front-loading the payment would net the pension system an estimated $87 million in additional income by allowing the investment dollars more time to grow. The front-loading of investments is a standard good-business model practiced throughout corporate America. Since it doesn’t raise taxes, there is no good reason for the governor not to do it.

Gov. Christie had the opportunity to put the people of New Jersey before his own political ambitions by signing a budget that protects working families, funds public pensions according to the law and raises taxes on the wealthiest.

Instead, he slashed pension funding, wrongly labeled benefits as ‘bloated’ and blamed ‘a broken system’ rather than his own refusal to fund it.

Despite the governor’s rhetoric, New Jersey pensioners are NOT getting something for nothing. The state’s average pension benefit is among the least generous in the country – PERS ranks 95^th in generosity out of the country’s 100 largest pension systems, according to a joint analysis by Keystone Research and New Jersey Policy Perspective. A NJ Spotlight study shows government workers in New Jersey pay more for health insurance than anywhere else in the country.

The New Jersey State AFL-CIO asks you to join our brothers and sisters from HPAE Locals 5186 and 5185 who are organizing informational picket lines at two locations on Monday, June 29, 2015 to help ensure safe staffing and fair contracts for healthcare workers at CarePoint Health’s hospitals.