Contact: Nat T. Bender, 908-377-0393
EDISON—American Federation of Teachers New Jersey president Donna M. Chiera on Chris Christie’s budget proposal:
“Governor Christie is trying to create a false narrative that public workers need to pay more for less health care in order to balance the state budget. The reality is that New Jersey’s teachers, nurses, firefighters and dedicated public servants already pay high premiums and should not be asked to pay more. Our retirees are on fixed incomes with frozen COLAs and Social Security; they really cannot afford increases in costs. Governor Christie should pay more attention to meeting the needs of everyday citizens and fixing the state’s problems by making payments he promised in 2011 instead of catering to his rich and powerful Wall Street friends.
“We should have a budget that meets the needs of the people of New Jersey—providing healthcare, education, roads, housing, public safety and critical human services. We should have a fiscally responsible budget that asks those who can afford it—such as millionaires and billionaires—to contribute their fair share and stops irresponsible corporate giveaways. We cannot afford more credit downgrades; instead we need to make quarterly pension payments that will save billions of dollars. We need to fix our roads and extend universal pre-kindergarten to all New Jersey students to help equalize disparate opportunity.”
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The AFTNJ represents 30,000 pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; and early childhood educators.
Follow Donna M. Chiera @DChieraM