By Salvador Rizzo/The Star-Ledger
UPDATE, 2:35 p.m.: Six more unions have filed a separate lawsuit against Gov. Chris Christie’s pension plan. They are the Communications Workers of America, the Professional Firefighters Association of New Jersey, the American Federation of Teachers, the Fraternal Order of Police, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, and the Service Employees International Union. A hearing on all the lawsuits will be held June 25 in state Superior Court in Trenton, union leaders said today.
TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie’s plan to take $2.4 billion meant for the pension system violates the state and federal constitutions, according to a lawsuit brought by a group of public-worker unions and individuals.
[…]Grabbing those funds would show a “flagrant disregard” for pension-reform laws Christie himself signed in his first term, the lawsuit states, and would violate the constitution and the rights of hundreds of thousands of public workers in New Jersey.
Workers began to pay more for their retirement and medical benefits in 2011, and in exchange, they won stronger contracts with the right to bigger payments every year by the state into their troubled retirement fund. Christie is now breaking his word, the unions charge, while workers continue to pay the higher rates for their benefits.
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