By Doug Cunningham

New Jersey unions gained 3,000 new members this week as Rutgers University administrative staff joined the American Federation of Teachers and 1100 casino dealers at Bally’s joined the UAW. Gov. Corzine visited the Rutgers campus to support the union drive. Employers fought to keep workers from joining unions. State and local elected officials supported the organizing drives.

By Doug Cunningham

An elected reform slate that includes at least one member of the Longshore Workers Coalition is taking over the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1588 in Bayonne, New Jersey May 1st. The local is under federal government supervision to keep the mob from reasserting its influence in the local. That supervision will last for at least another 18 months. The government has long asserted that crime families are corrupting the dockworker’s unions in New York and New Jersey. A federal trusteeship was imposed on ILA Local 1588 four years ago to end mafia domination.

By Doug Cunningham

The New Jersey Education Association says the state has been using financial gimmicks for years to make it look like the state employees pension fund is properly funded. But as a New York Times investigation revealed, the pension fund is seriously underfunded. NJEA spokesman Steve Baker says a vow by New Jersey's governor to make substantial pension contributions over the next several years is welcome news.

[Baker] "It's a step in the right direction, but it's a major problem."

Baker says the NJEA wants to see a long-term, serious commitment to meet the state's constitutional obligation to properly fund state employee pensions.

By Doug Cunningham

More than 7,000 public workers rallied in protest at the New Jersey statehouse Monday against possible benefits cuts. Unions say any changes should be negotiated. The state s looking for a way to cut property taxes.

By Doug Cunningham

Bus drivers in Hoboken, New Jersey will go on strike Wednesday. Charles Hall, Jr. is President of RWDSU Local 108 representing the drivers. He says Academy Bus Tours is refusing to pay time and a half for overtime, even though the company makes overtime mandatory. Hall says the union is concerned about those who depend on the bus routes but also wants fairness and respect for bus drivers.

[Charles Hall Jr.]: "We don't want to strike, but the company put us in this position. Our concern in the union--and of these workers--is the community first. But we want Academy to do the right thing. And we ask that they reconsider their hardcore position towards these workers and do the right thing--find an agreement."

By Jesse Russell

A nurses' strike in central New Jersey enters its sixth day today. Nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick rejected the contract on August 16 over issues with the proposed health care package. On Thursday the more than 1000 nurses began picketing in front of the facility. Prior to the walkout the hospital had been accused of unfair labor practices. The union representing nurses--the United Steelworkers--said the hospital had written directly to nurses to convince them not to strike. Replacement workers have been brought in to keep the hospital running at full capacity. The state has been monitoring the situation for the safety of patients.

By JoAnne Powers

This week two of New Jersey's largest public employee unions told a task force looking at state worker benefits to avoid making major changes to the state pension system and retirement health care coverage. Leaders of the state police and teachers unions stressed the importance of maintaining high-quality employment benefits.

Steve Baker, spokesperson for the New Jersey Education Association:

"We have some concern that this taskforce has been set up perhaps to arrive at a conclusion that public-sector benefits should more closely mirror private-sector benefits, and we think that would be just the wrong direction for New Jersey to head."

By Jesse Russell

Drug company Pfizer is being accused of switching cleaning contracts to avoid paying workers more money. SEIU local 32bj is representing the cleaners for Laro Building Services who were contracted to clean a Pfizer building in Parsippany, New Jersey.

[Brown1]: They basically have admitted that they changed contractors to save money.

Kevin Brown is the union's district chairman for New Jersey, he says the union typically has a good relationship with the company, but he is concerned the firing contract workers because they are about to receive a pay increase - from $6 an hour in January to $10 an hour by 2008 - may be company policy. Brown says they are filing charges against Pfizer for discriminating against workers who support a union. Pfizer spokesperson Bryant Haskin says the company wanted a more competitive price.

On Thursday, New Jersey became the fifth state to sign into law a bill that would ban the outsourcing of government contracts to foreign governments. The law says that only American citizens authorized to work in the United States can work under a New Jersey state contract. The bill was signed into law by Governor Richard Codey who called it "an important step to protect workers and keep jobs from going overseas." The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce has criticized the new law, suggesting it may discourage multinational corporations from operating in the Garden State. Maryland, Oklahoma, Montana and Washington are all considering or are in the process of passing similar bills.

New Jersey has become the thirteenth state to raise their states minimum wage from the federal level. The proposal passed the Assembly Tuesday, raising the wage from $5.15 per hour to $7.15 per hour. The increase also comes barely a week after the U.S. Senate defeated two proposals to raise the national minimum.

Following a nationwide trend, New Jersey moved a step closer to approving it's first raise in the minimum wage in six years on Monday. The state Senate voted 26 to 10 in favor of increasing the wage from the federal minimum of $5.15 per hour to $7.15 per hour. The 10 dissenting votes were all cast by Republicans who are concerned that the increase will cost the state jobs. Senate Democrats argue that increaing the wage is the only way to help New Jersey's working poor make ends meet. The wage will jump to $6.15 per hour in October 2005, followed by a second increase in October 2006. The bill also will create a commission that will make recommendations for future increases. The minimum wage bill was proposed by acting New Jersey governor Richard J. Codey during his state of the state address. Minnesota's Senate also voted to increase their minimum wage this month and are now waiting on the House and Governor to weigh in.

As garbage workers in rallied in Hamilton Township, New Jersey yesterday the company prepared to start hiring permanent replacement workers. Workers represented by the Teamsters have been striking against Waste Management Incorporated for 22 days with no date set to resume contract negotiations. The company warned strikers last week that if they didn't accept the company's latest offer, they would face the possibility of being replaced. This week the company began collecting job applications for permanent replacement workers. Teamsters officials say that because the strike is a "unfair labor practices" action, the workers are protected from being replaced. The National Labor Relations Board has not yet classified the strike. If the NLRB rules it economic the workers could be replaced.

Eight hundred General Motors workers in Linden, New Jersey face an uncertain future as GM ends operations there two years earlier than planned. But at least they won’t be hurting for wages between now and the originally planned phaseout of plant operations. Because they have income protection built into their contract the 800 union workers will get paid 95 percent of their wages for 48 weeks while on unemployment. After that they will collect their full salaries while doing “community service” work - right up to the September 2007 date when production of the Blazer and Jimmy SUV’s was originally set to end.

This week representatives from food banks throughout the state of New Jersey asked the state legislature for help in assisting the thousands of people in need of not only a Thanksgiving dinner, but food aid year round.

[Espy1] "We were very worried - it was keeping me up at night - because we were so seriously short of turkeys. A little more than a week ago we only had twenty and we were serving 2,600 families."

Patricia Espy is the Execututive Director of the Center for Food Action in New Jersey, says she's seen a fifteen percent increase in the number of people seeking assistance from last year.

Joining their union brothers and sisters in San Francisco, Chicago and New York, more than 10,000 casino employees in Atlantic City are on strike.

Members of UNITE-HERE Local 54 including baggage handlers, cocktail servers, bell captains, housekeepers, and others walked off the job last week forming round-the-clock picket lines along the Pacific Avenue strip.

Their contract expired two weeks ago, and the union has been unable to reach an agreement with management on keeping health care premiums low, stopping outsourcing and establishing a contract length of three years.

Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts averted a strike at its three Atlantic City casinos by settling a with the union early. This helped Sands Hotel-Casino, which signed a "me too" agreement under which it would accept the first contract language reached.

The Federal Transit Administration sent images of explosions and chemical attacks to workers’ homes in the form of a DVD. The 15-minute video, titled "Warning Signs", depicts theoretical attacks during this year's Republican National Convention.These graphic images unnerved New Jersey Transit conductors who feel they are being asked to play a law enforcement role they never signed up for. Xavier D. Williams, General Chairman of United Transportation Union Local 60’s 1,030 active members, said he was disappointed with New Jersey Transit’s failing to relay security plans for the convention to workers. 280 New Jersey Transit trains carry approximately 60,000 weekday rail riders into New York daily.