The New Jersey Educational Association (NJEA) had been working with The Pension Commission to come up with a solution to fund the pension system for our teachers. But, now the president of the NJEA, Wendell Steinhauer, said on April 21st the “NJEA has notified the New Jersey Pension and Benefits Study Commission that our sole focus is ensuring that our members’ current pensions are fully funded by the state, and that no further discussion will be occurring between the NJEA and the commission.”
Why did they stop cooperating with Governor Christie? Well they won a victory in court that says that the state of New Jersey has to fully fund their pension system and Christie is very weak in the polls. The union is trying with all its might to destroy Christie politically. While they have that right, they should be more worried about the pension system failing. In reality the NJEA is making itself very unpopular with the people of New Jersey and the Democratics who will have to make any cuts in the state budget to fully fund their pension system. There is no way that the state can come up with the extra money needed through raising our already very high taxes and the legislature will have to cut or even delete monies for many programs.
I wonder why the NJEA does not ask that the pension go private with the union running it? All of their members pay dues and even those who do not belong to the NJEA have to pay a smaller amount of what a member does, just because a state law says so. They collect so much money and really do not use it for their members benefit, yet they have spent huge amounts of money in an attempt to stop Christie from being elected (both times). Would it not be better to take that money and have used it to help pay the pensions of its members?
The NJEA president has called for the establishment of a “Millionaire’s Tax” to fully fund their pension system. This is not only unrealistic, but would not help the fund reach the goal of being fully funded. Plus what makes them think that those who would be subjected to this new tax from leaving New Jersey. After all why would anyone want to stay here and be taxed even more because they make over a certain amount of money?
Before you come to the mistaken idea that I am anti-teacher, I will tell you that you have come to the wrong conclusion. I do support our teachers and appreciate the very difficult job they do everyday. And I even support the idea of a teachers union, yet I must say that this union is more about what monies they can bring in than what the union can do for its members. Too much money is being spent on management of our school systems and very little trickles down to the classroom level. Why is the NJEA ignoring this problem?
That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike
