If you are a public employee in the state of New Jersey, you are in a time of great crisis and stress. Every time you open a newspaper, go on a local website, or turn on a local talk radio station you are perceived to be the enemy. To reinforce this situation, if you are an employee in N.J. public schools you have already faced cuts due to cut in your districts loss of state aid and are facing additional cuts if your district's budget failed. You are being told by your Governor to reopen your contracts and take a wage freeze and you are being promised by your local school board that jobs will be saved if you do so.
I have a very unique perspective concerning this issue. I once was the enemy. During my stint as a Councilman in my town I sat on the committee in charge of contract negotiations. Yes, I have been to the dark side and lived to tell the tale. The knowledge that I have taken with me after my term ran out is priceless. I now have a unique perspective on the issue of contract negotiations and can see and understand the total picture. Trust me, as someone who used to sit at the other side of the table during contract negotiations you do not want to reopen your contract.
The risks to reopening your contract greatly outweigh to the supposed rewards that are being promised. Reopening a negotiated contract is the same as renegotiating a new contract, all items are on the table. Everything from health care, to tuition reimbursement, to stipends for coaches, to mileage reimbursement for travel...it is all on the table. Reopening a contract is starting from the beginning and will result in years of unknown repercussions.
Promises that a wage freeze will save jobs and/or prevent further layoffs are nothing but a pipe dream. No governing body legally can guarantee such a promise. Politicians want to create a crisis scenario to force the its constituents to act on raw emotion rather that reason. Politicians also often make decisions to solve immediate problems and very rarely think of the fallout of their decisions.
If you are a public employee in the state of N.J. don't panic. Take a step back and think rationally because that is what the powers that be do not want you to do. Do not reopen your contract.
