Layoffs loom if compromise not reached with union, mayor says
Officials submit restructuring plan to state
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer
Anumber of Brick employees could still keep their jobs if Transport Workers Union officials and workers would agree to some concessions in their new contract, Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis said.

"The ball is in their court," he said. "If they decide they don't want layoffs, we will reach a compromise."

Negotiations between TWU Local 225, which represents 225 township employees, and the township collapsed recently and the matter will go to mediation, both Acropolis and Township Administrator Scott M. Pezarras have said.

Township officials are trying to cope with a $3.8 million shortfall in next year's budget, primarily the result of a state-mandated 4 percent cap on the amount that municipalities can raise through taxation each year. The cap went into effect earlier this year. Municipalities this year were allowed to keep pension contributions and certain other expenses outside of the cap. But most of the exceptions will disappear in 2009, the mayor said.

"I have a bucket of money to use," Acropolis said. "When that money is used up, I can't spend any more. It's illegal."

The township may have to lay off as many as 53 employees to cope with the shortfall. The bulk of any layoffs would come from the Public Works Department, since it's the largest department in the township outside of the police department, he said.

"We are looking at reductions in the workforce of about 10 percent, if we cannot come to a compromise," the mayor said.

Both Chris Mickkelson, president of TWU Local 225, Branch 4, and TWU International President Susan Resch have said their members were not satisfied with the direction of the contract negotiations and wanted to preserve their health benefits. The TWU contract expired on Dec. 31, 2007.

Any compromise would depend on how many concessions the union representatives are willing to make, the mayor said.

Union members have balked at contributing anything toward the cost of their health care premiums with Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, the township's health insurance carrier. The township's health care premium costs rose $1.3 million this year. The township absorbed the cost, Pezarras has said.

Concessions could include contributing to the cost of health care premiums, work furloughs — where employees would take a day or two off each month — and voluntary demotions, Acropolis said.

"If the union wants to sit down and negotiate, we could still do that," Acropolis said. "The lifeline is still open. Layoffs are the last resort. I do not want to lay off people."

Resch said Monday that she expected township officials to release their layoff plan Tuesday. The Brick Bulletin goes to press on Monday night.

"We are waiting to get the layoff plan they are proposing," she said.

Union members dictate what union officials do, Resch said.

"We can't say 'You have to do it,' " she said. "Neither can the township. We will take direction from them.

"They gave us their marching orders," she added. "They said they would absolutely not pay for benefits. We are going to talk to them about the offer again."

The Civil Service system provides alternatives to laying off employees, including voluntary demotions, unpaid days off, reductions in hours, leaves of absence, and job sharing, she said.

"We will propose that to the membership," Resch said. "In this economic climate, we don't know how many people will be able to do that."

Union members might have been amenable to paying for a portion of their health care premiums if the proposed contract had included a no-layoff clause, Resch said.

"We were never offered a no-layoff clause, which would have helped sell it to the people," she said.

The rank and file union members are "very nervous," Resch said.

"Everybody's on pins and needles wanting to know what the action is," she said. "We are trying to keep them together, not to pit one worker against another. "But it's very difficult. Everybody wants and needs their jobs."

Union officials plan to meet with members on Oct. 28 to discuss the situation, she said.

A state mediator has not yet been appointed to handle the matter, Resch said.

"If they [union members] want to take another vote, we certainly wouldn't object to it," Resch said.

There are a few members with technical titles who make in the $50,000 range, but most workers make between $25,000 and $30,000, she said.