Officials must represent all, not just union workers, mayor says

Iread with great interest the letter submitted by Mr. John Menshon, chairman for the Transport Workers Union Local 225 Branch 4, which represents Brick Township employees.

Mr. Menshon implies that the council and I are anti-worker and anti-union. This is far from the truth. I was raised in a union household and have nothing but the utmost respect for the work organized labor has done for this nation.

What Mr. Menshon apparently fails to realize is that as mayor, my priority is to be pro-taxpayer, not prounion worker. You see, some union members are taxpayers too. As a union chairman, Mr. Menshon's duty is to look out for the best interests of Transport Workers Union employees. My duty is look out for the interests of the nearly 80,000 residents and taxpayers of Brick Township.

The simple fact of the matter is that much of the "worker-friendly" policies that Mr. Menshon and other unions are looking for cost a significant amount of taxpayer dollars. It is my job to try to balance those policies with the simple truth that our taxpayers have had enough and that all the people of our town need to be represented, not just one special interest group.

In his letter, Mr. Menshon says, "We all must make sacrifices" and asks, "Is the administration doing its fair share?" The answer is yes. Starting Jan.1 of this year, all unclassified employees, including elected officials, department heads and managers, began contributing toward their health care for the first time in the township's history. They are the only employees of the township who currently do. Unclassified employees have also not received a raise this year. It is clear that they understand the need to sacrifice and, as of right now, are the only ones that are willing to do so.

On the other hand, when it came time to vote on whether or not to make sacrifices — sacrifices that could have saved jobs — the TWU membership overwhelmingly voted against making them. I also take exception with Mr. Menshon's assertion that concessions would not have saved the jobs. One needs only to look at Howell Township, where 40 jobs were saved through sacrifices including across-the-board concessions and furloughs. Howell is not guided by civil service rules and therefore could implement those changes without civil service approval.

In regard to the layoffs, Mr. Menshon says that using the "seniority concept of last in, first out" would have been less "controversial" and that the civil service system was designed to protect workers. As Mr. Menshon knows, all the layoffs were done in strict compliance with the civil service system he talks about, or the state would not have approved the plan in the first place.

In the private sector, factors such as productivity, skills and job acumen to name a few are factors considered when reducing staff. With civil service, all of these things are ignored and only one factor is looked at, and that is seniority. It is for these reasons that working within the confines of the civil service system is one of the hardest things someone governed by civil service needs to adjust to.

As for the people who were laid off themselves, as I said earlier the township did not make the final determination. We submitted a list of titles that were to be affected to the New Jersey state Department of Personnel, who then determined the employees' bumping rights and finalized the names of employees who were to be laid off.

Mr. Menshon is correct when he says that we need to elect "candidates that will remember that people are struggling just to survive." We need to elect people who know people are struggling and are willing to make difficult choices. He is right. People are struggling to pay taxes everyday.

We know times are hard, and that is why we are working to reduce the costs of government. This year, thanks to the policies we have instituted, we are going to have the firstever reduction in operating expenditures in a municipal budget. We are working hard to right the ship and getting this township back on the path of fiscal conservatism and responsibility. It is going to take some time and some painful decisions. Brick Township taxpayers have had enough.

Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis resides in Brick