Christie avoids direct answers on collective bargaining

On the eve of contract talks with unions representing 70,000 New Jersey workers, Gov. Christie avoided directly answering questions on Face the Nation on Sunday about whether he thought state workers should have collective-bargaining rights.

The issue has drawn thousands of protesters to capitals in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, and other states as governors try to trim budgets by seeking employee concessions and ending the ability to bargain contracts.

Christie has, in part, made his bones with his fellow Republicans by criticizing unions and, in particular, the teachers union in New Jersey.

But when CBS-TV host Bob Schieffer asked Christie the yes-no question of whether he thought public workers in New Jersey should have collective-bargaining rights, Christie avoided a direct answer.

Instead, he said, "What I believe in is true, adversarial collective bargaining."

He said that his predecessor, Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine, had given state workers a "7 percent salary increase in a 0 percent inflation world. I don't think the people who are paying the bills think that's the result of fair, adversarial collective bargaining."

The unions disagree.

Bob Master, spokesman for the Communications Workers of America, which represents 40,000 of New Jersey's 70,000 unionized workers, said Christie was telling a "half-truth."

Unionized state workers did get 7 percent more this year because they deferred a scheduled 3.5 percent raise in 2009 for 18 months and a second 3.5 percent raise kicked in in 2011, he said. Master added that state workers took a 4 percent pay cut when they accepted 10 unpaid furlough days and that they had also made concessions on health and pension benefits.

The two sides are scheduled to begin talks March 11 aimed at negotiating new employee contracts, Master said.

Christie introduced his budget Tuesday and called for state workers to make increased pension and health-care payments.

Master said the unions are ready for tough talks.

"We have no illusions that there is not going to be significant sacrifices that we are going to be facing in any contract we negotiate with Gov. Christie," Master said. But he said the governor "should not distort the past nor misrepresent the sacrifices that we have already made."

On Face the Nation, Christie once again said that he wasn't running for president in 2012, but he gave some advice to those who are thinking about it - including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

He said voters don't want to see candidates who are "blow-dried and poll-tested. . . . The American people - they want somebody who's going to speak straight to them, and they want to ask you questions, and they want unguarded moments. That's when they can judge your character."

Of Palin, he said, "If she's ready for this, you have to have some unscripted moments. Now, she may very well be up to it, and if she is, good for her."

Christie spent the weekend in Washington attending the National Governors Association conference.