Unions protest Christie pension fund cut

TRENTON - An estimated 1,000 union members crowded the road and walkways at the Statehouse on Tuesday to protest Gov. Christie's reductions in funding to public pensions.

Protesters carried a mix of signs, including one that read, "Tax Millionaires Fund the Pension." Others shouted, "We want to be paid," and, "Gov. Christie, breaking his word, breaking the law."

Wearing mostly red T-shirts and blowing whistles throughout the rally, union members called on Christie to make the $3.1 billion pension payment that he agreed to in a 2011 overhaul of the retirement system.

Christie reduced the state contribution to the fund last year by about $1.6 billion, though he has put in more than his predecessors.

Public-sector unions are pressing the issue in court. The state Supreme Court heard arguments last week on whether the state must put in more for the current fiscal year. The rally was intended to coincide with arguments in a lower court on Christie's planned contribution for next fiscal year, which begins July 1, but the hearing was postponed pending the higher court's ruling.

Communication Workers of America official Hetty Rosenstein spoke of how her father's public pension allows her 90-year-old mother to cover her costs.

"It takes a special kind of carelessness and cruelty to be willing to burn down the American dream that my father worked so hard to achieve," Rosenstein said. "But that is the fight that we will wage here. I know I will fight as if a cruel monster is sitting trying to drag my mother from her lovely home. I will stand on her steps and shout, 'They shall not pass!' "

Democratic lawmakers also attended, including Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester), who has proposed a tax on income over $1 million to help pay for pensions. Christie has vetoed similar measures and has said he would do the same again. Sweeney equated the reduced payments to stealing.

"If this was in the private sector, this would be theft," he said. "I am committed to fight this to the death."

A spokesman for Christie did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but the governor has said funding the pension at the level set in law would require raising taxes, something he opposes.

He has also called for an overhaul of the fund, suggesting freezing the current fund and transferring control from the state to the unions. The Democratic-led Legislature has balked at that approach.