CWA Local 1031 is asking our members in NJ PERS to please nominate Tom Bruno for re-election so he can get his name on the ballot.  Tom is a retired CWA state employee, who has continued to work hard on our behalf, and it is imperative we continue to maintain a state worker representative vote on the Board when his term ends.

Nominations may be done digitally here: https://vote.election-america.com/pers-state/

If you want more information about Tom, please visit http://TomBruno.org, where you will find a lot of info about PERS, the State Investment Council, of which he is a member, as well as State Health Benefits.

Tom Bruno information, click to expand.

Since being elected by 92,000 NJ State workers in 2007, Tom has fought tirelessly for public worker pension security.  He has appeared on television news outlets and has been featured in newspaper, magazine and radio interviews defending public pensions as the deferred wages of public workers.  As PERS Board Chair, he and his Board colleagues made history by filing a first-ever lawsuit against a sitting Governor to restore payments to the fund on behalf of public workers.  He succesfully demanded reductions in hedge fund allocations and the consequential management fees while on the State Investment Council (SIC),  and spearheaded efforts, along with other union colleagues on the SIC, to inject Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria into the investment analysis, along with the creation of the ESG subcommittee within the SIC.  Few have had the tenacity and willingness to take on the status quo on behalf of public workers!  More recently, he and the PERS Board of Trustees have mounted a campaign to stop Senator Sweeney’s attempt to destabilize the PERS by divorcing the Local and County parts of PERS from the Fund and setting up a separate Pension with an appointed (not elected) Board of Trustees with the power to privatize the fund (Bill # S-3522).

Despite objections from all public employee unions, the State approved increases to health insurance premiums for 2025 for both state and local government.

The NJ State Health Benefits Commission voted 3-2 to approve premium rates for the State Health Benefits Plan for 2025. Two union representatives voted against the premium rates and three state-appointed representatives voted in favor.

Since July, CWA partnered with other civilian and law enforcement unions representing both state and local government employees to combat these increases. The Union Coalition made specific, data-driven proposals to the State that could have cut the premium increases by 25-50% from the recommendations by the State’s consultant. Our proposals would have saved over $80 million for taxpayers, employers, and employees – without diminishing the quality of healthcare plans or shifting costs to local government employers or employees.

Real Healthcare Reform Comes from Our Public Employee Unions

The Union Coalition proposed to improve governance and auditing to ensure the State recovers dramatic overpayments to hospitals, providers and insurance carriers. We know the State audits less than 20% of claims and does not audit out of state claims. There are millions in overpayments  and improper payments that the State simply does not audit or recoup.

The Union Coalition proposed basing premiums on actual experience rather than estimates. We proved the State’s actuarial assumptions are flawed and are inflated from actual experience, from Horizon’s estimates, and from the experience in other states. NJ pays more for healthcare based on flawed assumptions it never questions.

We gave several other proposals that would lower prices, create competition between Horizon and Aetna, and enforce the prices guaranteed by insurance carriers. The State rejected or ignored all of them and as a result, will generate unprecedentedly high premiums, especially for local government.

The Unions are not waiting for next year’s rates. We already are fighting for these ideas and others that have saved millions for other states. Our Unions have the best ideas for real healthcare reform to control costs now and in the long-term. We are fighting back against the total cost of insurance and the prices charged by insurance carriers, which must be controlled through cooperation between unions and the State.

2025 Rate Change for State Government Employees: 

Premiums will increase for state government by 10.1% on the Horizon Unity Direct PPO/Aetna Freedom PPO plans. This the premium cost to the State.

Remember, State employee healthcare contributions are negotiated rates based on our annual salary.  Under our contract, the increase on employee contributions for 2025 will be limited to 4.5%. As an example, if our paycheck contribution is $111 per pay today, it will increase to $116 per pay in 2025.

2025 Rate Change Local Government Employees: 

Unfortunately, the premium increase for local government plans is higher, at 16.3%.  This includes all Horizon and Aetna PPO plans.  This is the premium cost charged by the State to local government employers which participate in the SHBP.

Most local government employee contributions are still based on chapter 78. Chapter 78 calculates employee contributions based on premium and annual salary, so this 16.3% increase is fully applied to our paycheck contributions.

Due to the State’s failure to control costs or provide relief to local government, we expect many local government employers will explore leaving the State plan in 2025. CWA will be working with our Local bargaining committees and members to fight for cost controls while maintaining equal-to-or-better benefits in all our local government contracts.

Whether you are a state or local government CWA member, we are in this fight together.

2024-09-26 CWA Member SHBP Update (PDF)

As more information is available, it will be posted to our website. Stay tuned for emails from your branch presidents for information about Open Enrollment, which begins on October 1.