N.J. local union says wages too low, pay disparity too wide, and healthcare costs are too high

A coalition of local labor unions are planning a large demonstration at Thursday’s Camden County Commissioner’s meeting to demand higher salaries, better healthcare benefits and pay equity for members of the local chapter of the Communications Workers of America in the latest round of contract negotiations.

The coalition of unions

CWA Local 1084 represents 375 public employees that work under the Camden County Board of Social Services that administer public assistance programs such as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and Medicaid benefits. A sister union, Local 1014 represents another 1,500 local and county workers in Camden County.

Members of Local 1084 have worked without a contract since Jan. 1 and negotiations since then have failed to result in an agreeable contract. The unions represent non-supervisory employees of local and county agencies.

The last negotiations meeting was held on Nov. 21 where management offered a 2.25% pay increase which the union flatly declined, according to CWA Local 1084’s website.

“They’ve lowballed us,” the union stated, “completely disregarding our hard work, burgeoning clientele, and the crushing impact of inflation. We’ve persevered through COVID and no appreciation was shown. Furthermore, we haven’t been able to retain employees due to our low pay.”

A spokesperson for the county said Wednesday they would continue negotiations with the union.

“The county will continue to negotiate in good faith with the CWA at the negotiating table and not through the press,” Dan Keashen, spokesperson for Camden County, said Wednesday.

The union says pay has not kept pace with inflation or the rising costs of healthcare their members have covered over the last several contracts.

“Working families across this country are getting gouged for healthcare,” Tammy Carr, vice president of CWA Local 1084, said Wednesday. “We have members that pay twelve thousand dollars a year in premiums to provide healthcare for their families.”

Issues with healthcare premiums for the union reach back to 2011 when former Gov. Chris Christie signed Chapter 78 into law. It recalculated how much public employees must pay into their pensions and how the State Health Benefits Program was administered.

The union is also asking for higher pay to help offset the increased insurance premiums over the past decade as well as the increased rate of inflation.

“Like all working class people, we have been slammed by inflation,” Sam Ferraino, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 360 and also president of the Southern New Jersey Central Labor Council said Wednesday. “The price of groceries and gas and damn near everything else is through the roof.”

Inflation took off in 2021 as global supply chains struggled to keep up with demand for goods following mandated quarantines to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The inflation rate has fallen since the summer of 2022 but remains higher than pre-pandemic levels according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Locally, the cost of goods in the Philadelphia region that includes Camden County increased by an annual rate of 3.4% through October, according to the National Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Workers are also asking for pay equity. A presentation expected to be shared by the union at Thursday’s commissioners meeting underscores a wide gap between employee salaries in similar positions based on when they started working for the agency. The disparity has caused frustration and attrition among workers.

“Newer employees are paid so little that they can’t afford to live independently. Most of them have second and third jobs,” Stephen Johnson, president of CWA Local 1084, said. “We have more and more workers who are paid so little that they qualify for the same programs that we distribute to our clients.”

In some cases employees with the same title could make up to $30,000 less than their peers based on when they started working, according to wage comparisons in the union presentation.

The gap in salaries has led to serious issues with recruiting and retaining employees, according to the union’s presentation.

According to an internal survey by the union, 57% of employees responded they considered leaving their job in the past year for reasons other than retirement, and 87% reported low morale and burnout.

The presentation noted that the union’s workforce has decreased by four percent while overtime expenditures to cover increasing case loads in the county have risen exponentially.

The union presentation claims that the agency spent just under $200,000 in overtime in 2019, but spent over $868,000 in overtime in 2023.

Included in the slides are other data points from the union’s internal survey they say illustrate how morale among union members has been throttled by low and unequal pay and a burdensome workload.

“Camden County Social Service workers love what we do and we want to provide high quality support to those we serve,” the closing slide in the union’s presentation states. “That’s why we got into this work and that is why we stay.”