Over the past several months the City of Newark and the unions that represent the city’s firefighters and police officers have been at odds over the implementation of a plan to transition the provision of health care benefits to the State Health Benefits Plan. While the sides have gone back and forth in private, in council meetings and now in the press, one fact that appears perfectly clear is that huge failures occurred with the negotiations by a Business Administrator with a long history of attacks on public safety unions and his botched roll out of the plan. Jack Kelly was also complicit in a DCA plan to layoff all of Harrison FMBA Local 22’s firefighters in retaliation for their refusal to accept an unsafe work schedule.
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Boy made honorary Wildwood City fire chief before he loses eyesight
WILDWOOD, N.J. (WPVI) --
It was a dream come true for 4-year-old Jackson Mitchell, who's been sworn in as an honorary chief of the Wildwood City Fire Department.
He's always wanted to be a firefighter. Jackson, who is autistic and has a number of health problems, suffers from a hereditary disease that will soon rob him of his eyesight.
"If his eyesight stayed where it is now he will never be able to be a fireman and I know that's his dream. That's why he wears red glasses," said his mother, Christy.
The NJ State Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled Atlantic County and Bridgewater Township committed unfair labor practices
The NJ FMBA is proud to announce the New Jersey Supreme Court ruling which upheld a PERC hearing examiner decision and an arbitration award in the Atlantic County and Bridgewater cases.
We have been reporting on this for the past couple of years. The crux of the case was continuing step increases upon contract expiration. Where a contract is silent on what happens to step increases during the period between contract expiration and a new agreement, PERC had previously applied the dynamic status quo doctrine in requiring those increments to continue.