Some N.J. union officials have been on paid leave for decades, investigation reveals
By Christopher Baxter
NJ.com
Published: Wednesday, May 09, 2012, 9:49 AM Updated: Wednesday, May 09, 2012, 11:55 AM
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/05/some_nj_union_officials_have_b.html
TRENTON — Public labor union representatives granted paid leave or release to conduct union business cost taxpayers millions of dollars annually in salaries and benefits, according to a report issued today by the State Commission of Investigation.
During the period 2006 through 2011, the commission found that government-paid union leave for public employees cost taxpayers more than $30 million in salaries and medical benefits.
This finding was drawn from an examination of contracts and employment agreements in a sample of more than 120 urban, suburban and rural school districts, 17 municipalities, all 21 counties, and 12 departments of state government.
“Although it is not uncommon, nor is it necessarily improper, for government employers to grant some form of time-off for union work, the commission found significant and questionable variations in how such leave is authorized, who qualifies for it, who keeps track of it, how it is constituted and who ultimately pays the bill,” the report said.
The commission found that some union officials have been on paid leave for years or even decades, while at the same time holding government jobs but doing no actual work for the taxpayers. In some cases, the commission said, taxpayers also shelled out for stipends, overtime, cars, office space, computers and other union equipment.
The report also found that the paid union arrangements were often crafted to keep the public in the dark. In some instances, they were authorized by contract “sidebar” agreements not easily discoverable by the public. In others, the leave is a matter of custom with no written authorization, the commission found.
Aside from these impediments to transparency, the commission also found instances of sloppy and incomplete record-keeping, as well as lengthy and inexplicable delays in the production of documents necessary for the completion of its investigation.
The commission recommends that taxpayer-paid union leave be eliminated or substantially curtailed and that uniform rules be established for granting union leave. It also recommends governments enhance public disclosure and require all employees on full-time paid union leave to notify their government agency.
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. ~ D.H. Lawrence
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