CWA Local 1032 Wins First Round of Fight to Save NJN

When Governor Chris Christie unveiled his draconian budget in March, he set out to privatize NJN by January 1, selling the infrastructure owned by the state and eliminating the jobs there.  Christie wanted legislation to privatize NJN on his desk by July 1.

In response, CWA Local 1032, which represents the workers at NJN, developed a broad bipartisan coalition in the legislature to oppose the plan--at least temporarily.  At the same time, the Local started pushing the creation of a task force to determine what the implications of dumping the network would be for New Jerseyans, as well as ways NJN can improve to meet the demands of the modern media environment.

Their efforts paid off early Tuesday morning, as the State Legislaure overwhelmingly approved the task force to study the future viability of NJN, rather than just scrapping the entire network.  The legislation also calls for a study to find out exactly what the current infrastructure is worth to taxpayers.  The bipartisan work paid off, as the task force was approved 40-0 in the Senate, and 72-6 in the Assembly.

"The workers at NJN really took ownership of the effort," said Patrick Kavanagh, President of Local 1032.  "They had face-to-face meetings with more than 40 legislators, created and maintained a website in their free time to educate the public, and did all of the work on creating the television ad, which ran on cable networks as negotiations were heating up in the legislature."

See the website by clicking here.  The television ad appears below.

Throughout the process, Local 1032 made two key arguments to legislators from both parties.  First, NJN is the only news source that covers events in New Jersey.  Other television networks gravitate towards the advertising dollars in New York and Philadelphia, meaning that without a specific role for a New Jersey-based news network, coverage of news events in our state will disappear.  Second, the assets and licenses owned by NJN, including the ability to broadcast from Virginia to Connecticut, are worth several hundred million dollars, and they are currently owned by taxpayers.  Simply giving all that away to save $7 million or so in the annual budget is simply not in their best interest.

The legislation calls for a report due by October 15, and will include recommendations about moving forward.  Local 1032 will be active in the process, and backs a legislative proposal to create a Public Media Corporation to preserve NJN.  The Corporation would continue to hold the broadcast licenses, ensuring that coverage of New Jersey news and cultural affiars continues, while allowing NJN to operate more effectively.

"We're not out of the woods yet, but the debate has shifted from 'How does the state dump NJN?' to 'How does the state ensure NJN stays?'  That's incredibly important moving forward," said Kavanagh.

Local 1032 is encouraging all CWA members to call the Governor at (609) 292-6000.  Tell him not to give up assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and to preserve coverage of New Jersey news.