Ordinances requiring Jersey City municipal employees to work 25 years for the city to get lifetime health benefits, and to require the use of compostable plastic, recyclable paper, and/or reusable checkout bags by stores in Jersey City, are under consideration by the City Council although they were tabled at a Nov. 10 meeting.
The 25-year requirement for lifetime insurance coverage is being pushed by Councilman Steven Fulop. It is intended to end the practice known as “tacking,” in which employees who have accumulated most of their government experience in other municipalities and only worked for Jersey City for a short time are still entitled to lifetime health benefits courtesy of the city’s taxpayers.
Fulop got an earful of opposition on Nov. 10 from his council colleagues and union representatives, who either wanted the legislation stopped, or to undergo changes to lessen the time threshold for service.
Fulop wants to end the practice known as “tacking.”
________
The council also decided to table an ordinance for checkout bags that would apply to major supermarket and pharmacy chains in Jersey City. The bag ordinance is sponsored by Fulop and Mayor Jerramiah Healy to cut down on plastic bag pollution, which “creates unsightly litter,” as cited in the ordinance, and imposes fines of upwards of $500 if stores violate the ordinance.
The ordinance was tabled after representatives of a supermarket chain and a bag supply company aired their respective concerns.
Getting their loud on
The decibel level in the City Council chambers rose several notches at the Nov. 10 meeting when Joseph Krajnik, the president of the Jersey City Firefighters Union Local 1066, yelled “no one violates my contract” at the council regarding the health benefits ordinance and demanded that the council either pull the ordinance or defend it against a lawsuit in the state’s courts.
Joseph Delaney, president of the Police Officers Supervisors Union, slammed his hand several times at the podium where the public addresses the council. He concurred with Krajnik and said his union would take legal action if the ordinance was passed.
Fulop struck back at Krajnik by pointing out that his yelling didn’t “make him right.” Fulop explained that only new hires would be impacted.
Council members had already planned not to vote for the insurance ordinance. In fact, they want to lower the time of service from 25 to 15 years. They also want to ensure that employees who first work at autonomous, or semi-independent agencies such as the Jersey City Incinerator Authority, would have their time credited to earn the lifetime health benefits.
City Corporation Counsel Bill Matsikoudis said he will draft some ordinances for a future meeting, including one applying to autonomous agencies and another to include the 15-year threshold.
It’s not in the bag(s)
The ordinance compelling large stores in Jersey City to use compostable plastic, recyclable paper, and/or reusable checkout bags was also not in the bag, so to speak.
Rocco D’Antonio, business development manager for Philadelphia-based plastic and paper bag supplier Penn Jersey, argued against compostable plastic bags, saying regular plastic bags cost 10 times less to make and need far less material for creation than compostable bags.
Lorelei Mottese, manager of government relations for Wakefern Food Corporation, distributors for the ShopRite chain of supermarkets, said compostable bags cannot be recycled, as opposed to the single-use plastic bags that the ordinance would ban.
Mottese also played up ShopRite’s efforts to encourage recycling and/or reuse of plastic, paper, and reusable bags. The company’s stores have bins where shoppers can drop off old plastic bags, and offers cash register rebates for reuse.
Mottese also said she wanted to meet with the city before they went forward with putting the ordinance into law. Fulop agreed to let the ordinance be tabled to work on it further.
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.