New Jersey State Workers Uncertain If They Will Get Back Pay Following Shutdown
TRENTON, N.J. (CBS) -- The three-day New Jersey state shutdown is over, but the uncertainty is not for state workers who are waiting to find out whether they'll be paid for those days.
Many New Jersey workers have only Monday's pay at risk, but some who work weekends have three days that they weren't paid during the shutdown.
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Gov. Chris Christie said Friday that state workers would not get back pay during a shutdown, but softened that stance after the budget agreement Monday night.
Hetty Rosenstein is the New Jersey director of the the largest union of state government workers, the Communications Workers of America.
"The real question is do we get paid after there is a fight, or should we get paid because the governor does the right thing before there is a fight? And we don't quite know the answer to that yet," said Rosenstein.
The CEA represents 35,000 New Jersey state workers.
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Rosenstein says she's talked to union lawyers and the CWA will file a grievance if it's necessary.
For now, she's hoping to resolve the matter with telephone calls. A spokesman for Christie says the legislature has to act first, before workers can get back pay.
