Gov. Christie's 134th Town Hall Meeting In Matawan

Members of the NJEA protest outside the meeting prior to the town hall. Governor Chris Christie 134th Town Hall Meeting In Matawan at the Old Bridge High School Gymnasium.

(Aristide Economopoulos/NJ Advance Media)

TRENTON — The New Jersey Education Association said Tuesday that it was cutting off talks with Gov. Chris Christie's administration over changes to the state's public employee retirement system.

The teachers unions had agreed to work with a commission appointed by Christie to shore up the troubled retirement system, which is underfunded by $90 billion. But that detente, described by the Republican governor in February as an "unprecedented accord," proved brief.

"NJEA has notified the New Jersey Pension and Benefits Study Commission that our sole focus is ensuring that our members' current pensions are fully funded by the state, and that no further discussion will be occurring between the NJEA and the commission," Wendell Steinhauer, president of the teachers union, said in a statement.

Steinhauer said the union regretted signing onto an agreement with the commission on a broad "roadmap" for reform, and blamed Christie for misrepresenting the magnitude of the pact.

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Then and now: Christie and the NJEA on pensions

Christie's proposal, unveiled with some surprise during his budget address, called for freezing pensions and enrolling union members in investment plans more in line with a 401(k) offered in the private sector. It would also have required public workers to agree to concessions in their health-care coverage.

The breakdown in talks comes as the state's labor unions and Christie prepare to battle before the state Supreme Court over pension funding. The state has appealed a trial court ruling that Christie breached the contractual rights of public employees to full pension payments under a 2011 law.

As part of the law, Christie agreed to increase payments to the pension system over seven years until reaching the full amount recommended by actuaries.

The governor initially kept his promise, but shortchanged payments in 2014 and 2015 after disappointing state revenue ripped holes in the respective budgets. Christie cut $2.4 billions from the planned payments, prompting unions to take him to court.

In the meantime, Steinhauer said, union members have continued to contribute more of their pay, and the other terms of the 2011 reforms, including suspended cost-of-living increases and a higher retirement age, are still in effect.

"Our members have complied fully with (the law), paying millions of dollars more each year into their pensions and for their health insurance premiums, even while the law made deep cuts in their pension benefits," he said.

Christie has proposed paying $1.3 billion into the pensions for the fiscal year that begins July 1, far less than the $3.1 billion he was scheduled to pay.

A Christie spokesman, Kevin Roberts, called the teachers union's unwillingness to continue talks "unfortunate," but said the administration would continue to promote reforms to the system.

"It is unfortunate that the NJEA is unwilling to continue to work with the independent, non-partisan commission," Roberts said. "This unwillingness does not change the numbers. We will continue to work to solve this crisis with the commission."

The education association had initially agreed to work with Christie's commission on a framework for retirement reform, roiling other labor unions who wanted to keep the focus on the money owed to the system. It was an unexpected ceasefire from a group that has spent $30 million fiercely fighting the governor, who frequently criticized the union.

At the time, Steinhauer said the court battle over the 2011 pension law was separate from the need to put the system on a better footing.

Tom Byrne, a member of Christie's Pension and Benefit Study Commission, suggested the union's cooperation was also unpopular with rank-and-file members.

"I hope that their members appreciate that the leadership has tried to deal with a complex problem," Byrne said.

According to Steinhauer, "as those discussions went on, it became obvious the commission was going to make recommendations to which we could not agree: forcing employees to pay to repair their pensions with even deeper cuts in their health benefits, expanding the current statutory premium costs for employees, and undermining their collective bargaining rights."

In February, the commission had recommended a far-reaching plan to reinvent the public worker retirement system, including freezing the pension system and moving workers onto a hybrid defined-benefit, defined-contribution plan and asking workers to pay more for less generous health insurance.

"Ultimately, there was no consensus reached on any of the broad concepts we discussed with the commission, and there are serious concerns about some of those concepts," Steinhauer said in the statement.

While Christie's commission has moved on to the work of implementing the recommendations, Byrne said the pullout by the teachers union would slow the process.

"It makes it much more challenging in the short term," he said.

Moreover, Byrne warned that workers should not count on a favorable Supreme Court ruling to solve the long-term funding crisis.

"The court has no ability to go out and find billions of dollars," he said. "And so what I hope is that we don't create an illusion that a favorable court order solves the problem or somehow makes people's pensions more secure, because they're not."

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Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com . Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.