The fight now in full force in New Jersey over Chris Christie’s failure to make pension payments on behalf of the state and the subsequent creation of his Pension and Health Benefit Study Commission has brought up some serious questions for me in the past 6 weeks. 6 weeks ago, I wasn't interested in fighting for a pension, but more concerned with my own debts. But after a meeting with CWA 1038 leadership about student loans and how they share my concerns, I now want to fight the bigger fight, of which student loans is just one front.

What’s prompted this change is anger. Anger at the situation that young people today are put in. Anger at the older generations’ smugness toward those who can’t retire or can’t save as much. Anger at the financial planners and experts who tell us to max out 401(k)’s and Roth IRA’s and deferred compensation plans. Anger at a choice between having children someday and being able to retire. Anger at a Governor who two years ago, in front of a national audience, told us how the pension system in NJ would be saved and now is telling us, “No pain, no gain.” But that pain is for current workers, some of us who are paying into the pension, but have not yet vested. That pain is for the future generation of workers. And that pain is for the taxpayers of New Jersey, as those who would normally go into public service for the benefits, like job security, a pension plan, and quality affordable healthcare plans, go to the private sector and causing quality of public services to suffer.

The audacity of a man who made proclamations about saved pension systems then going on a town hall tour, screening questions, and saying the people of New Jersey overwhelmingly support him is appalling. Public workers live all across the state, work in field offices and local branches. They’re your neighbors and friends. Their kids sit in the same classrooms as your children, they bowl with your parents on Thursday nights. And yet people on comment sections on NJ.com and at these town halls have no problem saying how they believe our contributions and sacrifices are somehow less than someone in the private sector; our pension payments should be ignored and moved to a 401(k) and our health care should be cut. Chris Christie is not advocating cutting some nebulous program that may or may not be needed (or heaven forbid, tax cuts to companies and casinos), but the actual theft of wages of your neighbors. It’s completely analogous to if your employer had a 401(k) matching program and you put in your 6% of salary, but they never made those matching payments. What he is doing is breaking a contract; a contract that, were we employed in the private sector, ironically, the government would enforce.

So how does this tie to student loans? This pension fight is just part of a larger fight that harms today’s younger generations. From high student loans, to a pension system that I’m required to pay into but may never see, to suppressed wages, to a real estate market dominated by the wealthy and baby boomers, the deck is stacked against the so-called Millennial Generation. It’s a significant problem that my generation doesn’t have an AARP or NRA to defend our interests. It’s a fact that we don’t have the money like Sallie Mae and Bank of America to lobby Congress and the New Jersey Legislature. So as the NJ public workforce gets younger, unions, like CWA 1038, can become our method of lobbying. Rather than standing on State Street by myself with a picket sign, the public workers unions can begin to adopt our issues as part of their platform in recognition that they not only help their members, but all of the millennial generation in New Jersey.