A payment to the pension fund scheduled to be made before June 30 will be reduced — from $1.6 billion to $696 million — via executive order, Christie said. The governor also intends to shrink a $2.25 billion payment that was set for the next fiscal year to $681 million, but said he will seek the Democratic-controlled Legislature’s approval for that move.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is once again taking aim at a favorite target: his state's public workers. And he's once again taking money from them. In his first term as governor, Christie pushed for pension changes, with workers paying more of their wages into the pension fund, raising the retirement age, and other cuts. The workers were forced to make up a large part of a pension fund shortfall because the state had failed to contribute its share to the fund. But Christie was also supposed to make bigger payments to the pension fund. Now, of course, he's backing out of that commitment, taking money that was supposed to go to workers' pensions to plug a hole in his budget:Of course, Christie is taking money from public workers rather than taxing the wealthy a little bit more. Of f'ing course he is.

The New Jersey Education Association and Communications Workers of America are suing to block the plan. Another big question is how the legislature will respond to the ask. Will the politically damaged governor get the kind of cooperation he has in the past?

Continue reading for more of the week's labor and education news.