Hudson County employees and union representatives urge hazard pay and better conditions; County Counsel says dispute is subject to bargaining and pending PERC

Dozens of County Plaza employees, union representatives and community advocates used the Hudson County Board of County Commissioners’ March 27 public-comment period to press the County for pandemic-era hazard or retro pay and to describe what they called unacceptable working conditions.

Local 2306 member (and HSS employee) Tawana Mayer told the Board she and many colleagues were promised additional pay for pandemic-era work but have not received it. “We want our money and we want it now,” Mayer said. She described building-condition problems at County Plaza and said delays and inconsistent responses from personnel and administration had left employees frustrated.

Augustin Sanchez, staff representative for AFSCME New Jersey, Council 63, said Local 2306 members provide essential frontline services and urged county management to engage in clear communications and good-faith resolution of outstanding pay and workplace issues.

Private investigator and activist Leroy Truth and other public commenters cited prior local reporting and questioned how the county spent federal relief funds. Truth also publicly asked whether former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey had worked for the County and whether he received lifetime medical benefits; Commissioner William O'Dea said he believed McGreevey had worked for the County in the past but the meeting did not establish documentary proof.

Raymond Mitchell also used the public-comment period to raise questions about his father’s March 30, 2020 death and to say OPRA requests and communications with state and local officials had not yielded satisfactory answers.

In response to repeated requests for information and immediate action, Commissioner William O’Dea moved that the Board go into closed session to discuss contract negotiations; the Board voted unanimously to move into closed session. After the Board returned to open session, County Counsel Donato J. Battista said the hazard-pay dispute traces to discussions covering March 21–June 29, 2020, that a “graphical error” was communicated to the union in 2020 and that the union subsequently filed a complaint at the Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC); the County is defending the case.

“Those issues are the subject of pending litigation,” Battista said, and he declined in the public forum to negotiate or discuss collective-bargaining positions while the matter remains before PERC. The Administration agreed to update the Board on the negotiations in caucus/closed session as appropriate.

What was not decided

Speakers asked for specific accounting and immediate payments; the Board did not adopt a payment or a new appropriation at the March 27 meeting. County Counsel said litigation and active negotiations limit what could be discussed publicly and that the matter would be addressed through the bargaining process and in closed session.

Next steps

The Administration will brief the Board on the status of negotiations and the PERC filing; union representatives and employees are likely to return to future meetings until a settlement or other resolution is reached.