By Victor Skinner
EAGnews.org

CAMDEN, N.J. – The jig is up in New Jersey.

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A newly released report from the bipartisan State Commission of Investigation exposed that union officials statewide have raked in more than $30 million in public tax dollars since 2006 while “occupying government job titles but doing no government work.”

Teachers unions are notorious for securing paid release time for their leaders to conduct union business while on school district payrolls. EAGnews.org has documented the practice in several states across the nation.

In New Jersey, the report cites Pemberton Township schools, where a classroom aide was given a $14,000 raise when he became a union official and was released from his regular duties to do union work. The union then blocked the district’s effort to use that person as a substitute teacher once a week, Philly.com reports.

Another example was in the Lakewood School District, which granted full-time leave for one teacher to serve as a local union official from 2001 through 2011. The report shows that even after collecting 50 percent of his salary from the union, the district spent $182,000 on compensation for this official between 2006 and 2010, according to MyCentralJersey.com.

The Brick Township School District paid more than $275,000 in salary and benefits to have a teacher  serve as a full-time Brick Township Education Association officer.

“The district also paid the employee ‘perfect attendance’ bonuses totaling $1,375, even though the employee refused to use the district’s electronic timekeeping system used for tracking attendance,” MyCentralJersy.com reports.

The Brick Township district tried to end the racket, but the BTEA filed a grievance with state Public Employment Relations Commission and won.

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It’s all in the SCI report.

But perhaps the most disgusting part of the union “release time” scam is that in many cases the agreements are negotiated as “sidebar” deals that are not included in official teachers union contracts that the public can access.

“While teachers union contracts are posted online by the state Public Employment Relations Commission, the SCI (report) says none of the union-leave side agreements identified during its investigation are posted. In one district, officials didn’t know about the paid leave time until the SCI told them,” according to MyCentralJersey.com.

In some cases, union officials in New Jersey remained on paid full-time leave for decades until retirement, and then collected as much as $112,000 a year in pension payments.

Gov. Chris Christie, an outspoken critic of unnecessary union expenses, has cited the SCI report as a prime example of wasted tax dollars. His spokesman, Michael Drewniak, summed the situation up best for Philly.com.

“This shady, often-hidden public subsidy of union leave from paid public employment costs us all millions every year and must end,” he said.