Dozens of union members gathered Monday in front of State Sen. Loretta Weinberg's office to protest the contentious debate over how to fund the Transportation Trust Fund.
Ju-Lee Tretter said she's been relying on a food bank for herself and her two children since she was laid off from a construction project halted by Gov. Chris Christie in the wake of a battle over how to replenish the Transportation Trust Fund.
Tretter, along with dozens of members of the Laborers' International Union of North America, gathered Monday in front of State Sen. Loretta Weinberg's (D-Bergen) office to protest the contentious debate over how to fund the TTF.
The governor halted more than 1,000 construction projects across the state in late June to ration the money that was left in the fund. Dozens of those projects are located in Bergen County.
Tretter said she cut back on cable and turned off her daughter's cell phone to stretch her budget. Even still, she doesn't have the money to pay rent. She said she had to borrow $20 from her mom to pay for gas to attend the rally.
Construction shutdown could balloon costs
"I need to put a roof over their heads and food on the table," Tretter said, who's from Manahawkin. "They need to get us back to work."
The union also visited Sen. Robert Gordon (D-Bergen) and plans to visit the offices of other state senators in the next two weeks.
The union members said they depend on what they earn from the busy summer months to get them through the winter. In those winter months, when work is slow, they sometimes have to dip into their savings or file for unemployment.
Danny Silva, from Brick, said he's already receiving unemployment after his construction project was halted and isn't sure how he'll make it work unless he soon gets back to work.
"It's just something that nobody anticipated," Silva said.
The union estimates that 10 percent of its members have been laid off by the construction upheaval. Many repeated Sweeney's line of attack against Christie, that he was holding up the process until after the general election.
A spokesman for Christie said it was the Senate who "dropped the ball and created the crisis."
"The Governor is committed to a solution which represents tax fairness to fund our roads, bridges and mass transit by raising the gas tax AND providing broad based tax relief. He was willing to do this in June, prior to the national election," spokesman Brian Murray said over email. "He was willing to do it in July, prior to the national election. He is willing to do it in August, prior to the national election."
Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson) last week called for the sides to sit down and work out a plan. Hudson County, where officials have said there are 21 construction projects affected by the funding shutdown, is considering suing the Department of Transportation over the issue.
Initially, the Legislature had been working on a plan to raise the gas tax by 23 cents to pay for construction projects, but the plan was not expected to garner enough votes to override a Christie veto.
Christie reached an agreement with the Assembly that cut sales tax by 1 percent. But,State Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) said the plan would break the state's budget and refused to bring it to a vote. He and Christie went back and forth but the counteroffers failed.
Staff writer Samantha Marcus contributed to this report.
Sara Jerde may be reached at sjerde@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SaraJerde.