Friday, June 24 – The New Jersey State House passed an anti-union bill that shreds Public Employee benefits on Thursday.  This legislation will reduce public employee benefits, cuts cost-of-living (COLA) increases for their pensions and destroys their collective bargaining rights.  This legislation impacts over 750,000 public workers, including teachers, firefighters, emergency medical workers and police officers.

Despite protests outside the State Capitol this bill passed the House and is scheduled to be voted on by the Republican controlled Senate on Monday, June 27, 2011.  This legislation will then be sent to Republican Governor Chris Christie who is out to break the unions in his state.  Christie is marching in the same direction as Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Ohio Governor John Kasich, and Florida Governor Rick Scott.  For more information on this story watch the Thom Hartman report on Truthout.org by clicking here.