Get the Facts: Ciattarelli Targeted Public Employee Pensions and Healthcare

Jack Ciattarelli has made one thing clear: if elected, he’s coming for New Jersey public employees’ pensions and health care

In 2014, Ciattarelli proposed radical changes that would threaten retirement security for thousands of New Jersey state employees — including raising the pension age to 65, capping annual pension payouts at $40,000, and eliminating defined benefit pensions in favor of 401(k)-style plans. He also called for cutting so-called “Cadillac” health care plans for public workers, a move that would shift more costs onto the shoulders of teachers, nurses, and state employees who already sacrificed pay increases in exchange for stable benefits.

In 2016, Ciattarelli proposed ending post-retirement health benefits entirely for new hires and privatizing the pension system - saying new state employees should not receive retiree health care and instead be forced into 401(k)s, which he misleadingly claimed were fairer to young workers.
 
In 2021, he floated cutting up to 10% of the state workforce — thousands of jobs — and once again called for “reforms” to public worker benefits, especially for new hires. 

[Star-Ledger, Op-Ed, 6/9/14; Rebovich Institute for NJ Politics, 10/6/16; 77 WABC, 1/23/21]
 
Ciattarelli has shown his true colors – and we can’t trust him. The choice we have in November could not be clearer.