TRENTON – Democratic leaders walked out of Gov. Chris Christie’s office with smiles that indicated nothing.
State Sen. Pres. Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford) and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange) were hopeful a compromise would be reached soon, but told a group of reporters camped out that no agreement had been reached today regarding the Democrats’ version of arbitration reform. Sweeney and Oliver unveiled their bill last week, and the governor took shots at it right from the get-go.
“We’re still in the discussion phase,” Oliver said. “We’re getting down to crunch time.”
She said the majority of the discussion was over arbitration, the process in which municipalities and unions come to agreement on labor negotiations.
She said it could take another two days of talk with Christie before an agreement is reached.
Sweeney, not giving much away, said, “We’re working very hard in good faith.”
