130 face layoffs at New Jersey Network

About 130 employees at New Jersey Network received letters yesterday that they face layoffs at the start of the new year. A legislative task force last month agreed with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie that the state can no longer afford to operate the network.Dudley Burge with Communications Workers of America Local 1032 said he hopes transitional funding for NJN will be approved.”FCC licenses would have to be changed if there were any change in the status of the network,” said Burge. “So it’s hard to see how the Jan. 1 date could be a real date.”Legislative leaders and representatives of the Christie Administration are working on a plan to convert NJN into an independent non-profit broadcast outlet.More than a hundred workers at the Motor Vehicle Commission and about 30 at the Division of Children and Families have also received layoff notices.