Unions ready to fight Christie pension system plan

Gov. Chris Christie plans to unveil a proposal for further changes to the state’s pension system later this summer and unions for New Jersey’s public workers have already been gearing up for a battle.

The Republican governor has spent much of the year campaigning that the current system isn’t sustainable. He says the state’s contribution is so high it makes increasing education funding or cutting taxes difficult.

But the Democrats who control the Legislature and their union allies say they aren’t interested in hearing proposals from Christie after he unilaterally cut the state’s contributions to pension funds for the last two fiscal years.