NJ Public Workers Protest Furloughs

Public employees are protesting New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine's plan to order unpaid furloughs and freeze wages to balance the state budget.
    
Members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) staged rallies at 15 locations Thursday.
    
A handful of protesters wearing union T-shirts and waving signs were at the main gates at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital.
    
Jerome Collier of Local 2208 says the governor should honor the state worker contract. He says the workers in his local barely scrape by earning $24,000 to $31,000 a year full-time.
    
Corzine has threatened to lay off up to 7,000 state workers unless the unions agree to give back the 3.5 percent pay raise they are due July 1 and take 14 unpaid furlough days by June 30, 2010.