Corzine is not budging.
The Garden State's workers won't be alone in grumbling their way to work on Friday. This year, New Jersey became one of 18 states that will keep state offices open that day, also known as Black Friday -- one of the biggest shopping days of the year. New York and Connecticut also deny state workers the holiday, as well as the likes of Alaska, Hawaii and Wyoming.
Corzine, who received only half-a-dozen calls in support of his decision, is not backing down. The former Goldman Sachs executive warned state employees last year that the decades-long tradition was coming to an end. State holidays should be negotiated by the union or set by law -- not granted annually by the governor, he said.
"We, as a state, are here to serve the citizens," Corzine spokeswoman Lilo Stainton said. "They can use a vacation day if they want. They have some 20 vacation days."
Corzine plans to be working in his Statehouse office that day, Stainton said.
The state's business leaders agreed with Corzine.
"We think that state workers can accomplish (their shopping), like the rest of us, on their own time," said Jim Leonard, senior vice president of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce.
Leonard also pointed out that many of their retail members open doors as early as 5 a.m., with early bird specials, allowing customers to shop well before the typical 9 a.m. workday starts.
"It's been a family-friendly tradition for decades, and we believe that tradition should be honored," said Carla Katz, president of the Communications Workers of America Local 1034. "Workers are referring to the governor as the Thanksgiving Grinch."
In contrast, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco last month took a softer view than Corzine. She cited the importance of promoting family values when she granted state workers three four-day weekends with Thanksgiving Friday, Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.
However, it seems that Virginia's governors may be the most generous, starting the holiday with a half-day on Wednesday, in addition to being off Friday.
A Wyoming governor is one of the few to revoke Thanksgiving Friday as a legal holiday. In 1983, then-Gov. Jim Geringer took away the holiday to rein in the cost of holiday pay premiums. Instead, Wyoming's workers, who are not unionized, were given a floating personal day. State offices are open and workers must be available to work. There was no protest at the time, like that seen this year in New Jersey, said Danny Romero, a Wyoming state human resources consultant.
Only one other New Jersey governor in recent memory tried to take the holiday away. Brendan Byrne, governor from 1974 to 1982, denied workers the holiday one year but quickly reversed course the next, Katz said. It makes good economic sense to save on state operating costs and to have thousands of workers adding to the retail economy for the day, she said.
Texas relented in 1991 and made Thanksgiving Friday a holiday, in part due to the traditional University of Texas vs. Texas A&M University football game formerly scheduled on Thanksgiving, said state auditor John Keel.
"The Friday after Thanksgiving was one of the deadest work days in Texas," Keel said.
The game now is played on Thanksgiving Friday, but no one has called for a repeal, Keel said.
Maine chalks up the four-day weekend as good for state energy conservation.
"It just makes sense that in the cold weather, you shut down state offices on Wednesday night and don't warm them up again until Monday morning," said state human resources director Alicia Kellogg.
California state workers agreed in the 1980s to trade Admissions Day on Sept. 9 for the long November weekend. Some states move other holidays to November to grant the longer weekend. Indiana moves Lincoln's Birthday from February, as does New Mexico with Presidents Day, and Georgia celebrates Robert E. Lee's January birthday in November. Nevada designates the day "Family Day" and closes state offices.
In Tennessee, the governor has the discretion to swap Columbus Day and Black Friday as holidays. Given the option since 1987, state workers have voted for the year's top bargain shopping day every year.
