March 31, 2009
Pay raises amid layoff threats
[See update at end of item.]
Tomorrow most state employees will get 3 percent raises. But those raises may prove to be a bitter April Fool's Day joke for thousands of workers who could lose their jobs this summer.
The fate of those workers is in the hands of Civil Service Employees Association, Public Employees Federation and other public employee unions.
So far, they have rejected Governor David Paterson's call for contract concessions.
When he proposed his budget in December, Paterson asked the unions for two contracts givebacks: forgoing the 3 percent scheduled pay raise and delaying one-week's pay until employees retire or resign. He also sought reform in retiree health benefits and creation of a less-expensive "tier," which could be accomplished without collective bargaining.
Last week, the governor increased pressure on the unions. He said he would eliminate 8,900 jobs starting July 1 unless union leaders agreed to the concessions, which he said would save the state $481 million over two years.
None of the "workforce savings" sought by the governor are reflected in the $132 billion 2009-10 budget nearing passage in the Legislature today.*
*UPDATE:
A budget division official offers this response:
"You wrote: None of the "workforce savings" sought by the governor are reflected in the $132 billion 2009-10 budget nearing passage in the Legislature today.
"This is incorrect. We are moving forward to initiate workforce reductions to achieve the savings that were not achieved in negotiations with the unions. As has been widely reported, we are reaching out to agencies over the coming days to begin process of developing workforce reduction targets and to have agencies develop workforce reduction plans. These will reflect both attritions and layoffs to achieve $481 million of savings that we sought through negotiation.
"The workforce savings are included as a gap-closing action and will be reflected in the final financial plan."
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