HARTFORD, Jan. 16 — Friday will be the last day on the job for 1,800 state employees, a sweeping layoff that Gov. John G. Rowland had hoped could be averted through union concessions when he proposed it last month to help Connecticut close its huge budget gap.þþBut the labor talks have stalled, as have budget negotiations between Mr. Rowland and the Legislature. And the governor now says as many as 1,000 more state workers could face layoffs if the unions do not accept his package of concessions.þþFriday's layoffs — the last of the 2,800 that Mr. Rowland ordered in December — mean that about 5 percent of the staff of each state agency and department will have been let go. The layoffs will save $120 million, said Christopher Cooper, the governor's spokesman, far short of the $550 million in concessions over three years Mr. Rowland has requested.þþÿThere's a good chance more layoffs will come, absent any concessions,ÿ Mr. Cooper said. But he said that if an agreement can be reached between the governor and the unions, ÿ90 percent or as many as possibleÿ of all of the layoffs will be rescinded.þþThe last meeting between the governor's staff and negotiators for the 13 state employees' unions was on the weekend of Dec. 14. Since then, the deficit in the state's $13.2 billion budget has mushroomed from $500 million to $650 million.þþNo vote on the concessions is scheduled, said Dan Livingston, a union negotiator, nor are talks between the governor and the unions.þþÿThat proposal is dead in the water and totally unfair,ÿ Mr. Livingston said today.þþThe governor's proposal asks state employees to take a smaller raise this year than their contract provides, calls for a wage freeze next year and stipulates an increase in health insurance premiums.þþIn his State of the State address last week, the governor said Connecticut employees were among the best paid in the nation.þþLast fall, when the deficit was estimated at $500 million, the governor sought to close the gap with $200 million in tax increases, including a tax on incomes over $1 million, as well as $200 million in spending cuts and $100 million in wage and benefits givebacks for the current fiscal year. The plan also sought an additional $450 million in union concessions over the next two fiscal years.þþWith next year's deficit estimated at $2 billion, Mr. Rowland recently said he would support a plan to cut spending by $750 million and increase taxes by $750 million. But he said he would veto any plan that would rely solely on taxes to fill the budget deficit. þþThe Democratic leadership is drafting its own budget that is expected ÿhopefully next week,ÿ the house speaker, Moira K. Lyons, said today. þþThe state employees to be laid off on Friday include 100 social workers who manage the cases of elderly people and children, 228 people at the Department of Mental Health, 164 employees of the Department of Corrections and 268 workers at the Department of Transportation, including 150 snowplow drivers.þþThe unions plan a demonstration for noon on Friday outside the office of Marc S. Ryan, the governor's budget chief. Workers plan to wear stickers that read, ÿWe'll Be Back.ÿþþþ
Source: NY Times
