Anyone here this? I just caught the tail end of the story on WTEN

more dirty deeds from the repubs and the problems bush caused over here

Never mind, that's what I get for hearing the last part of the conversation

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=783255

Quoted Text

CAPITOL
State targets 9,000 layoffs Paterson says trim work force; unions furious
BY MICHAEL GORMLEY The Associated Press

    Gov. David Paterson on Tuesday ordered layoffs that could total about 4 percent of state workers after unions refused concessions amid a staggering economic downturn that was projected to push the state’s deficit to $16 billion in the next year.
    Budget Director Laura Anglin told The Associated Press that the layoffs of nearly 9,000 employees would be the first since the late 1990s after unions refused to even provide counterproposals.
    It was unclear if the eventual number of layoffs could be offset by attrition or early retirement incentives. Those are among the details that would be worked out in coming weeks.
    The layoffs, which Anglin said could save the state $481 million over two years, could begin July 1. The state currently employs nearly 200,000 people, but only 141,000 are directly under the governor’s control and that’s where the job reductions will be made.
    Anglin said unions have been informed and could still try to return to the table in the coming days before a budget is negotiated.
    “We felt there was no other option at this point considering the size and magnitude of the deficit,” Anglin said in an interview. “We asked everyone for a sacrifice and the unions were not willing to have that conversation.”
    The unions held their positions.
    “If Gov. Paterson really believes putting nearly 9,000 New Yorkers out of work is a good idea, he really is out of touch with life on Main Street,” said President Danny Donohue of the Civil Service Employees Association union, the state’s largest union.
    “There is absolutely no need to do layoffs,” said Ken Brynien, president of the Public Employees Federation. “It will not save the money that the governor thinks it will.
    “I think to some degree it is political maneuvering. He’s trying to get us back to the table,” Brynien said.
    In mid-December, Paterson had proposed layoffs of 521 workers while counting on attrition of 4,205 workers. But the recession has slowed retirements and Paterson and legislative leaders announced Tuesday that the projected defi cit for 2009-10 worsened by $2.2 billion, to a total of at least $16 billion for the coming year.
    E.J. McMahon, director of the fi scally conservative Empire Center for New York State Policy, called the move “a long overdue step.”
    McMahon said he was surprised, however, that Paterson never tipped his hand that he was willing to resort to layoffs, even as union leaders refused to deal and ran multimillion dollar TV ad campaigns against him and his proposed cuts.
    “I don’t know how he had not, until now, even hinted at any kind of punishment for failure to make concessions,” he said.
    Paterson has long sought to use the fiscal crisis to curb notorious overspending that has weakened state finances for years. Part of his plan was to seek mostly temporary concessions from the unions to avoid further deficits and even more serious problems.
    Anglin said the unions refused proposals to eliminate 3 percent pay raises expected this year; defer a week’s pay until retirement, a practice known as “lag pay”; or reduce state payments into retirees’ health care.
    The action is expected to save $163 million in the 2009-10 fiscal year and $318 million for 2010-11.
    The layoffs would apply only to workers in agencies under direct control of the governor’s offi ce such as highway crews, nurses, prison guards and..................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00101

I don't think that laying off 9,000 state workers will help NYS financially....HOWEVER....to avoid such a lay off, why can't they do what private sector is doing. Cut the work week and rotate days. Go down to 3 or 4 day weeks. Then everyone is still guaranteed their jobs and benefits.

Oh that's right....they can't/won't....they are union!

If their hours were cut, we the public would complain.  Can you imagine calling tax and finance with a question only to have an answering machine say "today is Friday, we are closed"   or "today is Monday, your wait on the phone will be longer than normal as half the employees take their mandatory furlough day on Mondays.   Imagine working where your schedule has Wed and Sunday off.  Your kid has to take his drivers test but DMV is closed on Wednesdays due to mandatory furlough, so you have to take time off from work

That fire at a residential facility where people died in the fire.  Let's see what happens when more cuts are made

Here's how many will get laid off-0. The Gov is a joke and the unions know it. This is a ploy to force the unions to give a little. The sooner this Gov gets thrown out the better. He couldn't win dog catcher next year.

There are essential employees nurses, police, state fire, guards and nonessential State Senate/Assembly hacks and DEC job killers. Non-essential State employees should have a 20% cut and the legislature should meet every other year. Anyone who thinks you can eliminate a $16 Billion deficit with no layoffs is in denial or a politician. Only in the public sector are layoffs unnecessary. Just soak the rich a little more?

Quoted from mikechristine1

If their hours were cut, we the public would complain.  Can you imagine calling tax and finance with a question only to have an answering machine say "today is Friday, we are closed"   or "today is Monday, your wait on the phone will be longer than normal as half the employees take their mandatory furlough day on Mondays.   Imagine working where your schedule has Wed and Sunday off.  Your kid has to take his drivers test but DMV is closed on Wednesdays due to mandatory furlough, so you have to take time off from work

That fire at a residential facility where people died in the fire.  Let's see what happens when more cuts are made

First of all, I have to wait forever whenever I call any state agency when they are fully staffed. And the wait comes after spending 15 minutes pressing #1 for this and #2 for that.

Second...they can have overlapping days so no office is ever 'closed'. It is being done in the private sector. The state doesn't have to since they can just tap into 'us', the taxpayer.

HOWEVER....I think benny is correct. It is just smoke and mirrors.

Quoted Text

CAPITAL REGION
Legislators critical of layoffs Paterson’s plan would likely have ripple effect locally
BY STEPHEN WILLIAMS Gazette Reporter

    If Gov. David Paterson eliminates nearly 9,000 state worker jobs — 4 percent of the state work force — to close a 2009-10 budget gap, the Capital Region will be hit hard.
    Nobody is saying yet where layoffs would occur, but there are more than 50,000 state workers in and around Albany — about 30 percent of the total state work force. And they live in communities throughout the Capital Region.
    Not surprisingly, local state legislators reacted negatively to Paterson’s Tuesday night announcement made as the April 1 deadline to approve a new budget approaches.
    “The only person who should lose their job is the governor,” said Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, R-Schenectady, a frequent critic of the Democratic governor and a current candidate for Congress.
    He and others said cutting the state work force will only add to the economic troubles that have created a projected $16 billion state budget gap.
    “During a downturn, the last thing you want to do is exacerbate the situation,” said Tedisco spokesman Dan Bazile. “These people will end up collecting unemployment and that will increase the state’s unemployment costs.”
    Assemblyman Bob Reilly, D-Colonie, represents an Albany and Saratoga County district that has perhaps the highest percentage of state workers in the entire state.
    He believes Paterson brought up layoffs to try to force state employee unions back to the negotiating table. He said both the unions and the governor need to be more fl exible.
    “I don’t think the Assembly will let that happen,” Reilly said of layoffs. “It would be very harmful during a downturn.”
    “I don’t think at this time it would be the wisest thing to do,” said Assemblyman George Amedore Jr., R-Rotterdam, who represents Schenectady and Montgomery counties. “There’s a whole lot of fat and waste that could be eliminated versus laying off hardworking men and women.”
    State Sen. Roy McDonald, RSaratoga, said the layoffs wouldn’t hurt the high-paid administrative employees, and the loss of state worker spending would hurt businesses throughout the region.
    “Most of these people will be working people,” McDonald said. “They’ll go on social services and welfare. We will have accomplished nothing.”
    State Budget Director Laura Anglin said 8,900 jobs need to go — through retirement, attrition or layoffs. That would save the state more than $500 million over two years, according to her office.
    There haven’t been state layoffs since 1995-96.
    State agency heads were told to prepare plans for job eliminations this summer because Paterson said unions have refused to give up any previously negotiated raises or benefits.
    The unions say they’ve suggested alternatives for the governor to consider, including some tax increases.
    “They can’t cut their way out of this mess. You’ve got to raise more revenue,” said Civil Service Employees Association spokesman Stephen Madarasz.
    Layoffs would be at the agencies under the governor’s control — meaning some large state agencies, including the attorney general’s and comptroller’s offices, state university system and the courts, won’t be affected. There are about 141,000 people working for agencies subject to layoffs, which include corrections, transportation and environmental conservation. About 6 percent of those jobs would disappear.
    The CSEA, the largest employee union, is urging members to contact their state legislators. CSEA has 28,000 members in the Capital Region.
    “Who are they, where are they, we don’t .............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00100

Quoted Text

Paterson should drop plans to lay off workers

The Gazette, like every other news source I’ve encountered, states that Gov. Paterson ordered layoffs after the unions refused concessions [March 25 Gazette]. This is just another attack on working people.
In the current national economic crisis, it makes no sense for the government to fire workers.
The real losers in this crisis will be those losing their jobs and the citizens of New York state, mostly middle and lower class, who depend on the services these civil servants provide.

WESLEY BARTLETT
Burnt Hills     

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00708

Quoted Text

In the current national economic crisis, it makes no sense for the government to fire workers.

Sorry, to me, this makes perfect sense.  The state payroll is WAY too over bloated.

Quoted Text

CAPITOL
Paterson sets July 1 for layoffs Unions once again asked for concessions to avert job cuts
BY MICHAEL GORMLEY The Associated Press

    Gov. David Paterson told his department heads Tuesday to make plans for layoffs effective July 1, but he also made a last-minute pitch to workers to pressure union bosses to make concessions.
    In a letter to state workers, the Democrat said the order for as many as 8,900 layoffs is one of the most difficult decisions he has ever made. But he says he has no other option because union leaders refuse to make concessions such as forgoing raises of 3 percent this year.
    “He is playing games with people’s lives,” said Stephen Madarasz, spokesman for the Civil Service Employees Association union. “They have no idea what they are doing with regard to layoffs. He is simply threatening it. It is reckless and irresponsible to simply come up with a number without saying who, where and why.”
    Madarasz dismissed Paterson’s plea to workers to pressure their union leaders for concessions as a political move intended not to save state funds but to reopen closed labor contracts.
    Paterson’s order requires managers to create a plan of who will lose their jobs beginning as early as July 1.
    “We have asked all New Yorkers to make modest sacrifices,” Paterson stated in his letter to workers. “Last November, I asked our state’s public employee unions to make modest concessions. I did not make this request lightly.
    “Regrettably, however, our state’s public employee unions refused to consider any concessions at all. As a result, in the face of the worst fiscal crisis in our history, I was left with no alternative but to implement a work force reduction plan.”
    Paterson said layoffs are needed to help cut the work force by 8,900 jobs and save $481 million over two years. The job reductions, which could include cuts by attrition, would come from among 141,000 executive branch employees in the total public work force of 200,000.
    Last week Paterson rescinded 3 percent raises for nonunion management employees but exempted most from layoffs, which further angered the union leadership. Madarasz said it creates a situation where laborers trying to make ends meet now also have to worry about layoffs while their supervisors don’t.
    “I do not want to see anyone lose their job, particularly in this economic climate,” Paterson stated. “In the absence of equivalent work force savings, we cannot eliminate our state’s deficit without layoffs.
    “If you believe, as I do, that implementing modest work force concessions is a preferable path to significant layoffs, I urge you to voice this opinion to your union representatives,” Paterson stated.
    Paterson and the Legislature closed a $17 billion deficit last week in the budget adopted for the 2009-10 fiscal year, but the governor said spending cuts are still needed. The recession could create another deficit of more than $3 billion by the end of the fiscal year, he said.
    Paterson is ignoring a third option to layoffs and concessions, said Public Employees Federation union President Kenneth Brynien.
    He wants Paterson to cut contracted workers, which he said are more costly and take away work from union workers already hit with the $8 billion in higher taxes and fees in the new state budget.
    “Keep in mind we as public employees are already sharing in the sacrifice in this budget and that we are not immune to the ...............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00101

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/13342/proposed-layoff-targets-by-agency

The agencies receiving the biggest hits are:

Correctional Services (2,021)
Mental Health (1,054)
Mental Retardation (1,434)

Agency (TARGET)

Audit and Control X

Adirondack Park Agency (4)

Aging (7)

Agriculture and Markets (35)

Alcoholic Beverage Control (9)

Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (56)

Arts Council (2)

Authority Budget Office (1)

Banking (30)

Budget X

Children and Family Services (245)

City University X

Civil Service (1

Commission on Correction (2)

Consumer Protection Board (1)

Correctional Services (2,021)

Crime Victims Board (6)

Criminal Justice Services (43)

Deferred Compensation Board X

Economic Development (11)

Education (199)

Elections (3)

Employee Relations X

Environmental Conservation (225)

Environmental Facilities Corporation X

Executive Chamber X

Financial Control Board X

General Services (100)

Health ( 366)

Workforce Reduction Plan Targets )

Higher Education Service Corporation (41)

Homeland Security (10)

Housing and Community Renewal (5

Hudson River Valley Greenway X

Human Rights (12)

Inspector General X

Insurance (49)

Interest on Lawyer Account X

Judicial Commission (3)

Labor (210)

Labor Management Committees X

Law X

Legislature X

Lottery (21)

Medicaid Inspector General (21)

Mental Health (1,054)

Mental Retardation (1,434)

Military and Naval Affairs (39)

Motor Vehicles (175)

National and Community Service X

Northeastern Queens Nature and Historical X

Office of Court Administration X

Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation (134)

Parole (132)

Prevention of Domestic Violence (2)

Probation and Correctional Alternatives (2)

Public Employment Relations Board X

Public Integrity X

Public Service (2

Quality of Care and Advocacy for the Disabled (7)

Racing and Wagering (6)

Real Property Services (22)

Regulatory Reform X

Roswell Park Cancer Institute X

Science, Technology, and Innovation (1)

State (54)

State Insurance Fund (171)

State Police (386)

State University X

State University Construction Fund X

Statewide Wireless Network X

Tax Appeals (1)

Taxation and Finance (317)

Technology (43)

Temporary and Disability Assistance (144)

Transportation (624)

Veterans’ Affairs (7)

Welfare Inspector General X

Workers’ Compensation Board (92)

Workforce Industrial Exhibit Authority (3)

“X” indicates agency not subject to Executive Branch hiring controls or is staffed by Management/Confidential employees

Management/Confidential employees are not subject to layoffs due to Governor Paterson’s order to rescind their scheduled 2009-10 salary increases

Quoted from 191

more dirty deeds from the repubs and the problems bush caused over here

Wrong- the consequence of having all branches of government in the hands of liberal Krats. Bush is gone-Patterson has yet to be thrown out. Won't be long now!

   Stll waiting to hear the Democratic solution to the $16 BILLION State deficit that Silver caused. Yeah, tax the rich but they all left decades ago.

most of the cuts are to criminals and mental health.....