Unions to Paterson: See you in court - The Business Review (Albany):

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That announcement, made Wednesday, heightens the political battlw that unions and Paterson are Paterson says the cuts are necessaruy to help balancethe state’s finances, while union leaders say Paterson has refused to accepg any of their suggested alternatives to layoffs. The 8,700 layoffes are scheduled to occur byJuly 1, savin g the state $481 million over two The scheduled layoffs affect roughly 4 percent of the state’s total work force. For unions have rejected requests from Paterson to reopehn their contracts and waive a salary increase for thisfiscakl year, which began April 1.
“Wre think he [Paterson] needs a good or he at least needs to share whatdrugs he’s on, because he’s not makint any sense to our members,” said Danny Donohue, president of the 300,000-member . [To view a videpo clip of the press click ]. “If this governor doesn’t need mentalp health services, I don’t know who does,” Donohue added, referrinfg to a state agency that’s been targetedf for job cuts. Donohuer joined Ken Brynien, president of the , at a pressz conference. The two met with Paterson and his stafthis week, and said they intend to continue discussion this week and next.
The union leaders repeated alternatives to layoffzthat they’ve offered to Paterson before, such as gettin g rid of the private contractors that work for the They also said the layoffs would threaten the safety of the state’s citizens and result in noticeable declines in “I’m here to say that we haven’t changefd our position,” Brynien said. “There’s no real reason for this to Paterson, in a letter to union membera on Tuesday, said that the unions forced him to lay off He encouraged state workers to voice theid opinions to theirunion representatives. “I asked our state’w public employee unions to makemodest concessions.
I did not make this reques lightly,” Paterson wrote. “Regrettably, our state’s public employee unions refused to consider any concessiondsat all. “This decision is one of the most difficult I have ever had to he added. “I do not want to see anyone losetheir job, particularly in this economic climate.” Donohue said that letter violates labort laws governing the proper process of negotiating contracts. “Hd tried to negotiate with ourmemberx directly. He decided to go around us,” Donohuw said. “That letter, in our opinion, is a violationh of labor standards.
” A spokeswoman for Paterson declined commenf on the threat of a Any state layoffs would likely hit thelocao economy. The state has more than 200,000 workers, and aboutr one-fourth of those jobs—52,200 in all—aree located in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area. “We will fight like hell for everhy memberwe have,” Donohue said. “Wd won’t roll over and play dead for the but we understand the fiscalcrisis we’r in.” Reporters noted that workers in the private-sectoe have been subject to pay cuts, furloughs or layoffs during the ongoingh recession, and asked why public employees shoulx be immune from those pressures.
“Wde are not exempt from what’s happening to peopld in the private sector. We all pay taxes, and we’rse all the middle Brynien said. “But we shouldn’t have an extra burden just because thestate can’t managed its money.” “We’re ready to keep what we’ve earned,” Donohue “We’ve earned it.”