Paterson plan: No layoffs, no raises for state workers

Governor David Paterson's plan to axe a negotiated three percent raise for state workers will harm do considerably harm to the employees and their families, union leaders said Wednesday.

Paterson proposed the freeze as a means of avoiding layoffs in the 2009-2010 fiscal year. He did not suggest layoffs for 2008.

"People don't understand that when you say there's no raise for next year, whatever amount of money that would have [received] next year, that's money you're not getting for the rest of your career each year," said Ken Brynien, President of the Public Employees Federation (PEF). "So each person is being asked to give up alot of money over the course of their career to save the state."

Paterson's budget proposal also calls for state workers to pay more for health insurance, and for workers and retirees to contribute to Medicare Part B premiums. Under the plan, workers would also delay a single paycheck, pushing it into the next fiscal year.

Steven Madarasz, Communications Director for the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), said Paterson's plan undermines the negotiated contracts.

"A contract is a contract," Madarasz said. "If you re-open one, you have to re-open every contract. So it's not really a realistic approach to think that we can open a state contract without having a ripple effect all across the state."

Paterson had shown "good will" to CSEA during private negotiations earlier in the week, Madarasz said. That disappeared when the governor delivered his budget proposal in New York City on Wednesday, he said.

"CSEA is appalled by both the tone and substance of the Governor Paterson's proposal today," Madarasz said.

Both CSEA and PEF complained that Paterson ignored money-saving proposals they had pitched. Union leaders are meeting again with Governor on Thursday.

"Until you've tried those other things," PEF's Brynien said, "you're not coming to your own employees first and telling them to give up again when they've been giving up for years."

State lawmakers were scheduled to return to Albany next week for a special economic session, but the lame duck Republican majority said late Tuesday that its members would not act on Paterson's proposal until he submits an 18-month spending plan.