State employee layoffs may hit in July

ALBANY, N.Y. (WIVB) - Massive layoffs, earmarked in the dreaded New York State budget, are now expected to hit as early as July first.

According to the Governor's office, David Paterson has already directed department heads to make plans for layoffs.

But in a letter sent out Tuesday to state workers, the governor makes a pitch, urging them to pressure their own unions.

Flo Tripi (Region 6 President, Civil Service Employees Association) said, "First of all, he bargains with the unions. He doesn't bargain with employees."

And that's exactly what union leader Flo Tripi says Governor David Paterson is doing, by sending out a letter to state workers warning of summer layoffs.

In the letter that went out on Tuesday, the governor says that he has asked New Yorkers to make modest sacrifies. He goes on to blame the union leaders, saying that the public employee unions have refused to consider any concessions at all.

Tripi said, "As far as we're concerned there was no negotiation. He put things on the table that he wanted and said 'if you don't listen to me, I'm not interested in hearing anything else.'"

And Paterson says he's making good on a threat he made to lay off 8,900 state employees.

The cuts could come from just about any state department from the Department of Motor Vehicles to the Department of Transportation.

Flo Tripi represents 41,000 public workers, many of them are from the state, and could fall victim to Paterson's budget.

Tripi said, "The hardest part of my job is just looking people in the eye and watching them just start questioning, 'what am I gonna do?'"

The state came up with the number 8900 because, according to the governor's office, that equals $481 million dollars, equivalent to the concessions the unions were asked to make last year.