No Salary Freeze For State Workers, Layoffs Seem Inevitable

Have you heard? Even after three years of receiving annual raises state workers are still not ready to give up this luxury. While people in the private sector have gotten use to salary freezes, reduction in the work force, and in some cases cuts in pay, the public servants of New York are not ready to do the same.

As of Friday April 1, the final four percent raise of the 2007 contract, signed by Gov. Spitzer, has been put into place. Although employees are yet to see the money in their checks, they are not ready to negotiate anything different. They have received a three percent increase in the previous years, with the last installment coming at one of the worst economic times. Even as Governor Paterson pleads to evaluate the crisis, union leaders will not cave. Paterson is quoted in the Times Union saying, “We had to delay income tax payments; we’re doing things that in any other time would seem crazy; but we have to. That’s where we are.”

By not taking a freeze in salary, administration officials say there will have to be cuts in state jobs. Non-union workers and newcomers are usually first to be released in layoffs, giving older employees a nice cushion. This is coming a year after the Public Employees Federation and Civil Service Employees Association (two of the states largest unions), agreed to lower pension tiers for new hires. This was done to avoid job loss last year but it seems as though both sides have come to a stall and layoffs are becoming inevitable.

State workers and union members argue that they have taken a hit; they have dealt with raises in health care, taxes and union fees. So, are these middle-class employees the wrong ones for tax payers to blame? Republican Sen. Roy McDonald said, “Are we going to go in areas where working men and women do something — services that the public needs and wants? We’re looking at the wrong half of the equation. We should be finding the fat cats with the bigger salaries saying, ‘Why are you here? What do you do for us?’,” as stated on Timesunion.com.

As all of this unfolds state legislators are away from the Capitol on recess until April 7. With a budget still not passed the lawmakers of New York still have a lot ahead of them. Now the Paterson Administration will face struggles with the public servant’s and the legislative’s disagreements. All positions are held, the tensions are tight, and Albany will be the stage everything is set on.

To see all New York State employee salaries go to: http://www.seethroughny.net/

Source: Times Union

Source: Business Week

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