By Karen DeWitt
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wrvo/local-wrvo-900838.mp3
Albany, NY – New York State employees are preparing for one day a week at home,
and a 20% pay reduction, now that Governor David Paterson has
confirmed that he will include one day a week furloughs in the
emergency spending plan that he will ask the legislature to vote on
May 10th.
The emergency spending plan sent to the legislature to keep the
government running while the budget is late, will include one day a
week furloughs for state workers, beginning the week of May 17th.
Governor Paterson is giving union leaders a last minute out, saying
that if state employees agree to give back the 4% pay raises that
they received starting April 1st, or agree to an immediate five day
pay lag, he'll cancel the furloughs.
"And that would end the discussion right now, wouldn't it?" Paterson
said. "But they won't give us that."
Unions, meanwhile, are planning a major lunchtime rally at the
Capitol Monday to protest the furloughs.
Nearly everyone at all of the major state agencies will be effected,
including the departments of health, transportation, and motor
vehicles, as well as employees of the State University of New York
system. Those exempt include state troopers on duty, hospital workers
and caregivers at homes for the disabled, and prison guards.
Legislative leaders, while they disagree with Paterson's plan seem
resigned to voting for the measure. The only other alternative is to
shut down government altogether says Senate Leader John Sampson. And
he says that's not an option he'll consider.
"Bottom line, I'm not going to shut government down," Sampson said.
"At all".
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver also says the measure will likely
pass his house, though both Silver and Sampson contend that the
furlough plan is illegal, and will be overturned in court.
"Since the speaker can predict the future then he can tell us when
the budget is going to pass," Paterson answered, sarcastically.
The governor points out that he was told he could not appoint his own
Lieutenant Governor, but the courts ultimately upheld his decision to
make Richard Ravitch his second in command.
State workers in California sued when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
ordered furloughs. The court granted them their back pay, with
interest.
Terry O'Neil, a labor lawyer based on Long Island, who works for
school districts and municipalities, says he thinks the governor is
on shaky legal ground.
"Unless he has something in his contract that permits that, or unless
there's a history or practice of furloughs, then he has a problem,
said O'Neil.
O'Neil believes that if the legislature approves the furlough plan,
though the governor's legal case could be bolstered. Union leaders
have hinted they'll take some kind of court action.
There is one other way to avoid the furloughs. The governor and
legislative leaders could agree on a state budget before they have to
pass the new emergency spending bills on Monday, and Speaker Silver
suggested that as a possibility early in the week, despite the
obvious tensions between the governor and the legislature, as well as
between the Senate and the Assembly.
"I'm an optimist by nature," said Silver. "Maybe we'll pass a budget
before we have to pass the next emergency bill."
But with lawmakers home for the weekend, that's a remote chance, at
best.
Meanwhile, a new Marist poll out finds, to no one's surprise, nearly
three quarters of New Yorkers, 72%, are angered over the late state
budget, which is now more than a month overdue.