Elmont Online

ALBANY -- With the July 4th holiday weekend out of the way, negotiators for a major state employee union and Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration were back at the bargaining table Tuesday.

Administration representatives and the Public Employees Federation also met last week in efforts to reach a deal on a labor contract, and potentially avoid thousands of layoffs that Cuomo has said will result if they can't get enough savings through union concessions.

Neither side discussed the negotiations beyond confirming they had happened.

Notices for what the administration described as the first wave of job reduction notices went out last week, with 451 employees expected to be off the payroll by the middle of July. Most of those targeted were members of the 56,000-member PEF.

The notices created a stir in some state agencies, with reports alternating from tearfulness among those at risk of losing their jobs to frustration that some had initially been told they had just one hour to decide if they were willing to "bump" less senior employees -- which in some cases could mean relocating.

The tight time frame was expanded after PEF officials got wind of it and objected. But others were complaining that their immediate supervisors had little detailed information about the layoff process going forward.

Some longtime employees also were unaware that the layoffs, which go in reverse order of seniority, were by job title, meaning that people in lightly populated titles may be targeted even if they have years of experience.

That was the case for some longtime employees at the Department of Transportation, which faces as many as 199 layoffs during this wave. All told, the administration is looking at over 14,000 job titles with up to one-third possibly facing layoffs.

The cuts are being prompted by what Cuomo has said was the need to cut $450 million in workforce savings from the 2011-12 state budget, which runs through March. The governor and his staff have said that absent the cuts, up to 9,800 layoffs could follow.

Last month, the largest union of state employees, the 66,000-member Civil Service Employees Association, tentatively agreed to a contract which had three years without raises (there would be a bonus in the third year), higher health care costs but protections against layoffs. If ratified by members next month, the union would be shielded from up to 4,500 job cuts.

CSEA officials this week are finalizing the legal language in the contract, and hope to send out copies of the agreement to members next week, spokesman Stephen Madarasz said. "We're looking to have the language completed and mailed by the 15th of July," he said, adding that ballots should be in the mail by July 22.

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