ALBANY — Hold the pink slips!
Nearly 3,500 state workers could be spared layoffs scheduled to start Wednesday, after their union and Gov. Cuomo agreed yesterday to a revised contract proposal.
The agreement shortens the contract length to four years from five, reimburses workers at the end of the contract for five unpaid furlough days in the first two years, and allows employees greater use of vacation days to pay for health care.
The agreement needs the approval of the Public Employees Federation’s executive board, scheduled to meet today in Albany, then ratification by its members — who voted down the first proposal last month by a 54-46 percent margin.
Cuomo agreed to delay the layoffs until Nov. 4 pending a ratification vote — and to cancel the pink slips if the 55,000-member union of professionals approves the new contract.
Both sides insist the new deal, which freezes base pay for the first three years and increases it by 2 percent in the fourth, won’t cost state taxpayers any more than the rejected contract proposal.
The state budgeted for $75 million to $80 million in reduced PEF workforce costs this fiscal year — either through contract concessions or layoffs.
“The contract modifications are revenue-neutral to the state and achieve the same level of savings as the first proposal,” Cuomo said.
Stephen Madarasz, spokesman for the 66,000-member Civil Service Employees Association, whose generally lower-paid blue-collar workers ratified a contract virtually identical to the one PEF rejected, called the new agreement “a very comparable deal.”
PEF President Kenneth Brynien said, “Ratification of this agreement will demonstrate that our members are willing to sacrifice to save the jobs of 3,496 of their co-workers and preserve the level of service to taxpayers.”