ALBANY — Gov. Paterson said yesterday he will send layoff notices to nearly 900 state workers, including prison chaplains and motor-vehicle clerks, angering unions that didn’t expect job losses before the end of the year.
Public worker unions have promised they’ll sue to stop any cuts, citing a legal memo signed by Paterson under an agreement for a less expensive pension plan for new hires that guaranteed no layoffs before Dec. 31, the last day of Paterson’s term.
Paterson said his plan to lay off 898 workers is legal and supported by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the Democrat and front-runner in the governor’s race.
“He said he’ll support what I’m doing,” Paterson said. “He said he’ll support it in court, and he also made a finding that he thinks it will be legal.”
Public Employees Federation union President Kenneth Brynien, however, called Paterson’s plan “an outrage, completely unnecessary and illegal.”