NY Legislature Votes for Furloughs
The New York State Legislature tonight voted for a one-week budget extender that will require about 100,000 state workers to take an unpaid day off beginning next week.
A vote against Governor David Paterson’s latest budget extender would have meant a total shutdown of state government until a budget is passed. The budget was due April 1.
In the Senate, the extender passed on a straight party-line vote of 32-29.
In an e-mail sent to WESB and The HERO, Austin Shafran, spokesman for Senate Majority Conference Leader John Sampson, said, “Though the governor’s furlough plan is potentially an unlawful breach of contract, we will not jeopardize the health, safety and livelihood of millions of New Yorkers by stopping government.”
In the Assembly the final vote was 82-56, with some Democrats voting against the measure.
"I recognize that these furloughs represent a difficult sacrifice for many of the State's public employees," Paterson said in a news release. "That sacrifice is only necessary because their union leadership has rejected all other reasonable attempts at compromise. One such proposal that I put forward is to eliminate a scheduled 4-to-7 percent general salary increase for State employees, which I believe is a fair concession at a time when more than a quarter of million New Yorkers in the private sector have lost their jobs and other local public employee unions across the State are reopening their contracts. These furloughs were a last resort."
The votes came hours after thousands of state employees across the state staged lunch hour protests against the furlough plan.
A vote against Governor David Paterson’s latest budget extender would have meant a total shutdown of state government until a budget is passed. The budget was due April 1.
In the Senate, the extender passed on a straight party-line vote of 32-29.
In an e-mail sent to WESB and The HERO, Austin Shafran, spokesman for Senate Majority Conference Leader John Sampson, said, “Though the governor’s furlough plan is potentially an unlawful breach of contract, we will not jeopardize the health, safety and livelihood of millions of New Yorkers by stopping government.”
In the Assembly the final vote was 82-56, with some Democrats voting against the measure.
"I recognize that these furloughs represent a difficult sacrifice for many of the State's public employees," Paterson said in a news release. "That sacrifice is only necessary because their union leadership has rejected all other reasonable attempts at compromise. One such proposal that I put forward is to eliminate a scheduled 4-to-7 percent general salary increase for State employees, which I believe is a fair concession at a time when more than a quarter of million New Yorkers in the private sector have lost their jobs and other local public employee unions across the State are reopening their contracts. These furloughs were a last resort."
The votes came hours after thousands of state employees across the state staged lunch hour protests against the furlough plan.
.jpg)
Comments