Corzine to staff: Plan for layoffs
Department heads have been told to review programs with an eye toward cutting staff.
TRENTON - Gov. Corzine, who has threatened to slash the state work force by up to 7,000 positions if labor unions do not agree to wage concessions, yesterday ordered cabinet members to plan for the layoffs.
Department heads have been told to review programs with an eye toward cutting staff, Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Joseph Doria said. He said the size of the reduction was being discussed.
The governor is scheduled to deliver his budget address on Tuesday. Corzine's budget proposal is expected to be around $29 billion, which is about how much the state spent in 2006 and would leave the government with a $7 billion shortfall.
Corzine will call for a yearlong wage freeze and wants state workers to take 12 unpaid days off in the fiscal year that starts July 1. If the furloughs are applied across the board, about 80,000 state workers, including state police and corrections officers, would be forced to take the days off.
The wage freeze would require reopening the union contract, which calls for a 3.5 percent raise in July. The unions oppose the idea.
Hetty Rosenstein, state director of the Communications Workers of America, the largest state worker union, also has questioned Corzine's authority to cut employees' pay by ordering furloughs. Corzine has a constitutional obligation to keep the budget in balance and believes he has the right to order the furloughs.
Treasury spokesman Tom Vincz said Corzine's wage freeze and furlough proposals would save $500 million. That value equates to the cost of 6,000 to 7,000 state workers, and Corzine has said he would resort to layoffs if the unions do not budge.
Yesterday, Corzine reiterated that he does not want to lay off workers.
"It's a lot better to have people working than on unemployment lines," he said. "It's a lot better to have people with health insurance than on Medicaid."
The governor is also considering eliminating property tax rebates for most New Jerseyans, imposing new taxes on those making more than $250,000 a year, and raising taxes on liquor and cigarettes.