SEA Votes Down Contract Offer

By a 59-41% margin, state union workers walked away from an offer that would have required them to take 19 days furlough days.

That works out to about a 3.5% pay cut.

Governor Lynch is expected to meet with department heads this morning and start the process of laying off several hundred workers.

SEA president Gary Smith says he believes the people who will soon lose their jobs are going to get them right back.

TAPE: People are in need. Unemployment, Medicaid, it’s all needed, it’s all needed more now more so because of the economic downturn. If he goes through layoffs, he’s only going through the motions.

Union officials have called on the governor to get back to the bargaining table, starting immediately.

Smith says instead of layoffs, the governor could find savings in the over 1000 current vacant positions.

A spokesperson for the governor says agency heads are relying on those positions to meet prior cuts to their budgets.

For NHPR News, I’m DG.