Facing a $9.2 billion budget deficit, New York Governor Paterson is coming up with a plan that would involve laying off state employees before January 1. Paterson previously pledged not to layoff any workers until January 1, at which point a new governor will be sworn in. Unions immediately came out against the Governor's plan, saying that he has an agreement with them, and that he is using families to try to get what he wants. Paterson says that the unions have not conceded enough, and that this is the only way he knows of to reduce the budget. The concessions that Paterson asked for would have saved around $250 million. The budget was due on April 1.
See "Unions attack gov's call for NY worker layoffs", Michael Gormley, Business Week, July 26, 2010