State workers owed $478 million in raises
Mar. 29th, 2010 10:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lauerzALBANY — Despite its fiscal woes, the state is scheduled to pay $478 million in raises to state employees in mid-April, records show.
Union workers are set to receive a 4 percent raise that totals more than half of the $478 million cost in the 2010-11 fiscal year, which starts April 1. The raise is part of the fourth and final year of contracts approved in 2007.
The rest comes via so-called step, or performance, increases that employees can receive for longevity in a position or advancement, records from the state Comptroller's Office show.
Federal aid covers almost half of the salary increases, state officials said, but the state's cost will total about $250 million, up 39 percent from the roughly $180 million the state paid in raises in the current fiscal year.
The raises for public employees and teachers, which some groups and legislators estimate will total $1 billion this year, have prompted some lawmakers to call for a wage freeze as the state grapples with a $9.2 billion budget deficit.
"I think New York state is in a state of emergency. This is the worst period of economic downturn since the Depression," said Assemblywoman Sandra Galef, D-Ossining. "So I think it would be something we should absolutely consider that there be a freeze on all salaries for all public employees."
Galef was one of four Democratic Assembly members who wrote a letter Wednesday to the teachers union asking for the wage freeze, saying it would save money and jobs. School groups said schools face about 14,000 layoffs if $1.4 billion in education cuts are adopted in the coming fiscal year.
Some unions have rejected calls for a wage freeze, saying the sides lawfully negotiated the contracts in 2007 with then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
"The point is, it was all negotiated in good faith," said Stephen Madarasz, spokesman for the Civil Service Employees Union. "The whole concept of negotiating is that you enter into an agreement that both sides are able to live up to."
сообщает lohud.com
жители оставили 79 комментариев. Пойду, почитаю.
Union workers are set to receive a 4 percent raise that totals more than half of the $478 million cost in the 2010-11 fiscal year, which starts April 1. The raise is part of the fourth and final year of contracts approved in 2007.
The rest comes via so-called step, or performance, increases that employees can receive for longevity in a position or advancement, records from the state Comptroller's Office show.
Federal aid covers almost half of the salary increases, state officials said, but the state's cost will total about $250 million, up 39 percent from the roughly $180 million the state paid in raises in the current fiscal year.
The raises for public employees and teachers, which some groups and legislators estimate will total $1 billion this year, have prompted some lawmakers to call for a wage freeze as the state grapples with a $9.2 billion budget deficit.
"I think New York state is in a state of emergency. This is the worst period of economic downturn since the Depression," said Assemblywoman Sandra Galef, D-Ossining. "So I think it would be something we should absolutely consider that there be a freeze on all salaries for all public employees."
Galef was one of four Democratic Assembly members who wrote a letter Wednesday to the teachers union asking for the wage freeze, saying it would save money and jobs. School groups said schools face about 14,000 layoffs if $1.4 billion in education cuts are adopted in the coming fiscal year.
Some unions have rejected calls for a wage freeze, saying the sides lawfully negotiated the contracts in 2007 with then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
"The point is, it was all negotiated in good faith," said Stephen Madarasz, spokesman for the Civil Service Employees Union. "The whole concept of negotiating is that you enter into an agreement that both sides are able to live up to."
сообщает lohud.com
жители оставили 79 комментариев. Пойду, почитаю.
