Albany, NY – Judge Halts NY State Worker Furloughs

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    State workers rally against Gov. David Paterson's furlough plan outside the Capitol in Albany, N.Y., on Monday, May 10, 2010. Paterson is resorting to one-day furloughs each week for about 100,000 state workers after unions refused earlier requests for lag pay and suspending their 4-percent raises. Paterson says he will stop the furloughs, scheduled to begin the week of May 17, if unions agree to concessions. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)Albany, NY – A federal judge has blocked New York’s governor from imposing furloughs on about 100,000 state workers.

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    U.S. District Judge Lawrence Kahn says that until he rules on union lawsuits seeking an injunction, Gov. David Paterson and lawmakers are temporarily blocked from implementing any furloughs.

    The unpaid one-day-a-weel furloughs are part of a short-term funding measure approved by the Legislature this week.

    Kahn says in his order Wednesday that the unions have shown a permanent 20 percent loss in wages or salaries would constitute irreparable harm. He has scheduled a hearing for May 26.


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    15 Comments
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    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    “Kahn says in his order Wednesday that the unions have shown a permanent 20 percent loss in wages or salaries would constitute irreparable harm”

    And keeping those wages will cause harm for the rest of hard working New Yorkers. That a judge can intervene is insane.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    why are they different than the private sector workers that were fired ?
    why isn’t there a court order against those companies?

    Milhouse
    Milhouse
    13 years ago

    What is the case doing in federal court anyway? A state cannot be sued without its consent.

    simon
    simon
    13 years ago

    A little detail that was left out of the story- The judge works for the State too !?!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    As someone who has worked both in the private and in the public sectors, there is good and bad with both situations. The unions are correct in this case to demand that the governor stick by the contract; otherwise, no contract in the future will have any meaning.

    The unions already agreed to institute Tier 5, which drastically cuts benefits to any future workers. In return, the governor agreed to no layoffs. However, he is now threatening possible layoffs.

    There are many ways in which the NYS government can cut costs, but asking thousands of people who make $25000 to $40000 to go without 20% of their salaries is a cruel joke. These are not the people who have been holding up the budget, yet they can ill-afford the cutbacks. And before people say that those in the private sector have also taken a hit—-most of these people have worked for the state for many years, while those in the private sector made a lot more money. The state workers usually are those who were willing to make less money, but have job security in return.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    how many years maybe months do we have left till ny ends up like greece

    PMO
    PMO
    13 years ago

    When will the Communist State of NY finally get a governor with the guts to do away with the unions altogether. I don’t give a darn about a union contract. Private companies can break union agreements when they are broke (ie. file bankruptcy) but states have no such options. What are they to do? The unions need to get gone and get gone quick. My employer instituted a small pay decrease. My friend’s company instituted a 1-year 15% pay decrease in order to avoid doing layoffs and the employees CHEERED not losing their jobs.

    This union scum will destroy NY. They would rather be laid off than take a pay cut. I think Patterson should just lay off ever single person he can. He doesn’t have to care what people think of him since he is leaving office. Just fire everybody and then “rename” their positions (so its no longer the same job) and hire non-union to replace them. THAT is the only way NY can survive financially.