Judge bars furlough of unionized state workers

ALBANY - A federal judge Friday barred Gov. David A. Paterson from furloughing 100,000 unionized state employees to help close the budget deficit.

Paterson responded by again calling for state workers to defer one week's pay this year until they retire or leave the payroll. He said he would not appeal the judge's decision.

Asked about layoffs, Paterson didn't comment directly, saying only that $250 million in concessions are needed to help close this year's $9.2-billion deficit. "I will sit down over the weekend with my people and we will try to find another way to [find] the $250 million we need to balance the budget," he said.

New York laid off large numbers of workers in the mid-'90s under Gov. George Pataki. It has never resorted to furloughs.

Paterson proposed, and lawmakers reluctantly adopted, a furlough plan earlier this month that called for one day per week without pay until a budget is in place. Over eight weeks, the furloughs would have saved $250 million.

Five unions filed lawsuits in Albany federal court, saying Paterson was violating the U.S. Constitution's prohibition against states adopting laws that interfere with contract obligations.

U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence E. Kahn sided with the unions, issuing a temporary restraining order on May 12 and a preliminary injunction Friday.

Kahn forbade Paterson from including furloughs in future emergency spending bills needed to keep state government operating in the absence of a budget. The judge also ordered payment of the 4 percent wage raises due to some workers since April 1.

The decision pleased Brunilda D. Batista, 47, of Coram, a custodian at the Department of Environmental Conservation office in Stony Brook. "That's very good," she said. " . . . I had problems with sleep thinking about this. Now I will be able to sleep."

In his 27-page decision, Kahn said Paterson had failed to show that other cost-saving measures were considered before proposing furloughs. The judge noted the State Senate adopted unanimously a resolution, from Sen. Neil Breslin (D-Albany), stating that furloughs were unnecessary before then passing the spending bills that authorized them.

"It is unreasonable to impose such an impairment [of union contracts] through emergency appropriation bills, particularly when there is a unified legislative voice denying the very reasonableness and necessity" of furloughs, the judge wrote.

Paterson responded that both he and lawmakers seek $250 million in labor concessions. He called for legislative leaders to negotiate with union officials.

The largest unions, Civil Service Employees Association and Public Employees Federation, showed no willingness Friday to reopen contracts, which would be required to postpone one week's pay. "Why violate the contract when we're going into negotiations?" PEF president Kenneth Brynien said, referring to the contract's expiration next spring. "It doesn't make sense and we won't stand for it."

With Yamiche Alcindor