With the first agreement rejected by the rank-and-file union members, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy predicted Monday that there is only an even chance of the latest savings and concession deal being approved.
"I think it's a 50 - 50 proposition, but it's 100 percent guaranteed that the budget will be in balance,'' Malloy told reporters before an appearance on his jobs tour at a company in Somers.
When asked why it is only an even chance after the state employee unions had changed their by-laws to make the ratification easier, Malloy said, "If I make a mistake once, you might forgive me. If I make a mistake twice, you probably wouldn't. I'm not staking anything to this. We are going to be in a position to have the budget in balance one way or the other.''
He added, "Do I think it would be better under this plan? Yes. And would it forestall other steps that we'd have to take to put the budget in balance on a long term basis, the answer is yes. But I don't vote. I'm not a member of the unionized employee ranks."
FOX CT's Jennifer Bernstein reports that layoff notices are still going out around the state, but essentially all of them will be rescinded for union employees if the revised deal is approved by the rank-and-file union members.
Although some notices went out early, most of the union workers are scheduled to actually leave their jobs after August 22 - thus allowing time for the unions to vote and prevent the departures.
"I had a conversation with Ben Barnes, and I think the first week two people lost jobs,'' Malloy said. "The second week, eight people lost jobs, probably up to about 100 this week. So the bulk of them actually, 1,700 would occur presumably after any vote would be taken. So very few people are being impacted at the moment."
At the same time, Malloy is not rescinding the notices or calling off the process.
"Not at the moment. No one has formally asked us to,'' he said. "We haven't had any discussions, but in light of what I read in the paper, I asked Ben to run some numbers on it, and again it's one, eight, less than 150. And then the bulk would be after August 22nd."
Another big issue is Malloy's budget-cutting plan that would shut down two historic ferries across the Connecticut River. That would happen because eight workers, who run the landmark ferries, would be laid off. The money-losing ferries are heavily subsidized by the state, but the loss is less than $1 million per year in a $20 billion annual state budget.
But if the unions vote for the revised and clarified plan, the ferries can be saved.
"I think by and large everything can get rolled back,'' Malloy said. "I will say this however, we are going to have to find ways to save money in the budget. Obviously, we are spending money right now that we didn't intend to spend, in ways that we didn't intend to spend it. So with the proviso that I'm going to have to bring this budget into balance, and having that understood, I think the vast, vast, vast majority if not all of what's in the subsequent plan would be unwound."
