Here is a transcript of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's remarks in the ornate Old Judiciary Room of the state Capitol Thursday afternoon, when he spoke to media representatives about state employee unions' ratification of the new wage-and-benefits concessions agreement. The deal will avert about 3,000 layoffs and guarantee four years of no layoffs for the unionized employees:
"I want to thank my fellow state employees. They have stepped up to the plate. They have made real sacrifice. And when - not if, but when - we turn this economy around, they can rightfully say that with this agreement they became part of this solution. We would not be at this place without them.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is an historic agreement. It repreents the most fundamental restructuring of the relationship between state government and state workers that has ever occurred in the state of Connecticut. It saves taxpayers twenty one and a half billion dollars[$21.5 billion] over the next 20 years, which is $6,100 for every man, woman and child in the state of Connecticut.