Malloy: 7,500 layoffs possible if union workers don't okay deal

Hartford, Conn (WTNH) - The Governor Tuesday turned up the heat on the state labor unions to approve a big concession deal.

The Governor ventured away from the Capitol Tuesday for a ribbon cutting in East Hartford, and afterwords said that if the state labor unions don't approve the concession package in voting later this month there will be even more layoffs than had been previously announced.

"In the absence of ratification, we will begin the process very rapidly of laying off thousands of employees, which I think, over a two year period of time, will end up looking more like 7,500 than 4,700, which is kind of the down payment." Governor Malloy said.

"That's harsh. 7,500 job cuts would be devastating. Our goal from the beginning has been to avoid any job cuts. That's why we were able to reach an agreement, and why now, we're convincing our members to ratify that agreement," State Employee Union spokesman Matt O'Connor said.

Meanwhile, Republicans say a memo from the Assembly's non-partisan Office of Fiscal Analysis saying they can't verify the majority of the savings in the concession deal proves it won't balance the budget.

"It shows that some of these numbers by the Governor, in order to bolster the claim that he got a good deal, were made up," said Rep. Larry Cafero (R-Minority Leader)

But the Speaker of the House said Tuesday that's not the case. That OFA doesn't have all the numbers yet.

"The Governor's people have used actuaries. I don't believe that OFA has had that information," Rep. Chris Donovan (D-Speaker of the House) said.

"We're confident that we can reach those dollar amounts, those targets, and a lot of work has yet to be done," Malloy said.

Malloy's office says they need 14 of the 15 labor unions to approve the concession deal.

News 8 also learned today that Governor Malloy plans to revive a tradition dropped by his predecessor, and address the conclusion of the General Assembly Session Wednesday night at midnight.