News

November 17, 2009

Pa. laying off 319 more employees

That brings the number of layoffs since January to 769, according to the governor.

MARC LEVY Associated Press Writer

HARRISBURG — Another 319 state government employees are losing their jobs this week, the Rendell administration said Monday as officials outlined a curtailment of state services to reflect a recession-wracked budget that is nearly 2 percent lower than last year.

That brings the number of layoffs since January to 769, said Gov. Ed Rendell’s secretary of administration, Naomi Wyatt.

“Furloughs were a last-resort, cost-savings measure,” Wyatt said, pointing out that Rendell’s agency heads cut travel, office expenses and services at state parks and elsewhere to avoid laying off more people.

Most of the new furloughs are in the Department of Environmental Protection, where 138 employees are being laid off, and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, where 85 employees are being laid off.

No state parks will shut down, but the state parks and forests department will shorten the seasons for campgrounds and swimming at pools and beaches while curtailing snow removal, mowing and educational and recreational programs.

People and businesses seeking a permit from the DEP may face longer waits, while services at six historical sites will be discontinued, including the Washington Crossing Historic Park in Bucks County. Another five will close for the winter.

“Even the current budget could have yielded 500 or more furloughs if our cabinet members did not work so hard to find other ways to reduce costs,” Wyatt told reporters. “Today’s news is grim, but we are grateful that the number isn’t greater than it is.”

Ninety-five employees being laid off are managers, while 224 are represented by labor unions.

David Fillman, who heads the largest state employee labor union, blamed the layoffs on the Legislature for not approving more revenue to keep services and jobs intact, and he questioned whether every penny had been pinched.

“It is the (union) members who are taking the budget on their backs, so it is very disappointing,” said Fillman, executive director of Council 13 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

The timing of the layoff announcement is a result of a state budget that was enacted more than three months late, Wyatt said. Rendell fought lawmakers into October over how to resolve a multibillion-shortfall, eventually signing a $27.8 billion budget that cuts spending by nearly 2 percent over last year.

Wyatt noted that some employees who were laid off earlier in the year have been hired into different jobs with the state.

This week’s layoffs are expected to save $7.9 million in the 2009-10 fiscal year and $16.7 million over the next 12 months.

Employees began receiving the notices Monday. Because of the bumping rights that more senior unionized employees retain, that process was expected to finish Friday, the last day on the payroll for the laid-off employees.

Employees from 10 different agencies are being laid off, while the Department of Community and Economic Development is closing its Lewisburg office and the Department of Insurance is closing its Pittsburgh office, Wyatt said.

Beyond layoffs, the state has eliminated 2,200 open jobs, bringing the state’s work force down to about 76,600 from more than 81,600 when Rendell took office in January 2003, officials said.

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