Union leaders in Connecticut say they're concerned that lawmakers are looking first to state employees for savings in Governor Dannel Malloy’s proposed budget.
Lori Pelletier, President of the Connecticut AFL-CIO, said state lawmakers should consider other parts of the budget before they start cutting state jobs.
“We need to look at how many contractors does the state of Connecticut have that are duplicating the services that state employees do already,” she said. “These are the things we need to look at before we start laying off.”
Pelletier said the unions will remind lawmakers in the coming months about the services state workers provide.
In his State of the State address this week, Malloy said, in order to balance the budget, there would need to be a reduction of the state workforce by more than 1,000 employees. Malloy’s budget director, Ben Barnes, said the figure could be higher.
