State workers are bracing for bad news on Tuesday as hundreds of layoff notices are expected to go out today.
Gov. Dannel Malloy said he would need to lay off about 6,500 workers to deal with the budget deficit after unions failed to ratify the $1.6 billion concessions deal union leaders and the Malloy administration.
"I just show up because I don't really have any control over it, so I'm just saying, as far as coping with it, it is what it is," Curtis Hurley, of South Windsor, said.
Some state workers are hopeful that layoffs can be avoided.
"I hope we ratify the agreement. I voted yes. It was a good deal," Mike Trahiotis, of West Hartford, said.
Union bylaws require at least 14 of the 15 unions vote to support any changes to the 20-year health and retirement benefit agreement that's in place until 2017, but four unions voted down the concessions agreement.
"I hope that SEBAC (the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition) can figure out a way to amend its bylaws and reach some agreement, but who knows if that will happen?" David Blatt, of Hartford, said.
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Layoffs will not happen immediately and cuts might not take effect until the end of the year
Malloy has given the unions a new deadline of September to find ways to cut $1.6 billion in spending to avoid job cuts.
Malloy also asked state agency leaders to turn in proposals to cut spending. He has received them and his is administration is reviewing them.
