Gov. Andrew Cuomo released a statement in response to the rejection of the labor agreement with the Public Employees Federation, urging them to reconsider.

PEF voting down the contract, which included a multi-year wage freeze and furloughs, by a wide margin, it was announced earlier.

Cuomo has threatened up to 3,500 layoffs if the contract was rejected. But his statement does not rattle the layoff sabre or suggest he is ready to fire off pink slips.

“The members of the Public Employee Federation (PEF) have made their decision on a contract that would have protected them against the state needing to lay off their workers in order to achieve the required workforce savings passed as part of this year’s budget.

In this economic reality, rising state workforce costs are unsustainable, as the members of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), the state’s largest union, recognized when they overwhelmingly passed an identical contract. The Legislature passed a budget that made clear that reducing these costs would be achieved either through the collective bargaining process or through layoffs.

I urge them to reconsider.”

Update: State Director of Operations Howard Glaser released a more scathing statement, blasting PEF’s leadership. But he adds that layoffs could still be avoided by accepting the contract.

“Today’s vote represents a failure by PEF’s leadership to effectively communicate the benefits of the contract to its members as CSEA’s leadership did. Layoffs could still be avoided if PEF clearly articulates to its members the benefits of the contract as well as the consequences of rejection and schedules a revote. We spent months working with PEF’s leadership and reached an agreement. We now find out that they do not truly represent their membership.

Members of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), who agreed to a layoff protection as part of their ratified collective bargaining agreement, will not be subject to the approximately 3,500 layoffs that will begin today.”

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