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Conn. Unions React To Malloy's Layoff Plan

Legislative aides push copies of Connecticut's budget plan through the Legislative Office Building, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016, in Hartford, Conn. Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is proposing to reduce spending for next fiscal year's budget by $569 million.
(AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Legislative aides push copies of Connecticut's budget plan through the Legislative Office Building, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016, in Hartford, Conn. Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is proposing to reduce spending for next fiscal year's budget by $569 million.
Legislative aides push copies of Connecticut's budget plan through the Legislative Office Building, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016, in Hartford, Conn. Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is proposing to reduce spending for next fiscal year's budget by $569 million.
Credit (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Legislative aides push copies of Connecticut's budget plan through the Legislative Office Building, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016, in Hartford, Conn. Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is proposing to reduce spending for next fiscal year's budget by $569 million.

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.

Copyright 2016 WSHU

A native of New York City, Ann Lopez, has spent more than 20-years working in journalism. Her career has brought her to Ms. Magazine and Newsday. She also worked at WGBH in Boston as a producer and director for The World, an international radio news magazine show. Ann was the founding producer for WSHU's mid-day talk show, The Full Story. As a Senior Producer, Ann works with the hosts of Morning Edition and All Things Considered to produce interviews that focus on local topics and issues that our listners care about.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.