NEWS New York State

Public Employees Federation

Contact: Darcy Wells
518-785-1900, ext. 277
518-859-1274
AFL-CIO email: dwells@pef.org

FOR RELEASE: Thursday, January 20, 2011

PEF statement on reports of massive workforce reductions

Albany - “To date, the New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF) has had no formal notification
regarding proposals for massive workforce reductions as part of the Executive Budget proposal,” said PEF
President Kenneth Brynien.

“We all understand the state’s fiscal crisis and the need to find solutions, but any suggestion of reducing the
state workforce by 10,000 to 15,000 would not only cripple the delivery of essential services, it would have a
chilling effect on the state’s economy and undermine the state’s fragile recovery. We should all be working
together to create jobs, not more layoffs.

“If the goal is to cut costs, PEF has several suggestions on how to achieve savings without damaging state
services and harming the dedicated public employees who provide them. What cannot be lost in this debate is
this is not just a spending problem, it is a revenue problem. We will present our suggestions to the governor on
how to address both issues,” Brynien said.

PEF is the state’s second-largest, state-employee union, representing 56,000 professional, scientific and
technical employees.

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P.O. Box 12414
Albany, NY 12212-2414

Affiliated With American Federation Of Teachers, AFL-CIO and Service Employees International Union