Gov. Martin O'Malley is proposing temporary furloughs for more than 67,000 state employees and a shutdown of state government operations for two days during the coming holidays, according to internal documents provided yesterday to The Baltimore Sun.
The proposal would save $34.4 million and help to keep the anemic state budget in the black, according to a letter from Budget Secretary T. Eloise Foster addressed to union officials and provided to The Sun and other news outlets. While the O'Malley administration doesn't need approval from labor unions - a key constituency for the governor - contours of the proposal were hammered out in consultation with union officials.
O'Malley, a Democrat, met with union officials last week and asked them to share the burden of budget cutting that has affected nearly every state agency. He promised to compensate them for sacrifices when economic times improve, according to participants in that meeting.
"We're not thrilled, of course," said Debra Perry, president of AFT Health Care Maryland, which represents 2,000 nurses, doctors, epidemiologists and other employees, mostly at the state health department. "But we're all in agreement that, yes, we know this is the reality, and we're all trying to figure out how everybody should have some part of it."
The furlough plan has not been finalized, and the O'Malley administration faces push-back from unions, which could come as soon as today, during previously scheduled mid-contract negotiations. The largest, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, plans to offer counterproposals. Several unions said they plan to get feedback from members.
"We'll probably have a counterproposal," said Patrick Moran, Maryland director of AFSCME, which represents more than 30,000 state workers. "And I guarantee you it's not going to be the exact same thing they're proposing to us."
The plan would affect workers according to a sliding scale, with those making more than $60,000 a year having to take five furlough days. Employees making less than $40,000 a year would take furlough days Dec. 26 and Jan. 2, when state operations would be shut down. Workers who fall between those two ranges must take four days. O'Malley, whose salary is set at about $150,000 a year, would lose five days' pay.
