LANSING ? Michigan government agencies are developing contingency plans, in case the state employee unions decline to reopen their contracts for the coming fiscal year, which could involve layoffs, officials said Wednesday.
It would take some 2,500 layoffs to reach the $265 million gross, $145 million general fund, which has been designated as cuts from employee concessions in the fiscal year 2011-12 budget, said Kurt Weiss, spokesperson for the Department of Technology, Management and Budget.
But he said it was possible that the contingency plans, due to Budget Director John Nixon on August 12, would have solutions other than layoffs to cover some of the savings.
Weiss said the administration is still hoping to negotiate concessions to meet the targets. “So if we can’t reach any kind of negotiated agreement with the unions what are we going to do?” he said.
But he said none of the unions had agreed at this point to reopen the contracts.
There are discussions planned shortly about the 2012-13 contracts, and Weiss said officials are hoping during those discussions to get some commitment to reopen the coming year contracts.
If negotiations have not begun, Weiss said the state would have to distribute any layoff notices September 1 to meet the 30-day notice requirement in the contracts.
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