Union agreements may result in fewer state employee layoffs

Gov. Chet Culver said Thursday he hopes that union agreements to accept unpaid days and benefit reductions will result in fewer than 300 state employees receiving layoff notices as the state struggles through a budget crisis.

Culver also said he is hopeful that he and the Legislature will be able next session to find ways to streamline, reorganize and improve efficiencies in state government that will amount to “tens of millions, perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars” in savings.

The governor already has forged a tentative pact with one union that will be up for a ratification vote later this month and is close to a similar agreement with one of the two remaining unions that have held talks with Culver administration officials for more than a week.

Culver said union concessions are a vital component in his effort to trim $565 million in spending from executive-branch agencies to achieve a 10 percent across-the-board reduction by next June 30 in light of diving state revenues.

“Hopefully, instead of 800 (layoffs), we could be talking about 200 or 300. That would be probably the best-case scenario at this point,” Culver said heading into the ratification vote by American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) members.

“We want to avoid layoffs at any cost,” he told reporters. “If there's not the approval of the union members, then we're talking a total of 800 layoffs. It's an either-or proposition. There's nothing else we can do at this point.

“We've already found savings in other areas, we've already required non-contract covered employees to take furlough days, we've already found savings and efficiencies in terms of cutting back on travel and other things like that, so this is it. This is our last and best offer to avert laying off 500 or 600 more state employees, he added.

The governor said he is committed to protecting essential services, especially in public safety areas, and is ready to keep rejecting agency plans that don't ensure an adequate staffing level to keep Iowa roads safe and prisons functioning properly.

“We will find $565 million in savings one way or the other,” he said.

Culver also said he's looking at possible early-retirement incentives such as continued health insurance coverage to encourage some long-time employees to voluntarily leave state employment. He said there are currently about 2,700 out of about 20,000 executive-branch employees who are eligible to retire but are not doing so.

“We're going to try to be very creative there so those employees that are ready and willing to retire can with the safety net that they need for things like insurance,” he said.

Given the severe economic downturn that is gripping the state and nation, Culver said it is unavoidable that Iowans won't feel the pinch of the state budget cuts.

“I think Iowans will see an impact on the delivery of services, whether it's a courthouse that's closed, whether it's a Department of Human Service office or program where there's not someone there to quickly turn around a request – yes, there will be a very obvious and visible impact on how the state can or cannot deliver services,” he said.