New York City to Furlough 9,000 Government Workers
September 23 2020 - 12:32PM
Dow Jones News
By Katie Honan
About 9,000 New York City government workers must take five-day
furloughs in the coming months, Mayor Bill de Blasio said
Wednesday, as part of ongoing cost-saving measures aimed at
balancing a budget deficit.
Mr. de Blasio said last week that 495 mayoral staffers would
have to take five-day furloughs between October and March. The
additional 9,000 workers, who are in managerial and
non-union-represented roles, will take furloughs during that time
as well, saving the city $21 million, the Democratic mayor said at
a press conference.
The announcement came as the city faces a $9 billion deficit
over the next two years and as the mayor considers laying off up to
22,000 municipal workers.
"We have to keep taking actions to address this situation. None
them are pleasant. None of them are things we would want to do in
normal times," Mr. de Blasio said.
The new coronavirus has devastated the city's economy and forced
the mayor and the city council to approve a budget at the end of
June that cut some services and reduced funding to all agencies.
The mayor has warned of further cuts if state lawmakers don't grant
the city the authority to borrow billions of dollars, or if
Congress doesn't approve a new coronavirus relief package.
"No one wants layoffs, but unfortunately they are very much
still on the table if we can't find a better alternative," he said.
"We have to look for any and all savings that we can find right
now."
Write to Katie Honan at Katie.Honan@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 23, 2020 12:17 ET (16:17 GMT)
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