State employees have rejected a tentative contract agreement with the state, by a vote of 2,708-1,875, opening the door for mass layoffs as early as this week.

"I am deeply disappointed the state employees union has rejected a contract that would have implemented furloughs and preserved jobs," Gov. John Lynch said in a written statement released last night.

Lynch said he will meet with department heads this morning to begin implementing plans for layoffs. Employees could be notified this week, with layoffs completed by the end of the month.

Representatives of the State Employees' Association are asking Lynch to return to the negotiating table. "Governor Lynch should come back quickly to the table to negotiate an agreement we can better support," the union wrote in an e-mail to supporters yesterday.

SEA President Gary Smith said he hoped the governor would look to vacant positions, the state's rainy day fund and nonclassified (often higher-ranking) part-time state employees before resorting to layoffs. With growing need for food stamps, Medicaid and unemployment benefits, Smith said, "This is just the worst time for the governor to be diminishing public services from people in New Hampshire who need them the most."

Though the union statement said that officials believed a new tentative agreement could be reached quickly, even some union supporters seemed doubtful.

"The question is, 'To discuss what,' " said Dick DeSeve, a member of the union negotiating team, when asked yesterday afternoon whether the sides could return to negotiations. "I'm not sure how much more creative we can get than what's already been done."

Contract battle

The vote came at the conclusion of an extraordinarily contentious battle between the SEA and the state over the terms of the proposed contract. The state workers' contract expired June 30. In August, the sides announced a tentative agreement, which fell apart days later. Another agreement was reached in late September, but 150 members of the union's bargaining senate voted to urge SEA members to reject it, citing deep cuts to wages with no guarantee against layoffs. The proposed contract would have included 19 furlough days.

The SEA mailed out 6,370 ballots to members, and the two-year contract would have affected about 12,000 state employees. Since the contract was voted down, the old contract will remain in effect until a new one is negotiated. Lynch will have to find another way to save the $25 million in personnel costs mandated by the Legislature.

In the past, Lynch has said that up to 750 state workers could be laid off. Last night, Lynch spokesman Colin Manning told the Monitor that the figure was now "a few hundred," but he declined to be more specific.

In an indication of the anger among state employees, nearly 100 workers and their supporters turned out for a noon rally yesterday at the State House, which was billed as a protest against Lynch's "failure to lead."

"Unemployment not high enough?" asked one sign. Others read: "Got a revenue problem? Fix it!" "No worker, No service" and "Lynch Grinch."

Union members criticized Lynch for not being open to new revenue sources, such as gambling, an income tax or a sales tax.

"We've seen the state struggle to fund public services for too long," said SEA vice president Ken Roos.

Single page