By Ben Fractenberg
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Gov. David Paterson said he is planning to layoff 1,000 state workers, WNBC-TV reported Friday.
It marks the first time the governor has given a specific number of public employees he plans to give the pink slip by the end of the year.
“I think it would be at least 1,000 [layoffs]. …I feel very badly for the people being laid off,” the governor said in an interview on WSYR in Syracuse on Thursday.
But state unions are standing their ground, arguing that Paterson promised to wait until at least Jan. 1, 2011 to make any layoffs, according to WNBC-TV.
Paterson said he could have avoided letting people go if the employees' unions had accepted a deal that included a suspension of a four percent raise for workers.
