PROVIDENCE — Governor Carcieri has proposed what is believed to be the largest layoff of state employees in Rhode Island history, a move that shocked legislators and union officials 24 hours before House leaders were set to release their 2007-08 spending plan.

At a news conference yesterday, Governor Carcieri proposes to balance the state budget by laying off 1,000 state workers — thought to be the largest job reduction of state workers in Rhode Island history. One union leader calls the plan “pretty incompetent and pathetic.”

The Providence Journal / John Freidah

The governor’s proposal, announced at a packed State House news conference yesterday afternoon, calls for the elimination of 1,000 state jobs. Carcieri also announced plans to replace union employees with private workers for “every state service that could possibly be performed more efficiently by the private sector,” and called on the General Assembly to pass a law allowing him to freeze union-negotiated wage increases.

“I am fully aware that I am placing the burden of resolving our state’s financial future on the shoulders of our employees,” Carcieri said. “But my responsibility is to the average Rhode Island taxpaying families who put me here. I must act on behalf of all our citizens, and must fix this now for the sake of our children and grandchildren’s future.”

The union reaction was swift and strong.

“To me, that’s a pretty incompetent and pathetic approach to take, in addition to being somewhat ruthless,” said George Nee, secretary-treasurer for the AFL-CIO. “I mean we’re playing with peoples’ lives. These are people. These are human beings. These aren’t, quote, state employees, or numbers. These are people with families, people that live in the community.”

Facing a looming budget crisis, union representatives first sat down with administration officials in early March to negotiate concessions, according to according to Dennis Grilli, executive director of Council 94, the largest state employees union. They met, on average, twice a week since to discuss “a package of things that involved wages and benefits” that “could have saved the state millions,” Grilli said, declining to be more specific.

Union officials got a call Wednesday morning from Carcieri’s office informing them that negotiations were over. The phone call and subsequent news conference was a complete surprise.

“It’s like having a little skirmish and somebody says, ‘By the way, we have nuclear weapons,’ ” Nee said. “I thought we were using bows and arrows.”

The legislative leadership reacted to Carcieri’s plan with concern.

“I look forward to sitting down with the governor,” House Speaker William J. Murphy, D-West Warwick. “I don’t know if it’s a sound bite or a sound plan.”

House Finance Chairman Steven M. Costantino, D-Providence, criticized the governor’s office for not trying hard enough to negotiate with the unions. “If they wanted to work it out, they would have stuck out these negotiations and been willing to compromise,” he said of the governor’s office. “He needs to sit down with labor and resolve these issues.”

The governor’s proposals were short on specifics.

He would not say where the layoffs — expected to save $26 million for fiscal 2008 and $40 million the next year — would be targeted, except to say that all departments would be examined. Nor did he say when the layoffs would happen, but his spokesman later said layoff notices would be issued “fairly early in the new fiscal year.” Fiscal 2008 begins on July 1.

Carcieri’s projections factored the time it would take to implement the policy, as well as costs associated with increased unemployment benefits, spokesman Jeff Neal said.

The governor also refused to say which state functions would be targeted for privatization, a plan he said would save $15 million next year. He is already moving forward with plans to replace union workers with a private vendor to administer food services and housekeeping at state hospitals and the Rhode Island Veterans Home.

“This is not something we do willy-nilly,” Carcieri said. “We’re going to have to look at discrete functions that make sense to privatize and outsource.”

And while the governor proposed savings of another $32 million by asking the Assembly to pass a law freezing union-negotiated pay increases — something leaders said isn’t very likely — Carcieri does not need legislative approval to lay off state employees, according to legislators and union officials interviewed yesterday. The governor acknowledged the possibility that the General Assembly would ignore his plan and finance the 1,000 positions anyway.

“We’re going to do it anyway, regardless of what they do,” Carcieri said of the layoffs. “Regardless of what they do and how they balance that budget, we’re going ahead with this.”

That doesn’t mean the unions won’t turn to the courts to block the move, something that Nee said yesterday was a possibility.

Carcieri wasn’t swayed when asked about a court battle. “If they want to stifle it and stymie it and fight it every step of the way, that’s their choice. I’m going to march ahead,” he said. “I’m going to march ahead because we have to do this. If we don’t do this, I’m going to be standing here next year same time same place telling you we have a much worse problem.”

Yesterday’s announcement came near the end of a week in which social advocates, lobbyists and lawmakers fought — largely behind closed doors — to save programs and funds outlined in the fiscal 2008 budget, set to be released publicly for the first time today at 2 p.m. before the House Finance Committee.

To restore all the governor’s proposed cuts would cost an estimated $200 million. And that doesn’t include an additional $90 million hole revealed last month.

Rep. Costantino, of the Finance Committee, plans to use approximately $102 million from the sale of tobacco bonds to plug some of the gap, replacing $80 million in expected revenue from an insurance settlement now tied up in litigation.

Carcieri yesterday sharply criticized plans to use the tobacco money on “one-time gimmicks.” Yet he acknowledged after the news conference using about $130 million in one-time fixes, including $63 million from the budget reserve and $28.2 million from land sales.

“Yes, it had some one-times in there,” Carcieri said of his proposed spending plan. “It’s all an order of magnitude. They’re taking it now and going to another level.”

Largely absent from yesterday’s news conference was mention of the parents facing cuts to childcare subsidies and foster children, who will lose state benefits if the governor’s proposals become law. Some attended the news conference after spending the night sleeping in tents on the concrete and bricks in front of the State House.

“I don’t really know how to feel. When we talk to people, the response is, ‘It’s a tough year,’ and they don’t have anything else to say,” said Amanda Sawyer, a 23-year-old mother of two who stands to lose state-subsidized childcare if the Assembly doesn’t restore the governor’s cuts.

Sawyer, who works as a nursing assistant, has a 5-year-old with autism. “There are a lot of us losing sleep about what we’re going to do,” she said.

State Republican Party Chairman Giovanni Cicione released a statement yesterday applauding the governor’s plan.

“The Democrat leaders in the General Assembly need a reality check right now, and it’s time they start showing a little courage and urge the union bosses to stop the greedy demands that are breaking this state’s budget back,” Cicione said. “I salute this governor for holding his ground, making a very tough decision and not running from the grim reality of this state’s very serious fiscal situation.”

After clearing the House Finance Committee today, the budget is set to go before the full House next Friday. Ultimately, the legislature approves each year’s budget with or without the governor’s approval.

egudrais@projo.com