PROVIDENCE — Governor Carcieri is expected this week to issue an executive order officially shutting down state government and sending home employees without pay for seven days in this and next fiscal year.

The move is aimed at saving $8.4 million but has angered unions, who have said Carcieri is violating their contracts.

Union leaders met yesterday afternoon with Carcieri’s director of administration, Beverly E. Najarian, who briefed them on where the plan stands to date, according to Michael Maynard, a spokesman for Carcieri.

But J. Michael Downey, president of Council 94 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — the state’s largest union — said he still has not received enough information.

“To me they are not very organized and very prepared,” he said. “If you’re not going to be paid, you should at least know in advance so you can make plans.

“This is just the most mean-spirited thing I’ve seen in the 27 years I’ve been around,” he said.

Najarian earlier this month notified department directors about proposed dates to close government. The governor’s office refused yesterday to say what the dates are, but the memo sent to the departments — with one modification — called for the following closures:

• Friday, March 16

•April 6, which is Good Friday

•May 25, the Friday before Memorial Day

• Friday, June 8

•Nov. 23, the day after Thanksgiving

•Dec. 24

•May 23, 2008, the Friday before Memorial Day

(Carcieri had originally proposed Monday, Dec. 31, but that has now changed.)

Only “essential” employees, such as prison guards and state police, would be allowed to work but nobody has yet said exactly who is included in that category.

Maynard said that the governor is seeking “days that would be most popular with employees based on [past] attendance records.” He said Najarian sought input yesterday from the unions.

Maynard said a final list would be released Friday.

Shutdown days are not a new concept.

During the state’s banking crisis, in 1991, former Democratic Gov. Bruce G. Sundlun issued an executive order closing state government for 10 days and ordering that most state workers not be paid for those days.

The employee unions went to court to block the shutdown days but the Superior and Supreme courts sided with Sundlun. Ultimately, government only closed for three days — two unpaid — after the unions and Sundlun reached an agreement over a pay deferral plan.

The unions had gone to court saying that such unpaid days were a breach of their contracts and that the governor exceeded his executive authority. Superior Court Judge Robert D. Krause refused the unions’ request to block the shutdown days. They appealed to the Supreme Court.

The courts did not rule on the legality of such shutdown days, saying that was a decision left up to the arbitration process. The courts refused to stop the governor, saying if his actions were later found to be improper, workers could be compensated.

Downey yesterday said the union is exploring a range of options, including filing grievances. Downey said it is unclear to him whether the furlough days would apply to all employees, such as those who don’t work a full year. Some workers at the state colleges only work when school is in session, about 40 weeks in the year.

In the meeting, he said, he suggested that state employees who make more than $100,000 a year take 10 days off this year and 10 days next year.

Some state workers are particularly afraid of the impact on their wallets.

Take Nadine Corvi who has worked for the state as a secretary for nearly 16 years.

She makes about $36,000 a year and works a second job doing food demonstrations at supermarkets to make ends meet. Losing seven days worth of salary would cost her $980.

“That’s a lot of money that’s going to hurt me,” said Corvi, 62. “I am tired of the governor taking and balancing the budget on our backs.”

She suggested that the governor start at the top and make cuts there and then work his way down. She said that workers such as her are unfairly being asked to carry the burden of the state’s budget problems.

“We can’t afford this. It’s always on our backs,” she said. “He has no respect for state employees. He’s been after us ever since he became governor.”

smayerow@projo.com