The five-year labor deal reached with the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) still has to be ratified by the union's 66,000 rank-and-file members and passed by the state Legislature. The agreement would prevent 9,800 layoffs with savings from a three-year wage freeze.
Mr. Cuomo hopes the deal will serve as a model for negotiations with other public-sector unions, most notably the 55,600-member Public Employee Federation. If other unions agree to the same deal, the state would reduce its work force costs by $1.63 billion and health care costs by $1.27 billion over the course of the agreement.
The deal would give members 2% raises in 2014 and 2015 and a $1,000 bonus in 2013 that would not be added to workers' base pay.
The layoffs were intended to close a $450 million budget gap. The contracts between the state, the CSEA and the Public Employee Federation expired March 31, and lawmakers passed a budget for the fiscal year beginning April 1 that included no raises for the unions.