By AP
Lansing, MI – Lansing, Mich. (AP)
The state of Michigan still is trying to determine exactly how it will schedule furlough days for roughly 38,000 of its employees.
The move is expected to save the state about $21.7 million. It is part of a plan to eliminate a projected $1.3 billion budget deficit in an executive order issued by Gov. Jennifer Granholm last week. More than half of the state's 53,000 state employees will be required to take at least six furlough days before Sept. 30.
About 17,000 members of United Auto Workers Local 6000 may have up to nine furlough days because of contract provisions that call for the unpaid days to be consecutive. That raises the cost of unemployment benefits to the state, requiring a higher number of days off to make up the difference.