Legislature gives Malloy more budget-cutting authority; 1,000 more state workers could face layoffs.

Byline: JC Reindl

July 01--HARTFORD -- The pressure is back on state union leaders to somehow ratify their labor concessions deal with the governor. During Thursday night's special session, state legislators were poised to preserve aid to cities and towns in the new state budget at the expense of as many as 1,000 additional worker layoffs. And if the layoff threat isn't enough to force union action, the legislature could adopt a measure that caps state workers' longevity payments and eliminates certain pension sweeteners. Both measures may well loom over union leaders as they meet this morning to decide how to proceed. A top aide to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said the governor is willing to issue the additional pink slips -- on top of 5,466 layoffs already in the works -- as part of his plan to rebalance the state's new two-year, $40.5 billion budget. Malloy's labor deal fell apart last week when it failed to achieve the union coalition's strict …