Governor Paterson is no longer mincing words when it comes to furloughs for state workers.

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Speaking before the District 37 lobby day he pledged to make good on his threat to include language in the next budget extender bill that would force lawmakers to choose between forcing public employees to take one unpaid day off a week or shutting down the government.

“It is that bad a situation,” Paterson said. “The state is going to run out of money in June and with the attitude around here you would never know we were in a fiscal crisis…We’re taking an extreme effort to make sure we reach a solution.”

Last week, Paterson sent a bill separate from budget extender to the Legislature that would have provided him with power to furlough state workers.

As for the infuriated unions, who insist furloughs would be an illegal breach of their contract, Paterson said: “You can’t say nuts to everything… I’m here to protect all the tax payers of New York State, not some of them.”

Paterson insisted that the “collective sacrifice is better than individual layoffs at this time.” Legislative leaders have noted the governor negotiated a no-layoffs MOU with the unions to get them to agree to creation of Tier 5 in the pension system, which is why he’s now balking at culling the workforce.

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