Ten state workers to lose jobs next month

Ten painters and other trade workers received notices Thursday that they will be laid off by the Department of General Administration effective March 8.

All of the affected workers are in GA’s tenant-improvement program, part of the Capitol Campus buildings-and-grounds operation. That operation has seen a drop-off in demand for services as other agencies reduce minor workplace improvements because of shrinking budgets, GA spokesman Steve Valandra said.

GA told 19 workers in mid-January they were “at risk” of layoffs, but the agency was able to find positions for five workers in the Department of Commerce’s home-weatherization program. It also kept four painters who were at risk, Valandra said.

GA made other cuts last year; it had 605 full-time-equivalent workers at the end of the year. That compares with 653 full-time positions in July 2005, according to the agency.

Department of Personnel data show the state’s general-government payroll shrank from 65,290 people in June to 63,320 at the end of December. More cuts lie ahead as lawmakers take up Gov. Chris Gregoire’s supplemental budget request that calls for 1,500 more job cuts in general government and higher education.