Governor Phil Bredesen filed legislation today to change the way state civil service works. He says he’s trying to soften the impact of any layoffs used to balance next year’s state budget.
Bredesen says he thinks state employees will be OK with the changes he laid out in the proposed law. He foresees the biggest problem being the old provision, under which state employees could bump a less senior employee to hang onto a job.
“The thing that was most objectionable to the state employees were some of the broader changes in the ‘bump and retreat’ in the civil service system. Umm. We kinda went back to the drafting board and said, ‘Look, I think we can handle this without having that.”
The governor praised Nashville Representative Mike Turner for working with state employees to make them comfortable with the civil service changes.
Turner is a Nashville firefighter and a member of the Firefighter’s Union.
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