Connecticut Lays Off Hundreds of Workers

HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut began laying off hundreds of state workers Thursday as a stalemate between union leaders and the governor over contract concessions continued.

Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. made good on a threat to dismiss 200 workers unless union leaders agreed to $345 million in concessions needed to balance the state’s $7.6-billion budget.

Some 2,300 other workers already have received layoff notices, and Weicker said he was ordering pink slips for 1,277 others. It was not clear when those layoffs would begin.

Connecticut employers on Thursday also begin withholding the state’s new income tax from wages amid criticism aimed at Weicker for pushing through the new tax. Tens of thousands of people are expected to converge on the state Capitol on Saturday to urge repeal.