Union suspects activists targeted in NH layoffs

The Union Leader runs Holly Ramer's AP piece citing union allegations that correction officers are being laid off in retaliation for union activism.

The governor's office has declined to specify which departments and workers are affected, but some agencies and the union representing most of the state's 11,500 workers have been providing numbers as workers are notified.

Thursday's update included 37 workers laid off from the Department of Corrections, plus at least 20 who were reassigned or demoted. Twenty workers were laid off from the Youth Development Center in Manchester, said Mike Barwell, spokesman for the State Employees Association.

A number of the corrections workers have been vocal participants in union activities, Barwell said, and union officials are looking into whether they may have been singled out for that reason.