
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 3, 1995                   TAG: 9504040050
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                 LENGTH: Short

STATE WORKERS TAKE ALLEN UP ON BUYOUT PLAN

More than 7,000 state employees - about 6 percent of the work force - are seeking retirement or cash buyouts under an Allen administration plan to cut the size of state government.

As of Friday's deadline to enroll in the program, at least 7,048 of the state's 113,000 employees had offered to quit, said Secretary of Administration Michael Thomas.

The figure exceeded an administration projection of 6,000 and was expected to grow. Gov. George Allen has said he may eliminate more than 16,000 state jobs.

``The plan was designed to induce state employees to leave voluntarily, and I think that it's working,'' Thomas said. ``We don't see that there's anything beyond that.''

But Joan Dent of the Virginia Governmental Employees Association said, ``I think people are kind of fed up, and saying, `It's time for me to go.''' Her organization is challenging Allen's hiring and firing policies in a Richmond Circuit Court lawsuit.

by CNB