According to the Philadelphia Business Journal, New Jersey has reached an agreement with the Communication Workers of America  to take a wage freeze and 10 unpaid furlough days, Gov. Jon S. Corzine said Thursday. The agreement averts the layoff of thousands of state workers in New Jersey, which faces a $4.4 billion budget shortfall in the current fiscal year.

The mid-term contract adjustment will save between $300 million and $400 million in the current and next fiscal years, if it is extended to the remaining state bargaining units, including colleges and authorities, Corzine said.

Under the agreement, a scheduled 3.5 percent July 1 raise will be delayed for 18 months until January 2011 and state employees will take 10 unpaid furlough days before June 30, 2010. The state also pledged to avoid layoffs through December 2010 and create a paid leave bank, allowing workers to accrue up to seven days during their unpaid furloughs, which cannot be used until after fiscal year 2010. A scheduled July 1, 2010, raise will take place as scheduled.

The agreement also places a moratorium, until further study, on an emergency rule recently adopted by the New Jersey Civil Service Commission that permits states and local authorities to implement mandatory furloughs for budgetary savings.