HARTFORD — Governor Malloy said Thursday, in his initial budget proposal, if state employee unions did not agree to $700 million dollars in concessions, ...

HARTFORD — Governor Malloy said Thursday, in his initial budget proposal, if state employee unions did not agree to $700 million dollars in concessions, layoffs would follow.

Gov. Malloy and state unions are actively talking but in the absence of an agreement right now, Malloy said steps are being taken to make sure any layoffs are done in the timely fashion laid out in existing contracts.

“I’m hopeful that those layoffs will ultimately not be required but we got to honor the contract,” said Malloy. “I’ve always said we would go forward when we had to go forward, we’ve reached the time that we have to go forward. It is not for the purposes of trying to obtain an edge or blow up discussions it is just a legal requirement.”

Several months ago Malloy said more than 4,000 layoffs would be needed but did not mention Thursday, whether that number still stands.

AFT Connecticut posted an internal memo to its members Thursday stating, “The possibility of further job cuts adds urgency to collective efforts to demand better choices than failed policies that have already negatively impacted Connecticut’s quality of life.”