A coalition of labor unions representing Connecticut public workers are facing $1.5 billion dollars in concession demands underscored by the real and imminent threat of potentially thousands of layoffs.

One union in the coalition is the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 4.

AFSCME Council 4 spokesperson Larry Dorman.

 "We are in a tough anti-labor environment brought about by a growing deficit that's expected to reach in excess of $5 billion over the next couple of years.

And therefore the Governor of Connecticut Dan Malloy, who's a Democrat, laid out a request for approximately $1.5 billion in concessions."

Dorman says tax cuts for the wealth and corporations is a big contributing factor to Connecticut's state budget deficit.

Since the deficit is endangering both jobs and public services, Dorman says changing the tax structure in Connecticut to raise more revenue is the right thing to do.

 "If Connecticut's Governor and legislators can summon the courage to actually look at how to fairly raise revenues, much of this problem could be solved over the long term.

And it's not simply, by the way, asking the extremely wealthy and the biggest corporations to pay their fair share. It's just simply to restore taxes on them that have been reduced or eliminated dramatically.

This fight over revenue is part of a broader fight to protect what we have built up over the years. Which is a safety net for working people to live in dignity and security and to provide services that people need."