By JIM BARON

PROVIDENCE – The State House is open for business as usual today, as are all other state offices.

In a stunning and speedy reversal of a lower court ruling, Supreme Court Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg on Thursday temporarily halted Gov. Donald Carcieri's executive order shutting down state government today and on 11 more days between now and July. The full court will will review Goldberg's decision on Sept. 11.
Shortly after Goldberg's decision, Carcieri's office issued a terse five paragraph press release saying he now has no option but to lay off state workers and he has asked department directors to identify the last 1,000 people hired and begin notifying them of layoffs.
He said later that Justice Goldberg “way overstepped,” in making her ruling.
In his written statement, Carcieri said, “This decision by Justice McKenna Goldberg may just be the straw that broke the camel’s back, sending this state down the path to financial ruin, as it gives greater weight to union and special interest demands rather than the fiscal reality of the state and the employment of state workers. Preventing the state from moving forward with the shutdown days cripples our ability to address growing budget gaps, and stops the executive branch from fulfilling its constitutional duty to balance the state’s budget.” 
Striking out at the union leadership that went to court to challenge his shut-down day strategy, Carcieri said.
 “It should greatly disturb every state employee and every Rhode Islander that labor leaders are willing to sacrifice people’s jobs so they can maintain their stranglehold on the citizens of this state.”
“My goal has been to ask the unions to help our state though this extraordinarily difficult time,” he said. “They have refused, and now we find ourselves in an even more difficult situation.”
In an impromptu press conference at the door of the State House as he was leaving for the day, Carcieri told reporters that “the union leadership doesn't get it.”
He said all he is asking for is for employees to “make a small, small sacrifice to help our state get through this. We are trying to manage through a very difficult time.”
Carcieri said that “would be the smart thing, and the fair thing.”
Joseph Peckham, acting executive director of Council 94 AFSCME, the union representing the largest number of state employees, fought fire with fire in the war of words with the governor.
Branding Carcieri's press release “belligerent,” “polarizing” and “heavy handed,” Peckham said “these are not words from someone who has a problem and wants to negotiate a settlement.
Peckham called Carcieri “a sore loser,” and his fallback to layoffs “a rush to judgment.”
He said the governor could very well get his way when the full court weighs in next week and he should use the next four days (minus the long Labor Day weekend) to discuss the issue with the unions and try to reach an accord.
Peckham said Carcieri is “wrong” when he says the unions have refused to negotiate or offer concessions, saying they were talking right until the two sides went into court on Thursday.
Carcieri once again rejected the notion of tax hike or other revenue increases as a way to bring the budget into balance.
“When you've got 70,000 people out of work, (it would be) laying more burden on people who are worrying right now about keeping their jobs and paying their bills and every business is doing that, I think they expect their government to do the same – figure out how to make some sacrifices to get through this.
Asked what he would say to the 1,000 workers with a pink slip in their near future, Carcieri answered “talk to your union leadership. I don't want to do this. It would be much smoother and much easier and much fairer if everyone agreed to take a very small pay reduction.
Because layoffs can be a long an laborious process, with bumping and other contract provisions to deal with, Carcieri said it could take months before the state could start saving money. That, he said, is why he must begin the process now and can not wait for judicial proceedings to play out. “We've been waiting and waiting and every week we are losing ground. I can not sit here and keep waiting for decisions to be made by courts.
The governor said he would “absolutely,” abandon the idea of layoffs if some agreement can be made with the unions that would help achieve the savings needed to balance the budget, an estimated $21.6 million.
“My first preference would be to make an agreement with labor to take unpaid days,” he said. “We could have avoided a shutdown if an agreement could have been made. I would prefer not to do this.”
Union leaders told The Times this week that they have offered to take unpaid days if there was an arrangement to make that up at some later date, in the next fiscal year, or when the workers leave state service.
Asked about that, Carcieri said, “they're telling you something different than they are telling me.”
Carcieri actually started the day with a win.
Just hours before Goldberg made her decision, Superior Court Michael Silverstein had derailed the effort by eight unions representing various groups of state employees hoping to stop the shutdown.
In his decision, Silverstein quoted a RI Supreme Court precedent – dating to the 1991 credit union crisis, when then-Gov. Bruce Sundlun furloughed workers as a cost-saving measure -- which said that because the  two sides had agreed to go to arbitration to resolve contract disputes, it would be “unnecessary and, indeed, improper for this court to determine at this stage of the proceedings whether a breach of contract has occurred.”
Reading his decision from the bench, Silverstein suggested that if that court were answering the same question he was being asked to decide, “The result would be exactly what this court now rules,” that the state and the unions should proceed with arbitration before a court issued an injunction.
Goldberg apparently disagreed.
She said Silverstein “failed to address (the unions') request for temporary and preliminary injuctive relief to stay, pending arbitration,” the implementation of Carcieri's executive order calling for the shutdowns.