GALVESTON — Layoffs at the University of Texas Medical Branch are not imminent, state officials said during a visit to Galveston late Tuesday.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, state Sens. Mike Jackson and Steve Ogden, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and state Reps. Warren Chisum and Craig Eiland toured the medical branch campus after meeting with administrators to talk about funding.
The Nov. 14 deadline that many employees fear will end their careers at the state’s oldest medical school is artificial in terms of legislative leaders’ efforts to come up with a plan for the school’s future, Dewhurst said.
Legislative leaders are talking with school administrators to decide whether they should bring the medical branch back to its full pre-Hurricane Ike capacity or move some of its services to nearby areas, Dewhurst said.
Whatever is decided will be best for the people of Galveston, medical branch employees and the people of Texas, he said.
But if layoffs are necessary, legislators will make sure employees have plenty of notice and do what they can to make other jobs available, Ogden said.
School officials have told employees they will continue to be paid, even if they are not working, until Nov. 14. After that, many people expect some sort of layoff announcement.
But medical branch President David L. Callender, who answered questions from employees at a town hall-style meeting earlier in the day, said that date was not a hard stop.
Administrators have already extended the deadline, originally Nov. 1, because they don’t really know what the right time frame is, he said. Depending on what legislators come up with in the next two weeks, the deadline might be extended again, he said.
