A historic day for the second largest union in New York as members vote against a proposed agreement with the state. Now workers are unsure of the future. Our Innae Park reports.

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ALBANY, N.Y. -- The second largest union in the Empire State says no to the proposed agreement with the state. Almost 20,000 members of the New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF) voted against it.

“The cuts that were demanded of them in this agreement were just too many. They cut too deep,” said President Ken Brynien.

Now he says it is time to head back to the negotiating table.

“We're demanding that the Governor come back to the table with his bargaining team and I’m also demanding that he not go forward with any layoffs until we've re-engaged in this process, until we can come up with a solution that works for everybody," Brynien said.

Prior to the vote, Governor Cuomo had threatened thousands of layoffs if the union refused the contract.

A few hours after the results were released, Cuomo requested PEF officials to reconsider in a written statement. As of now, the threat of unemployment still lingers.

PEF member Tanya Stupar said, “It's a detriment to everyone. Not only is it going to affect us as workers, it's going to affect the economy, with people losing their jobs. I mean, how can you afford to live at this point?"

Another PEF member, Patty Eisemhandler, agreed, saying, “It doesn't make sense, I'm disappointed.”

However, Nelly Goutos has been a state worker for 22 years, under PEF. She told YNN the vote went in the right direction.

Goutos said, “We realize it's tough times, but we're asked to be doing more work with less people, we'd be taking pay cuts, we have expenses that we are committed to, so it isn't really fair to put that much on the workers' back.”

The contract included wage freezes and required state workers to pay more for their health insurance. These stipulations were similar to the agreement that the largest union in the state, the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) passed last month.

Now CSEA member William Stow is concerned about what this may mean for them.

“If they end up with no layoffs and a better contract, then you're going to see a lot of CSEA people unhappy,” he warned.

Stupar expressed worry about her friend, married to a fellow union member who may be one of the thousands on the chopping block.

“If everyone thought about the greater good and what would've been beneficial for everyone in the long run, the contract would've been passed,” said Stupar.

But Brynien is firm, saying, “We're just going to stand our ground.”

As of Tuesday night, the Governor has not responded the union's request for more negotiations.

This is the first time in PEF's 34 year history that its members voted down an agreement made with the state.