HARRISBURG — The Rendell administration told employee unions that state workers could be furloughed in a month and demanded they relinquish pay raises as the government scrambles to close a multibillion-dollar gap in state finances.

Negotiators for Gov. Ed Rendell also told representatives of the three major state workers' unions during a meeting Tuesday in Harrisburg that the administration wants to draw nearly $200 million from a reserve in their health insurance fund.

The governor's office also said it may institute "rolling furloughs" in which large parts of state government would be shuttered on certain days, while the workers would go without pay.

David Fillman, executive director of a union that represents 45,000 state workers, on Wednesday described the governor's demands as unacceptable.

"I think it's premature for this threat of layoffs to shut everything down before they've fully exhausted other sources of revenue," said Fillman, head of Council 13 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

"We should have been the discussion of last resort."

Rendell disclosed last week that he expected to order layoffs to take effect in the fiscal year that starts July 1. His annual budget address is next week.

The 30-day furlough notice was issued as a legal requirement but does not mean furloughs are more imminent or inevitable, Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said Wednesday. The administration said Tuesday that 1,000 to 2,000 jobs within the state's 78,000 full-time, salaried work force could be cut.

"The budget shortfall continues to grow exponentially and the situation changes on a daily basis," Ardo said.

He called the rolling furloughs one of the options under consideration.

"So long as the unions insist on maintaining their position, we are limited in our responses," he said.

The administration told the unions it wants them to agree to cancel a 2.25 percent raise that went into their paychecks this month, and to forgo a 3 percent pay increase scheduled for July 1.

It also wants to reduce the Pennsylvania Employees Benefit Trust Fund's reserve from $244 million to $50 million.