In a shocking indicator of just how bad the economy is getting, the Prince George’s County Council in Maryland voted unanimously to force 5,900 county employees to take two weeks of unpaid leave by mid-June of next year.

According to the Washington Post, Council Chairman Samuel H. Dean (D-Mitchellville) said at a news conference that the county faces an emergency budget shortfall of $57 million, and the action was necessary to prevent more painful layoffs.

Dean said the council’s top responsibility is to prevent bankruptcy for the county.

“Sometimes in life one must make decisions one does not like,” he told reporters.

The decision was immediately blasted by county workers, several hundred of whom attended the “contentious” recent council meeting. Afterward they spilled out in front of the county building to voice their displeasure.

Those opposing the plan said that the vote was taken less than 24 hours after the furlough plan was first unveiled by County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) and contested claims that it would not affect public safety.

The council allowed five union presidents to speak for two minutes each on the issue, but none of the hundreds of workers who will be affected the most were permitted to speak.

“This was shameful,” said Vince Canales, president of the local Fraternal Order of Police lodge.

“It was underhanded and without thought.”