Fearing legislation in the Mississippi Senate might allow state agency heads to fire several state employees to save money, state workers let their voices be heard on the steps of the state Capitol Wednesday.

Workers say it's not about saving money; it's about taking away their livelihood.

These state workers took their own personal leave time to let senators know exactly how they feel.

Legislation in the Senate would allow 25 state agencies to bypass the state personnel board for one year, giving directors the ability to reorganize and stream line how they see fit, including firing some employees.

"They're taking your pension. They're taking your livelihood that you was promised when you hired on and your obligation was to do you job and come to work," said Robert Shaffer of the Mississippi AFL-CIO.

But in the case of the Department of Corrections, the employees weren't showing up for work. Corrections bypassed the personnel board in 2004, saving taxpayers almost $15 million.

Mississippi Alliance of State Employees representative, Kenneth Laines, said the money saved was at the cost of service to the state.

"What they actually did was they got rid of people that had tenure that was making more money, and then they came back in and they rehired people at a lesser cost," Laines said.

Sen. Cecil Brown said the state has excellent employees, but needs to serve the people of Mississippi in the most economical way.

"If they're worried about this, then they need to be worried about their job," said Brown. "If they're doing their job, then they don't have anything to worry about."

Brown authored a bill that would put a hiring freeze over state agencies for the next fiscal year, essentially trimming agencies by attrition rather than mass firings.

"They're taxpayers and fathers and mothers and voters and all these good things we want, good citizens, and here we are talking about losing their job," said Brown. "I think it a natural concern."