Metro

Bloomberg demands city-union pension reforms

Mayor Bloomberg threw down the gauntlet yesterday before the city’s municipal labor unions, demanding massive, wide-reaching reforms in the pension system — including a call to stop workers from racking up overtime just before retirement to pump up their taxpayer-funded nest eggs.

The demands, made in a meeting between city chief labor negotiator Jim Hanley and the Municipal Labor Committee, set the stage for a war with newly enraged labor leaders that would play out in Albany, which must sign off on pension-policy changes.

Labor leaders had been bracing for a pitched battle with Bloomberg, but what they didn’t expect was the breadth of demanded givebacks.

Among the givebacks, extra $12,000 pension payments made each year to cops and firefighters would be eliminated, not only for future workers as proposed earlier but for everyone, including current retirees.

And most employees would have to contribute more to their pensions. Civilian employees and teachers would have to pony up 5 percent every year. Both now contribute 1.85 percent in their later years, after initially coughing up 4.85 percent.

The union leaders yesterday could barely contain their anger.

“I really honestly feel the working relationship the mayor had with unions in the city of New York will no longer exist,” fumed Harry Nespoli, head of both the sanitation workers union and the Municipal Labor Committee. “He’s dictating now what he’s going to do.”

Steve Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, accused the mayor of undermining the rank-and-file.

“In the middle of squandering $1 billion on CityTime, and another $1.8 billion on the failed [unified 911] dispatch system, the mayor’s proposal fails to recognize the unique and dangerous nature of firefighting,” Cassidy said.

“Among other things, New York City firefighters killed in the line of duty will no longer be able to count on their benefits to protect their families,” he added.

One source said the city was making a full-scale push now on pension reform because there’s a sense Bloomberg has a powerful ally in Gov. Cuomo, who’s riding a wave of popularity.

“We have a governor who has some juice,” said the source. “The last governor also wanted to do this, but he didn’t have the juice.”

Still, city officials concede privately that they face an uphill fight in the state Legislature, where municipal unions retain considerable clout.

david.seifman@nypost.com