Oops. An Albany cop-union boss just let the protect-and-serve mask slip.
Albany Police Officers Union President Chris Mesley says that, regardless of the faltering economy, a no-raise new contract is unacceptable.
And to hell with the public.
“I’m not running a popularity contest here,” Mesley said. “If I’m the bad guy to the average citizen . . . and their taxes have go up to cover my raise, I’m very sorry about that, but I have to look out for myself and my membership.”
Mesley added: “As the president of the local, I will not accept ‘zeroes.’ If that means . . . ticking off some taxpayers, then so be it.”
Such gloves-off thuggery is unlikely to come from, say, United Federation of Teachers President Mike Mulgrew.
His first concern is always “the children,” don’t you know. Just ask him.
But make no mistake: Mulgrew and his union-boss colleagues hold the people who pay the bills in the same contempt expressed by Mesley.
Their behavior proves it.
Witness the transit workers’ recent arbitration-approved 11.5 percent wage and benefits hike — even as the state and the MTA are practically broke.
Or the howls that came last summer from the police and firefighters unions when Gov. Paterson vetoed the annual reauthorization of higher pension benefits for new employees.
The message? Sacrifice is for suckers — not unionized government employees.
Thus do taxpayers end up working longer and harder to pay for the guaranteed salaries and plush benefits of union members.
Mesley admits that he understands that. He just doesn’t care.