Metro

2 government vets to head de Blasio’s municipal-labor team

Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio tapped two veteran government hands to tackle one of the toughest tasks of the new administration: labor talks.

That’s because roughly 150 municipal contracts need renewal after having stayed open for as many as four years — with no dollars budgeted for retroactive pay increases.

Leading the charge to resolve the monumental challenge will be Bob Linn, 65, a veteran ­labor expert who served as chief negotiator for then-Mayor Ed Koch.

He’ll get help from another Koch-administration veter­an, Stan Brez­enoff, 76, who was appointed as an unpaid special adviser to incoming First Deputy Mayor Tony Shorris.

“Literally, this may be the hardest assignment that anyone in the history of labor relations in this city has taken on. But we have the right people to get it done,” said de Blasio, who made three other administrative appointments Tuesday.

“Our goal is to resolve these contracts, as many as possible, this year.”

De Blasio said he’s keeping Kyle Kimball as head of the Economic Development Corp., and he moved Children’s Services Deputy Commissioner Gilbert Taylor over to run Homeless Services.

Polly Trottenberg, 49, an under secretary for policy at the US Department of Transportation, was named the city’s new transportation chief.

She echoed de Blasio’s campaign promises by saying she would expand bike lanes, without committing one way or the other regarding the future of pedestrian plazas.

De Blasio also said he asked three agency heads to stay on for brief transition periods: Office of Emergency Management chief Joseph Bruno: FDNY chief Sal Cassano; and Sanitation ­Commissioner John Doherty.

De Blasio named eight top- and mid-level officials to the incoming administration this week — bringing the total number of appointments to 17.