The city will go flat broke if municipal unions don’t agree to rein in exploding pension and health-care bills, Mayor Bloomberg warned yesterday.
“Pension costs and health costs are going to bankrupt this city,” the mayor declared.
“There’s virtually nobody in the private sector who has anything remotely like the [benefit] plans that we have.”
Bloomberg put union leaders on notice Wednesday that he’s prepared to cut up to 7,000 workers by July 1 unless they provide breakthrough concessions that would allow the city to save $200 million on pensions for new hires and $557 million on health benefits for current employees in the $60 billion budget for 2010.
The city’s pension and health tab is escalating at twice the rate of its payroll, and in the case of some uniformed unions, is at the 100 percent mark already, the mayor pointed out.
Meanwhile, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein provided the first estimate of the impact of the latest round of potential budget reductions, saying he might have to hand out pink slips to as many as 1,400 teachers to meet the $100 million cut targeted for the school system.
“The specifics haven’t been decided, but if you think about it, you could be talking about 1,200 to 1,400 teachers — somewhere in that range, other support staff as well,” Klein said. “That’s what we’re dealing with.”
Furious labor leaders accused the mayor of going too far.
“I think he’s crazy,” said Norman Seabrook, president of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association, one of the few unions to endorse Bloomberg in both 2001 and 2005.
“Michael, I’m sorry. It’s business. This is not personal,” he told New York 1 last night.
“We absolutely cannot afford to lose 7,000 municipal workers in this city, and we cannot be held hostage at the same time.”
Lillian Roberts of District Council 37, who also backed the mayor in 2005, called his actions “totally irresponsible.”
Another negotiating session with the unions is scheduled next week.