US News

MUNICIPAL JOB CUTS BEAT PAY CUTS: MIKE

In a split with Gov. Paterson, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday he won’t ask municipal unions to take a wage cut to save jobs because he’d prefer to have a smaller and better-paid work force.

“I have always believed that you want to have a well paid work force that can focus on doing their jobs even if it means having a smaller work force, and I would make that choice,” said the mayor.

Facing monumental budget deficits, Paterson has said he’s going to ask state labor unions to voluntarily reopen their contracts in order to find savings that could be used to avert layoffs.

The unions quickly rejected the idea.

Bloomberg is planning to reduce the city’s work force by 3,000, including about 500 layoffs, as part of a broader program to save $1.5 billion over the next 18 months.

Doug Muzzio, a political scientist at Baruch College, said the mayor’s stance shouldn’t come as a surprise.

“He’s running for election in 2009. He doesn’t want to rattle their cages,” Muzzio said of the municipal unions. “Paterson is running in 2010.”

david.seifman@nypost.com