from The Chief, Friday, September 26, 2003

Mayor to Labor: Don't Try To Wait Me Out

Reaffirms Vow of No Savings, No Hikes At MLC Sitdown

By DEIDRE McFADYEN

If municipal union leaders had hoped that Mayor Bloomberg's agreement to address their annual conference might signal a détente, they were in for disappointment.

Saying he didn't expect to be "labor's man of the year," Mr. Bloomberg Sept. 18 blamed union intransigence for the layoffs this spring and repeated his claim that the city has no money for raises without concessions.

'Can't Print Money'

"If you are intractably opposed to any work changes that save the city money, there just isn't going to be any raises," he said, eschewing his customary public diplomacy. "I can't print money. I cannot borrow our way out of this."

Mr. Bloomberg, who flew to the Municipal Labor Committee's conference in Melville, L.I. in a police helicopter, cautioned labor leaders not to delay bargaining in the hope that a more labor-friendly Mayor would take office after the November 2005 elections. "Anybody that wants to bet that I'm not going to be around in two years, and they'll wait it out, that's a pretty stupid bet if you think about it," he said. "I'm going to get re-elected."

Mr. Bloomberg jokingly chided union leaders for gathering outside the city. "Thank you for inviting me out to wonderful Suffolk County," he began. "I notice it is close to home for many of your members." For next year's gathering, he went on, "We have many terrific union-shop hotels in the city to choose from."

The crowd of 150 labor leaders in the ballroom at the Huntington Hilton listened quietly to Mr. Bloomberg's speech and applauded politely at the end. But his remarks infuriated them.

'We Give, He Takes'

United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, the chair of the MLC, said that his hard line would not get results. "The parameters that the Mayor set today shows no ability to get to an agreement because the parameters that he set forth today were simply still the unions give and the Mayor takes," she said.

Communications Workers of America Local 1180 President Arthur Cheliotes, whose union represents 7,000 mid-level supervisors, said that Mr. Bloomberg appeared to have no desire to find middle ground. "He was goading us," he said. "Why do I want to take the bait?"

The Mayor, he noted, has repeatedly inveighed against negotiating in the press. "Then he gives a talk that is not aimed at us, it's aimed at the media," he said. "Who's kidding who here?"

The contracts covering virtually all of the city's nearly 300,000 employees have expired, some as long as 18 months ago. Mr. Bloomberg has maintained that the city's fiscal woes_it faced a $6 billion gap in the last fiscal year and must close a $2 billion gap in the next_preclude him from awarding pay raises that are not paid for through "productivity enhancements," such as longer hours or a less-generous pension benefit for future employees.

'A Tough Sale'

The Mayor acknowledged that the kind of labor concessions that he is seeking "may be unpalatable to a lot of people" and would require "a difficult sale to your members, things that in the past, in a different world, you would never have considered."

Mr. Bloomberg's relations with the unions hit their nadir last spring when he laid off 4,500 city workers after failing to reach a deal with the MLC on $600 million in labor savings.

Mr. Bloomberg said those layoffs were the "one thing that I really am disappointed in my performance," but then pointed the finger at labor. "I think we could have avoided those layoffs with some flexibility," he said. "But that's water under the dam."

'What the Public Wanted'

Mr. Bloomberg said he was left to deal with the fiscal hangover when the city's economy went from boom to bust, noting that the Giuliani administration cut city taxes by $3 billion as spending rose 80 percent.

"I don't blame Giuliani for that. I think that's exactly what the public wanted," he said. "The public has gotten used to politicians saying, 'I'm going to cut your taxes.' ''

Mr. Bloomberg learned that lesson firsthand when his poll ratings plummeted after he raised city sales and income taxes this spring. Those taxes, he told labor leaders, "fund your members' paychecks. Parenthetically, let me add, I don't remember getting a lot of support from you when I was taking heat from the taxpayers."


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