The Mother Of All School Library Threats

Yesterday it was “appearing to set the stage” . . . today, the stage is set (that was quick!):

Mayor Bloomberg is threatening to lay off up to 7,000 city workers, saying municipal unions and state officials haven’t done enough to help New York balance its budget.

Budget Director Mark Page told agency heads Wednesday to cut $350 million from their budgets, saying previous cuts of $3.1 billion starting July 1 weren’t enough.

“This next step would most likely rely heavily on additional headcount reductions, whether through attrition, or, as is more likely, through layoffs,” Page wrote them in a letter.

“It is expected that these savings could result in a reduction of as many as 7,000 positions citywide.”

. . .

The mayor has asked municipal unions to pay for 10% of their health care costs and find additional health cost reductions to save $557 million, in order to avoid layoffs.

“This is a ploy to get more money from Albany, and he really deserves it,” said Harry Nespoli, head of the Municipal Labor Committee, which negotiates for city unions.

“We’re still at the table. He just made it more difficult to negotiate.”

While Bloomberg’s request for $350 million in savings won’t plug the $1.6 billion gap in next year’s budget, Nespoli said he would tell the city’s 310,000 employees that the threat is real.

“I’m going to tell my workers there’s a possibility of layoffs in the city of New York. I’m not going to lie to them,” said Nespoli, who heads the sanitation workers’ union.

“In this crazy world today, nobody can eliminate layoffs.”