November 22, 2013
By Harry Nespoli
“Mayor Bloomberg’s Financial Plan released Thursday November 21, 2013 is being touted as extraordinary since it projects two years of balanced budgets – FYs 2014 and 2015. The problem is that it sets aside essentially no money for wage increases. It is like a home owner developing a budget without counting the mortgage as an expense. It is misleading and avoids responsible budgeting. No Mayor has left office projecting zero increases for three years.
“Since 2009 the City has not changed its offer. Since that time two things have happened: inflation has increased and City employee wages remained the same. All while the City has incurred billion dollar surpluses each year – including a $1.6 billion surplus for this year.
“The city’s municipal employees assume good faith as a prerequisite for bargaining. Mayor Bloomberg has not met that standard and we expect that the new Administration will come to the table to sit and negotiate, not dictate, when we bargain.”
Harry Nespoli is Chairperson of the Municipal Labor Committee. The Municipal Labor Committee is an association of New York City municipal labor organizations representing approximately 500,000 active and retired union members and 100 unions in New York City.
