Negotiations between City Hall and Randi Weingarten, head of the teachers union, will resume today after weeks of feuding and name-calling.
Mayor Bloomberg – who declared that he won’t budge in his demand for significant givebacks – confirmed that Weingarten, has scheduled a meeting with Jim Hanley, the mayor’s top labor aide.
But the mayor said nothing’s going to be accomplished unless Weingarten, who’s also chair of the municipal labor coalition, comes to the table with new proposals to save the city money.
“I think just sitting down all night long, unless you have something to say, is a bit of a waste of time. But we will meet any time, as much as is needed,” Bloomberg said.
The meeting comes just days before thousands of city workers who received pink slips two weeks ago are scheduled to leave the payroll.
Weingarten has pleaded with the mayor to rescind the layoffs in the face of a $2.7 billion aid package that state lawmakers have cobbled together for the city.
But Bloomberg said he still needs $600 million in concessions from labor, especially since the city’s pension costs are rising by $1 billion in fiscal 2005.
Bloomberg has rejected Weingarten’s offer to allow the city to borrow from union pension funds, saying that would merely put off problems to the future.
The administration has been trying – unsuccessfully – to strike a favorable deal with one union that would lock in a pattern for all the others.