NEW YORK (AP) -- Struggling to pull out of its worst economic crisis in at least a generation, the city announced plans to lay off 3,400 workers to help reduce a $3.4 billion budget deficit in the upcoming fiscal year.þþIn a letter Monday, officials in Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration notified 21 municipal unions of the layoffs, which would likely take effect in late April or early May. The fiscal year begins July 1.þþThe affected employees include sanitation workers, correction officers, teacher's aides and civilian employees in the fire department.þþThe Bloomberg administration also sent a notice Monday to the City Council and firefighters' unions announcing that six of the city's 478 firehouses will be closed within 45 days.þþAn April 1 deadline Bloomberg had imposed on labor unions to agree to $600 million in productivity enhancements passed without a deal, and in recent weeks the behind-the-scenes negotiations have deteriorated.þþ``We have no choice but to go ahead with these cuts,'' the mayor said.þþRandi Weingarten, chairwoman of the Municipal Labor Committee, which coordinates bargaining for the city's unions, said the administration had not taken labor's ideas for saving money seriously.þþ``I'm deeply disappointed that the administration has chosen to short-circuit the negotiation process with its unions by taking the counterproductive step of sending out layoff notices,'' she said.þþBloomberg spokesman Ed Skyler, however, said the mayor had given union leaders sufficient time to come up with savings that never materialized.þþDuring the past several months, the city's economic picture has dimmed, with prospective tax receipts expected to bring in about $300 million less than had been anticipated and prospects of getting another $300 million in tobacco settlement funds uncertain.þþTo balance its deficit, the Bloomberg administration is seeking a total of about $1.4 billion from the state, including authorization for the commuter tax; $200 million from the federal government; and $690 million from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs area transit hubs, in back rent payments.þþDuring the past 15 months, the city has issued layoff notices to some 1,500 of its 250,000 employees, mostly from the departments of sanitation and education. There have been about 600 layoffs so far.þþIn all, the city could lay off 10,000 to 15,000 workers, officials said.þþIt would be the city's biggest work force reduction since 1991 when 10,000 city employees lost their jobs to help reduce a $3.5 billion budget deficit.þþþ
Source: NY Times
