Is New York Governor's Budget A Job-Slashing Blood-Bath For New York City?

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/12809

Submitted by Doug Cunningham on January 25, 2010 - 5:58pm
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Mayor Bloomberg calls the New York Governor’s budget proposal a “bloodbath” for New York City. Jesse Russell reports:

Could a budget proposal by New York State Governor David Paterson result in nearly 20,000 layoffs in the New York City region? That’s what Mayor Michael Bloomberg is predicting is the state legislature approves $1.3 billion in proposed budget cuts. The mayor said on Monday that he would be forced to slash the jobs of 10,000 public workers and 8,500 teachers. Those numbers include more than 3,000 police officers, more than 1000 firefighters, and nearly 1000 correctional officers. Paterson has said his plan is a “budget of necessity.” Bloomberg presents his city budget on Thursday, but it is unclear if he will present a budget based on Paterson’s projections or if he will present a plan based on hopes an accord with Albany can be reached.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. My suspicion is this is a smokescreen for what both the governor and the mayor want:

To fire union public school teachers and replace them with private charter school teachers at the fraction of the original salaries and little or no benefits. And blame it on the budget.