Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the United Federation of Teachers, which represents thousands of teachers in New York City, have struck a deal to avoid teacher layoffs, amounting to 4,100 in total, sources said.

The teachers union has agreed to concessions which would save the city money and save teachers from being cut.

Provisions in the bill would suspend teacher sabbaticals for a year and allow teachers who lack a permanent assignment to be used as substitutes before calling in fill ins.

The UFT agreed to the deal after a separate proposal which would tap a health-care reserve fund run by a group representing nearly 100 municipal unions fell through Thursday night after partisan fighting.

The unions had planned to offer $262 million to help the city’s budget programs in exchange for a pledge to stave off layoff plans. The city declined.

This deal came as the City Council was in final talks with the Bloomberg administration over a $66 billion budget for the fiscal year which starts next Friday.

Both sides are gearing up for a showdown as the end of the fiscal year approaches next week. Union and civic leaders are vowing to keep up the protests, with more actions promised, like strikes. Bloomberg is refusing to compromise, while he passes the buck to the state, blaming them for all of our problems. “Richie Rich” will not raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers. The funny thing is that New York City has a $3 billion dollar budget surplus.

Bloomberg is setting aside a total of $4 billion to pay next year’s city bond interest. (That’s right, next year’s debts to bondholders are getting paid ahead of time, while layoff notices are going out.) Another untapped source of revenue is the Health Insurance Retirees Trust Fund, which contains $6 billion dollars. In fact, there are other hidden accounts, that contain billions of dollars, that have been squirreled away by our mayor, including the Pension Reserve Fund, (with another $1 billion dollars). It is obvious that the mayor’s main intention is not to balance the budget, it is to bust the unions.

New York City is becoming a tale of two cities, with one class getting exceedingly wealthy while the poor and the former middle class reside on the bottom. Many of the working class residents are deciding to leave, returning to the south or going elsewhere. As civil service hiring declines, and outside contracting increases, many working class residents are choosing to let their feet do the talking. The private business sector has been bleeding jobs since 2007, even though corporate and financial institutions are again in the black, with some making more money than ever.

Incidents of crime seem to be on the rise, with pharmacy holdups and attempted mob hits making recent headlines. African-American residents continue to complain about police harassment in their communities, with this issue contributing to their own decision to leave New York City. In other words, the quality of life is deteriorating for working people, many of whom have their backs to the wall. It will either be fight or flight. Thankfully more are staying and fighting, as this summer of our discontent begins.

We have to ask ourselves about what kind of city we want to live in. One of the foundations of a free society is the public library system. Bloomberg’s cuts will force the New York Public Library to close all branches on certain days of the week. 20 firehouses are slated to be closed and thousands of park employees and teachers are scheduled to be laid off. The sad part is, the money is there to avoid this kind of pain.

It will be interesting to see how this whole thing plays out. Is Bloomberg just playing his usual head game, with a last minute “rescue” in the works? Or, will he force the unions to stand up to him, in the form of a general strike? The protests have been growing as the budget deadline approaches, with a sit-down contingent living in a Bloombergville across the street from City Hall. (Not that anyone would know that by the local media coverage.) I am sure the networks will be all over it if a strike is indeed called. The right wing moguls will be promulgating panic in the streets and crying out for enforcement of the infamous Taylor Law, which punishes civil servants for “illegal” strikes. In the past, union members have been fined two days pay for every day on the picket line, with union officers spending time in jail. Let’s hope it doesn’t have to come to that.

But, it seems like working people across this nation are being tested. Private and public interests have been coming together to declare war on civil servants. (The private sector unions have been decimated for some time now.) There seems to be an almost conspiratorial sameness to the individual actions of state and local governments. It can’t be a coincidence. With the money flowing after the Supreme Court ruling that allows corporations to give freely, anything is possible. Politicians are lining up at the trough. That is what is so strange about the Bloomberg phenomenon, we all know he doesn’t need to take a payoff. His salary is just $1 dollar a year. It just proves that we do indeed live in a class society and that people of the upper class will vote and rule in their own interest, (and in the interests of their rich compatriots). Do we need more proof than this?

That is why the working class should organize a new party that exists to promote the needs of working people. We all have a right to be represented by people of our own choosing. Why do we continue to support politicians who are oblivious to the reality on the street? It doesn’t make any sense.

by Staten Island Bob (SIBob)

It’s good to be a friend of Bloomberg!

On the flip side, there’s Goldman Sachs, a friend/customer of Bloomberg L.P., one of the masters of the universe on Wall Street, which enjoys hundreds of millions in real estate tax abatement’s, compliments of the New York City taxpayer, for their new office towers and luxury condos near the World Trade Center.

While Goldman Sachs’ caters to Dictator in Tripoli, it snubs its nose at New York City!

Did you know that Goldman Sachs was willing to make Libya’s Muammar Al-Gaddafi whole after losing nearly a billion dollars in bad investments!

Considering their role in the billions in losses suffered by pensions and city revenues why aren’t they offering the same to New York City?

Why isn’t Bloomberg demanding that Goldman Sachs and its ilk pay their fair share?

Tell Mayor Bloomberg that “NYC IS NOT FOR SALE” – sign the petition @ http://is.gd/dfsMEu

Follow Us on Twitter @NYCBudgetCuts

Arthur Cheliotes
CWA Local 1180

Did you know that 4,600 teachers will be laid off this summer?

Mayor Bloomberg’s budget will cut lost of jobs from education and other social services. We need to let him and the City Council know that we are not ok with this.

You can do that by coming to #Bloombergville.

You can also call your city council member to let them know you do not want them to pass the Mayor’s budget.