Newsroom

Why City's Largest Union Is Deserting Bloomberg

By MICHAEL BARBARO

August 13 , 2009

Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in 2005 with Lillian Roberts, executive director of District Council 37.

"I got the endorsement of this union four years ago and I didn't promise you anything I didn't deliver," Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg told the leaders of the city's biggest municipal labor union on Wednesday night, according to a person who attended the endorsement interview and took notes.

But promises appeared to be exactly what the union, District Council 37, wanted - and what Mr. Bloomberg failed to deliver.

In a surprising slight to the two-term mayor, the council plans to endorse his Democratic rival in the mayor's race, Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr., according to two people briefed on the decision, who are not authorized to talk about it publicly.

Union representatives said they would not discuss their decision-making until they announced their endorsement on Thursday afternoon.
But notes from Mr. Bloomberg's confidential interview with members of the executive committee of District Council 37 offer a glimpse into why the union may have passed on Mr. Bloomberg.

During the interview, Mr. Bloomberg offered the kind of blunt, tough-love, take-it-or-leave-it language that has defined his handling of the city's finances since the economic crisis began last fall, devastating the city's tax base and opening big budget deficits.

"The real world is we have to find ways to do more with less," he told the union's leaders, according to notes taken during the meeting.

"There is no money," he said at one point.

Asked if he could promise not to cut District Council 37 jobs, or stop using private contractors to save money, two major priorities of the union, he refused, saying it would be irresponsible.

"I can't promise something I can't deliver," he said, according to the notes. "I just won't do it."

Asked about his plan to reduce pension benefits for new district council workers, to alleviate crushing retirement costs - which the union vigorously opposes - he replied, "Make no mistake about it, we cannot afford to keep doing what we're doing."

At one point, he seemed to concede that his own candor might hurt his chances of winning labor endorsements.

"The unions I will get are the unions who understand that the private sector pays for the work of municipal employees and relies on the good work of municipal employees," Mr. Bloomberg said.