Breaking a long-established pattern in labor negotiations, MayorMichael R. Bloomberg plans to demand that city teachers agree to a significantly smaller raise in their next contract or face the prospect of 2,500 job cuts.
The threat, which the teachers’ union immediately called unacceptable, promises to be one of the most contentious elements of Mr. Bloomberg’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. The mayor is scheduled to deliver his budget address on Thursday, but his office released a few details on Wednesday night.The teachers are in the middle of contract negotiations. Over the last eight years, they have received a cumulative wage increase of 43 percent.
Mr. Bloomberg has long said he does not like to bargain in public. But as he begins his third term, he is adopting a different tactic, and plans to say Thursday that the teachers need to agree to a 2 percent raise for the first $70,000 in salary, or else face downsizing.