Catherwood LibraryILR School

Unions across New York City backed Mayor Bill de Blasio in the elections in the fall, and now they will have the chance to observe what kind of ?progressive? he is. The city?s 152 unions forewent negotiations with former Mayor Michael Bloomberg because they had hoped that his successor would be less demanding that city employees pay greater portions of their healthcare costs and pension contributions and more open to retroactive raises. The city has a surplus of as much as $4 billion and later this week, Mr. de Blasio will unveil his annual budget, anticipated to be about $75 billion. The Uniformed Sanitationmen?s Association President and chairman of the Municipal Labor Committee, Harry Nespoli, has calculated that the city has gained about $7 billion because the unions did not negotiate during Mayor Bloomberg?s last term. He has went on record time and again saying that many of the city?s unions will pursue retroactive raises, although they are open to how those raises are paid.