Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York is appealing to Gov. David A. Paterson and legislative leaders to hold firm against two bills that the city believes would cost as much as $300 million a year. The mayor made his case last week in separate letters to the governor, the Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. One bill would allow members of District Council 37, an umbrella group of New York City municipal unions, to retroactively buy into an early retirement plan that was offered in 1995, giving city workers a second chance to retire at 55. ?Approving this legislation would be particularly irresponsible during the current economic downturn,? Mr. Bloomberg wrote in his letter to the governor, adding that it ?grossly undermines the agreement between the city and D.C. 37? negotiated more than a dozen years ago.
See "Bloomberg Asks Albany to Oppose Union-Backed Retirement Bills", Danny Hakim, The New York Times, May 11, 2008