Other states love it when Mayor Bloomberg lectures them on how to run things in their quaint provincial governments. Arizona really appreciated it when Bloomberg sent investigators to do a hidden camera sting at a gun show, and now it's Wisconsin's turn to get advice from Bloomberg, who has repeatedly denied he's running for president while busting out presidential-sounding talking points. In an op-ed in the NY Times today, the mayor sympathizes with Wisconsin legislators' need to balance the budget, while also siding with unions' right to bargain collectively:
Yet the problem is not unions expressing those rights; it is governments failing to adapt to the times and act in a fiscally responsible manner. If contract terms or labor laws from years past no longer make sense, we the people should renegotiate — or legislate — changes. Benefits agreed to 35 years ago that now are unaffordable should be reduced. Similarly, work rules that made sense 70 years ago but are now antiquated should be changed.
In New York City, we share the same goal as cities and states across the nation — less spending and better services. We, too, are seeking to legislate changes to reduce pension and benefit costs and modernize our labor laws. But in some cases, we believe expanding collective bargaining would be more beneficial than trying to eliminate it.
The main point of Bloomberg's essay is that the city needs the authority to negotiate pensions with the unions; the way it works now is that state legislators set the pension benefits but the city pays for it. The Mayor warns, "In New York City, taxpayers will be forced to pay $8.3 billion in pension costs this year, up from $1.5 billion 10 years ago." Therefore, he is also pushing the radical idea that the city should fire teachers who "have been rated unsatisfactory, found guilty of criminal charges or failed to meet professional certification requirements." But then who'd be left to actually teach?
And in a final flourish, Bloomberg concludes, "Rather than declare war on unions, we should demand a new deal with them..." New deal, eh? Nothing presidential to see here!
