ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo on Tuesday went to bat for Bill de Blasio in the mayor-elect’s upcoming battles with the city’s municipal unions.
“I think the labor leaders have to be realistic in what they’re asking for and what they should expect,” Cuomo told reporters after an event in the city.
Cuomo made the same pitch to the state labor unions in 2010 as he prepared to take office. Eventually, he got many of them to agree to multiyear contracts that provided no raises.
All of the city’s unionized employees have been working without contracts, many for more than four years. The unions say the workers are entitled to more than $7 billion in back pay.
While the economy, and tax revenues, have been improving, Cuomo said it’s unrealistic for the unions to think the city is awash in cash.
Cuomo urged the city’s labor unions to recognize that the recovery is slow, and that “there is no fountain of funds we can tap into.”
He urged labor leaders to follow the lead of their predecessors, who helped keep the city from bankruptcy in the 1970s.
“Going into the conversation, I think everybody needs a reality adjustment,” Cuomo said.
“The unions have done the responsible thing in the past,” he said. “My guess is that they will again.”
Cuomo was cool toward a new push to ease traffic congestion by placing tolls on the East River bridges. “I don’t believe it will pass now,” he said.
