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Scores of boisterous cops and firefighters marched to City Hall yesterday loudly demanding a new contract that offers a substantial pay hike.
But Mayor Bloomberg blew off the ranting on his doorstep as "counterproductive" and said the city had made its best offer.
Chanting "No contract, No work!" the crowd made its way through lower Manhattan to City Hall where the chanting changed to "No contract, no convention." Both groups have threatened to picket the Republican National Convention next month.
Patrolmen's Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch said frustration fueled the protest.
"The firefighters and police officers of this city are tired of accepting zeros [for pay raises], and they're tired of being disrespected by City Hall.
"All city workers deserve a fair contract, but we also deserve respect," added Stephen Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association. "We want the city to negotiate fairly, or go to arbitration."
Bloomberg said, "I think rather than try to intimidate the city — which is just not going to happen with all of these protests — they'd be better off coming to the table trying to find productivity savings so we can give them the extra."
On Monday, a van adorned with a large billboard urging a new contract drove up to a mayoral event on Staten Island.
"The strategy of following me around and yelling and screaming is just counterproductive," the mayor said. "There's no way that we can allow that kind of behavior to set labor policy." Back To Top
BRAVEST GET BURNED BY LOW-PAYING JOB
By STEVE DUNLEAVY
FIREFIGHTER Al Kessner was in the Cornell Burn Center yesterday with nasty second- and third-degree burns to both legs.
At 8:20 a.m. yesterday his painful morning brightened when Mayor Michael Bloomberg walked into his eighth-floor bedroom to wish him well.
I don't know if it brightened Mayor Bloomberg's day, because he was faced with a silent protest that would become much noisier later at City Hall.
"I was wearing a union T-shirt that read 'Firefighters Fight for Fair Pay,' " Al was telling me.
"He looked at the shirt for a while and I told him that, with no disrespect, all the firefighters want is a living wage. He was cordial and said he was working on it."
Now, Al will be out for at least two months and of course he is covered. But that' s not the problem.
"Most firefighters have to have a second job to get by and I work a second job when I can get it," Al said.
But firefighters who work as painters or handymen get paid only when they show up for work.
Two months with legs that don't work right now means that a second job for Al is out of the question unless he gets paid for a job that is nonphysical — like a psychic.
"Yeah, it hurts a bit. This is the fourth time I got burned, you know, shins and arms and odd spots on the face," said the 11-year-veteran of Engine 290 in Brooklyn.
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