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by BRYAN VIRASAMI
Leaders of the police and firefighters unions yesterday declined to rule out a strike or other disruptions at the Republican National Convention.
The men said they intend to intensify pressure on Mayor Michael Bloomberg with regular rallies until he negotiates with them or agrees to go before an arbitrator.
Asked if the unions are considering a strike, Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, left the door open.
"As we move forward, we take nothing off the table," Lynch said. "We will continue to follow this mayor, to wake him up in the morning, to put him to bed at night."
Union protesters held a rally outside the mayor's Upper East Side home at 1a.m. Wednesday.
Earlier this week, Bloomberg dismissed the protest, saying he won't cave in to noisemakers.
Yesterday, during a news conference in Athens, he criticized them for failing to agree to changes in work rules.
"If they spent half the time and effort negotiating that they do standing out at 1:30 in the morning yelling and screaming, they could have had a contract," he said.
Steven Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, was also intentionally ambiguous about any convention tactics.
"We're not going to announce what we're going to do in advance," he said.
The unions also took out full-page ads in some newspapers yesterday that featured the headline "Bloomberg's Lies" and the mayor with a Pinocchio-size nose.
At the news conference, firefighters and police wearing T-shirts identifying themselves as union members, handed out fliers. The UFA literature says firefighters have been without a contract for two years and had no raise in three years.
Both have refused a $1,000 one-time bonus and 4 percent raises over three years, saying they deserve more. The mayor's office has said there's no money for big raises.
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