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Forget Givebacks, Mayor

To The Editor:

In response to the Feb. 20 article on how Mayor Bloomberg warns unions to pay for health care or layoffs will come, I urge all unions and city workers not to even consider any givebacks whatsoever.

We all understand and feel the hard economic times that this recession has caused. Every working person has to make considerable concessions just to get through and make ends meet. They do not need this Mayor to come to them and say, "We need to share the pain."

Mr. Mayor, as city workers, we do not have to share your pain or burden to bring your administration and the New York municipal government to a fundamentally solvent level. That is your pain.

We were hired to do a job, and many of us put our lives on the line.We come in and do our job and receive a paycheck for it. You were hired to do your job, and one part of it is to make sure New York City keeps running so we can serve the people.

Do not come to us to receive funds off the backs of city workers. We have worked hard for these benefits we receive and now when times are bad, you want to say, "Hey, give some back or help pay," then use threats to try to obtain what you want.

I don't see a city worker who comes to you and says, "My household is going through real hard economic times, so you need to pay to fix the problem or else."

Do your job Mr. Mayor: fix the problem as you were elected to do, and not on the backs of the workers!

JAMES DESENA