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Police, Firefighter Unions Vow to Fight Pension Cuts

By DNAinfo Staff on February 9, 2011 11:18am  | Updated on February 9, 2011 3:26pm

Uniformed Firefighters Association President Steve Cassidy blasted the mayor's proposal to eliminate certain pension payouts.
Uniformed Firefighters Association President Steve Cassidy blasted the mayor's proposal to eliminate certain pension payouts.
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DNAinfo/Jill Colvin

By Jill Colvin

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

CITY HALL — The city’s police and firefighters unions joined forces Wednesday to fight Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s push to cut their retirement benefits, which they slammed as "outrageous" and based on "lies."

"As we approach the tenth anniversary of 9/11, Mike Bloomberg wants to say to police officers and firefighters who were there that day and didn't die, 'I'm going to steal money from your pocket'," said Steve Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association.

Cassidy and Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch took to the steps of City Hall Wednesday to rally against the mayor’s campaign to eliminate payouts to help close the budget gap.

Police and firefighters unions say they will fight any attempt to change their pension benefits.
Police and firefighters unions say they will fight any attempt to change their pension benefits.
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The mayor has argued the city can no longer afford to maintain its current pension payouts, which have jumped from $1.5 billion in 2001 to $7 billion this year.

As part of the cuts, the mayor called on Albany lawmakers to eliminate a $12,000 "holiday bonus" paid to current and future uniformed workers when they retire. Scrapping the payout would save the city an estimated $1 billion a year — "the equivalent cost of more than 10,000 teachers, police officers, firefighters, sanitation workers, and correction officers," Bloomberg told legislators on Monday.

But union leaders slammed the mayor for his suggestion to cut the bonus money, which comes from the Variable Supplement Fund. The unions said in 1988 they put $75 million into the fund as part of a deal to secure fixed payments for retiring workers. The deal replaced an older agreement that made payouts based on how well the fund performed.

The unions argue the city has pocketed $4 billion thanks to the deal.

Lynch said proponents of pension funding who gathered Wednesday "will do everything in our power to put truth to the fiction being peddled," adding that the groups plan to launch an ad campaign and organize lobbying trips to Albany to fight to save the fund.

Marc LaVorgna, a spokesman for the mayor, defended Bloomberg's comments, and argued that the $12,000 per individual is not a pension benefit, but "a bonus, in addition to a full and very generous pension benefit already being received."

The firefighters' union has also protested the mayor's attempts to close certain fire houses and shutter fire companies at night. Those attempts have so far been unsuccessful.