By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter Producer
MANHATTAN — Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Wednesday that he will eliminate a 2 percent pay raise that had been promised to New York City teachers and principals in order to avoid 4,400 teacher layoffs.
"Laying off thousands of teachers is simply not the answer," the mayor said in a statement. "It would devastate the school system and erase much of the great progress we’ve made – and all the hard work we’ve put into turning our schools around."
As state lawmakers continued to haggle over the long overdue budget this week, the question of whether to layoff workers or cut salaries came to the fore.
Bloomberg noted in a statement that he had discussed the elimination of the planned teacher raises with United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew, saying that the two planned to go to Albany to lobby the state for more funding.
Mulgrew, however, made it clear in a follow-up statement that he had not agreed to Bloomberg's plan.
"[Bloomberg] does NOT have the power to unilaterally decide on the teachers’ contract, and we have reached NO agreement on his proposal to freeze teacher pay," Mulgrew said.
"If the Mayor has concrete ideas on the next contract, he and his representatives should bring them to the bargaining table at the Public Employment Relations Board, where our contract is currently in mediation."
Mulgrew has said Bloomberg and Schools Chancelor Joel Klein have not done enough to push Albany to restore $500 million in cuts to education in the city, the New York Times reported.
