Hundreds Of School Workers Laid Off, Spurring Protests Against Bloomberg

By: Courtney Gross

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Nearly 700 school aides lost their jobs Friday, driving many to the steps of City Hall to protest Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration. NY1’s Courtney Gross filed the following report.

Protesters booed Mayor Michael Bloomberg Friday in response to more than 670 layoffs at the Department of Education. Ninety-five percent of the cuts target members of the city's largest municipal labor union, a frequent foe of Bloomberg’s.

"They then say that we were the ones in bad faith. No. They were the ones in bad faith. From the beginning, this was politics,” said Santos Crespo, president of Local 372.

School aides like Cliftonia Johnson took the hardest hit.

"It makes me angry that now I have to go ask for services from the City of New York. I don't think so. Why not allow me to continue to be a citizen that pays taxes with pride, that pays her bills?" said Johnson.

Regina Dudley was also cut.

"I had to sit down and explain to my child why he wouldn't be able to go to college, ‘cause I have to pay for that, Mr. Bloomberg," said Johnson.

The layoffs were part of the council and the mayor's budget agreement in June, but now some council members say they were blindsided.

"You say the union did not come to you and put good faith offers on the table not once, not twice, but three times and you rejected it. You lied," said City Councilwoman Letitia James.

However, representatives from the mayor's office say it was District Council 37 that wouldn't come to the table when the city wanted to use a special, multi-union health care fund to stave off the cuts.

"We cannot afford as much as we're doing now, plain and simple," said Bloomberg.

Union and some council officials say the layoffs disproportionately affect schools in low-income and minority neighborhoods, like at PS 153 in Harlem.

Parents and officials hoped for a last minute deal between DC 37 and City Hall. Now they are mourning the loss.

"They work to make our children a better human being and take care of them," said parent Julio Foster.

Bloomberg has ordered agencies to slice their budgets another two percent this fiscal year and another six percent next, so this battle is far from over.