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Mayor Michael Bloomberg's budget unveiled yesterday called for closing fire companies, shutting senior centers, and the layoffs of more than 4,600 teachers. Yet he says his budget is not an assault on unions.

"Cutting back is not anti-union. Cutting back is pro..., I guess you could say, pro-taxpayer," said Bloomberg on his weekly radio show Friday.

Police and firefighter unions, however, are continuing their theme of saying the mayor is a liar. They are upset Bloomberg is demanding they give up a $12,000 yearly pension supplement.

The United Federation of Teachers also released an ad against the mayor's agenda.

More generally, unions citywide are seething over calls they contribute to pensions and raise their retirement ages.

"The mayor is using the economic situation to take away some of the benefits that have been hard fought for over the years," said Queens Councilman Daniel Dromm.

Some observers see a common theme across the country, as city and state leaders all over use the countrywide budget crisis to crack down on organized labor.

In Wisconsin, the new governor pushed a bill to limit collective bargaining.

"We're starting to see that the Republicans and the right wing are admitting that their whole entire goal is to decimate unions, so that there is nobody speaking for the working poor in this country," said Gregory Floyd of Teamsters Local 237.

Bloomberg would hardly say he is doing that. If anything, he is looking for more collective bargaining. Pensions are bleeding the city, but only the state government is allowed to negotiate them, instead of the mayor.

"I've never blamed the municipal unions for our problems," said the mayor. "I think we should all look in the mirror. Our legislators and executives give away stuff and we don't get it back."

On his weekly radio show on Friday, the mayor said with a four-year budget gap of nearly $5 billion, not everyone's job can be saved.

"If we get more money, we'll have to step back and say, 'Do you want fewer teachers, for example, and more cops? Do you want another firehouse or another school?' I mean, it's those kinds of either/or decisions," said Bloomberg.

Still, Bloomberg raises suspicions among some. He is mysteriously pushing for thousands of teacher layoffs, even as he prizes himself as a "schools first" mayor.

That is opening himself up to charges that he is only using the economy as a ruse, and will pull back most of the 6,000 lost teaching positions in exchange for changes to the seniority system when schools fire educators.

More bad news for the school system came late Friday, when the Department of Education said state aid is forcing it to cut construction funding for almost 17,000 new school seats -- a 48 percent reduction.

DOE officials said the cuts will contribute to overcrowding and deteriorating conditions of existing facilities, as well as slow construction of new buildings.

Over the past seven years, the city has created more than 100,000 school seats.

Principals also say they are being unfairly targeted, after being informed they will only able to carry over half of any money saved from school budgets.

Meanwhile, Schools Chancellor Cathie Black said the tough cost-cutting measures are necessary.

She said it is not about trimming one area in order to give to another.

"It isn't punishment of anybody. There's a lot of hard decisions that are going to be have to be made,” she said. “So it seems to me that it's prudent to say we're not taking 100 percent of it away. We're letting them plan ahead with 50 percent of it. We don't have any money."

Black said a hard approach is needed in all areas, and principals are the ones who know how to spend their money best.