NEW YORK CITY — Thousands of New York City workers would lose their jobs under the novel coronavirus stimulus package unveiled by the Republican Senate, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday.
“We won’t be able to save the jobs, we won’t be able to restart the economy,” de Blasio said. “The Republican Senate plan just doesn’t work.”
The lack of funding for municipal governments in the proposed $1 trillion Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools, or HEALS Act, would force New York City to lay off as many as 22,000 people.
De Blasio called on city labor unions to negotiate with City Hall to come up with $1 billion ins savings or see layoffs for teachers, health care workers, first responders and “all the people we depend on who right now don’t know if they’re going to have their jobs in the future.”
The mayor flatly refused to specify how many layoffs would occur in each city department, arguing it would depend on negotiations with unions.
“I can only say the number is 22,000 and it will affect every agency,” de Blasio said. “That’s going to be a union by union effort.”
The HEALS Act faces pushback from the Democratic Senate, who have proposed their own $3 trillion package that passed through the House of Representatives in May.
New York Senator and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has also denounced the Senate Republicans' stimulus plan.
De Blasio said he remains hopeful Democrats can win city funding and prevent the layoffs.
“They park the fire truck in front of the building but they refuse to hook up the hose,” de Blasio said. “I’m hoping there’s going to be enough public outrage to push things back.”
During his press briefing, shared New York City’s promising COVID-19 tracking indicators, which showed 63 new hospitalizations, 295 intensive care unit patients and a 2 percent positive testing rate.
De Blasio also addressed the shutdown of Revel, the moped-share company that abruptly shut down Tuesday morning after two riders lost their lives in crashes.
“Revel scooters prove to be too dangerous,” de Blasio said. “The bottom line here is we saw a real safety issue here and we can’t allow them to operate until that is resolved.”