unions fight Bloomberg's 'misinformation' campaign

Police and firemen's unions are rallying in order to stop what they say is Bloomberg's "misinformation" campaign about their pension payments.

The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association and the Uniformed Firefighter's Association announced they were rallying later this morning on the City Hall steps "to fight the mayor's orchestrated misinformation campaign to reduce police and fire pension benefits."

Bloomberg has referred to the $12,000 payments given to retired uniformed workers as a "bonus" the city can no longer afford - and stopping it could spare the city from laying off "thousands" of public school teachers (see how he connects those two issues).

The unions say the payments are part of their pension - not an addition to it - and is the result of a decade's old deal struck when the unions gave hundreds of millions of dollars to help the city when it was in a financial crunch.

It's unclear if the alterations to the payments - called the Variable Supplement Fund - require a vote in the City Council prior to action from the state (which has final say on the matter). Requiring the Democratically-controlled City Council to vote on it - in a procedure called a "home rule message - could be problematic, since many have close ties to the unions.

But Bloomberg told reporters in Albany earlier this week he's confident it would pass.

"I think the City Council is going to have to sit there and say, '10,000 teachers or a home rule message.' That seems to me something that'll carry pretty quickly, but i don't even think it's needed," Bloomberg said.