N.Y. Unions to Protest at Garden

Firefighters, police officers and teachers plan an around-the-clock demonstration outside Madison Square Garden starting Monday to protest the lack of a new contract.

The labor protest is geared to coincide with the start of work on the Garden to get it ready for next month’s Republican National Convention, the unions representing the workers said Tuesday.

The union announcement came as planning for convention-week protests intensified and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg vowed to prevent demonstrators from sabotaging daily life for New Yorkers.

The unions have resisted Bloomberg’s efforts to get them to accept contracts similar to one given District Council 37, the largest municipal union, in April. That settlement provided $1,000 cash payments and a raise of 5% over three years in exchange for productivity measures, including expanded work hours and reduced starting salaries.

Next week’s protest “will serve to highlight further our demands for fair compensation and our complete dissatisfaction with the unacceptable terms of the DC 37 deal, which the city wishes to force on all of us,” said Stephen Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Assn.

Bloomberg, speaking at a City Hall news conference, said the city would tolerate all peaceful protests before and during the convention.