22K city workers spared . . . for now

Mayor de Blasio will delay sending pink slips to 22,000 municipal employees in the hopes of securing a $5 billion loan from the state government.

“Today was the day when layoff notices were going to be sent out,” de Blasio said during a City Hall press briefing Monday.

“Now our municipal labor unions have come to me in the last few days and asked for more time to see if they can resolve this issue. They’ve asked for an opportunity to convince the state Legislature to reconvene immediately to address longterm borrowing.

“What I’ve said to our colleagues in the municipal labor movement is we will hold, but it will be on a dayto-day basis,” de Blasio said.

“No one wants to see a single layoff, but we have to address our fiscal crisis. So I am hoping this pause will lead to more progress in Albany because of the intense commitment to labor to getting this done,” he added.

But de Blasio also stressed that job cuts would be imminent without immediate action from Albany.

“Unfortunately, the layoff notices are ready to be printed — and I hate telling you that because I don’t want to ever see this happen to hardworking city employees,” he said.

“So we have to see some real proof quickly that the Legislature is willing to come back. That will determine how we handle the next steps.”

One state legislative source gave Hizzoner a reason to be hopeful.

“The Legislature will be back soon and there is definitely some movement on borrowing by the city, but [we] need to make sure that it is done in the proper way,” the source said, putting a mid-September timeline on the return.

De Blasio announced the potential layoffs in June, saying they were necessary to balance the budget amid a city fiscal crisis sparked by the coronavirus pandemic.

After the federal government failed to provide another stimulus to help struggling cities, de Blasio turned to Albany to pass a measure that would let New York City borrow $5 billion.

The state Senate has been resistant, though, citing de Blasio’s failure to provide details of his plan or personally lobby for it.

A labor insider told The Post on Monday that union leaders were ticked off at de Blasio for threatening layoffs while they’ve been lobbying the governor and state lawmakers since June to get authorization for the loan.

“Don’t gouge our eyes out while we’re trying to help you get financing,” the union official fumed.

“It’s already an uphill battle — because no one likes de Blasio.”

The unions have also asked Gov. Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins to support legislation to offer an early-retirement package to persuade older workers to leave the payroll as an alternative to layoffs.

Meanwhile, the state faces its own budget crunch amid the pandemic.

What I’ve said to our colleagues in the municipal labor movement is we will hold, but it will be on a day-to-day basis. — Mayor de Blasio