It will outline how his administration intends to close the city's projected budget gaps, including the cost of the unresolved labor pacts.

On Wednesday, for example, the Mayor announced a labor pact with the city's two largest unions, offering them a 5 percent raise over 15 months.

Ford and the auto workers union settled a dispute that had delayed the signing of their new labor pact.

He said that money had to be reserved for the labor pact and that several economists were forecasting a recession in 1989 or 1990.

It would not help the Mayor's political standing - or the city's fiscal condition - to go through much of next year without a new labor pact.

By the early 1990's, labor pacts had reduced the crews on long-distance trains to just two.

Finally, the labor pact is a short-term solution that is now set to be terminated in 2011.

Their argument so far has been that the city needs a low-cost labor pact to help it continue on its path toward fiscal stability.

It has also streamlined its organization and struck favorable labor pacts.

Other labor pacts have also failed to achieve productivity gains.