The lawmakers who represent the Capital Region on Monday urged Gov. Andrew Cuomo's budget office in a letter to include non-unionized state workers in performance advances and longevity pay increases.

Many of the workers, deemed management/confidential, did not receive or have been scheduled to receive salary increases and benefits. Often those workers hold the same title as unionized workers, but did not receive similar increases in pay.

"This is especially concerning to us as legislators who represent many of these public servants, as some of these employees are forced to delay planned retirements or risk sacrificing a portion of the pension benefits that they were scheduled to earn," the lawmakers, all Democrats, wrote in the letter to Budget Director Robert Mujica.

The move could affect up to 10,000 public workers who have management/confidential status.

Overall, the legislators want the state to approve retroactive pay raises for M/C workers of 2% that had been scheduled for April 2020 and pay retroactive performance advances and longevity payments that had been scheduled for the 2021 fiscal year.

"M/C employees are critical to the successful function of our State, and often went above and beyond the expectations of their role to serve the public during the COVID-19 pandemic," the letter states. "We urge you to ensure these invaluable employees are treated the same as their union-represented counterparts."

The letter comes as the state's financial coffers are recovering from the fiscal stress created by the pandemic. New York received $12.5 billion in direct aid from the federal government to help recoup the lost tax revenue due to the crisis last year. The Cuomo administration last month also signaled the end of a hiring freeze for state workers.