The Cuomo Administration is threatening to reclassifying 1,000 job titles of members of the Public Employees Federation into managerial positions.

Employees found out about the move when they were presented with a letter announcing the proposal which they were asked to sign.

Public employees are represented by The Public Employees Federation union, which has 54,000 members and said it is ready to fight back.

"Our review of the petition shows a complete lack of any rationale for moving titles that have been part of PEF for decades," Susan M. Kent, PEF president, said in a released statement.

Kent said a PEF member cannot be moved into a managerial position until there is a final decision by the Public Employment Relations Board after a hearing with the parties involved. For a reclassification to take place, the Governor's office "must formulate policy, assist directly in the conduct of collective negotiations or have a major role in the administration of such an agreement," Kent added.

"Be assured, we will be fighting this with all involved PEF departments working together. We will keep you updated on our response."

The notices went to people working in dozens of state agencies including the Department of Corrections, Environmental Conservation, Health, Housing, Labor, Motor Vehicles, Tax and Finance, and include job titles of attorneys to auditors, program specialists, parole hearing officers and tax law judges.

The Times Union said the scope and number of position that would be affected by the request was unusually large, and came just weeks after an Albany State Supreme Court ruled 250 managerial-confidential jobs should fall under union protection.

That decision came from a dispute the Cuomo administration and PEF have had since March 2013, when the Cuomo administration attempted to classify new hires as managerial under the Office of Management and Confidential Employees. Many of those non-unionized workers have complained about stagnant wages in comparison to their unionized colleagues, according to the Times Union.

Political analysts speculate the move might be political payback for PEF supporting Zephyr Teachout, the Fordham Law school professor who ran against Cuomo as a gubernatorial candidate this year.