The city’s largest health care union is stepping up its efforts to help get Democrat Fernando Ferrer elected mayor.

The Service Employees International Union/Local 1199 announced yesterday that it would recruit 200 members to take temporary leaves from their jobs until the November 8 mayoral election.

The Ferrer Action Team, as the recruits will be called, will travel door-to-door to visit about 200,000 union members and retirees in the five boroughs to notify them of 1199’s Ferrer endorsement.

“We’re offering them an opportunity to take a leave from their jobs, come on the payroll for the next six weeks, and do a community-based door-knocking outreach program to our members and retirees,” the executive vice president for politics and legislation at 1199, Jennifer Cunningham, said.

The program is modeled on the union’s “heroes” program from last year. Under that operation, the union recruited 800 of its members to take leaves from their New York jobs and join get-out-the-vote campaigns for Senator Kerry’s unsuccessful bid to unseat President Bush.

Ms. Cunningham said that because they are already trained in political outreach, the union will tap those who participated in the “heroes” program. She said she did not know how much it would cost 1199 to pay their salaries for the duration of the campaign, but it will depend on who participates and how much they earn in their jobs.

Ms. Cunningham said the decision to start the program for the mayoral campaign, the most aggressive move the union has made in this election to date, was made in the “last few days.”

While 1199 has endorsed Mr. Ferrer in this election, the other unions in the city are split and many are backing Mayor Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, 1199’s vice president for politics and legislation, Patrick Gaspard, is taking a leave from the union to join the Ferrer campaign. He will be the deputy campaign manager.