Thursday, November 03, 2005

Results of the Ratification Vote

Teachers
Yes 39728
No 25962

School Secretaries
Yes 2455
No 618

Paras
Yes 8531
No 4491

Guidance Counselors
Yes 1325
No 538

Total
Yes 54473
No 32144

Total Votes Scanned 86847

This was released at 5:03 PM. The breakdown is approximately 60% Yes and 40% No for teachers. More analysis will follow.

35 comments:

Anonymous said...

I see layoffs for paras as teachers take over their lunchroom duties.

Let's all have a "shout-out!"

NYC Educator said...

Actually, it's aides, DS37 workers, and they have a deal with Mayor Mike, if I recall correctly, to keep their jobs.

Hmm...maybe WE shoulda got a deal like that...

Anonymous said...

Actually it's DC37 and you probably deserve the deal they got

NYC Educator said...

Forgive me for my typing, please. I know it's DC37, and I'd take the miserable raise they idiotically accepted in lieu of the remarkably short-sighted givebacks we gave.

Anonymous said...

To all of you YES voters,
i'll be thinking of you when i work a longer day
i'll be thinking of you when i work a longer year
i'll be thinking of you when i have to do some retarded potty patrol
'i'll be thinking about you when the police,fireman,corrections,sanitation are getting their superior raises
i'll be thinking of you when i go to the rifle range

Anonymous said...

Hey anyone, no comment?

NY Post 11/1/05
TEACHERS UNION BIG SUES
By DAVID ANDREATTA

The city is being slapped with an improper-labor-practice charge for allegedly ousting a teacher from his school because of his union activity, The Post has learned.

Teachers union president Randi Weingarten said the union is filing the charge with a state labor board on behalf of Jeff Kaufman, an outspoken critic of the Education Department who was kicked out of his school at Rikers Island this month.

The Education Department said he was removed because he ran afoul of Correction Department regulations. Kaufman, a union leader at Island Academy, claims the city wanted to silence him.

In addition to leading the charge for teachers to reject the city's recent contract offer, Kaufman last year testified to the City Council Education Committee that the city fails to transfer juvenile offenders to regular schools upon their release from jail.

Education officials at the time conceded that the system was inadequate.

"There's no doubt in my mind that this move was done to prevent my members from being represented and to silence me," Kaufman said.

Anonymous said...

And also to the YES voters:

I'll be thinking of you when you cry about the extra silly duties.
I'll be thinking of you when you sob that the raise was hardly enough and not worth the sacrifice

I'll be thinking of you while you languish in a school you can no longer leave because there are no seniority transfers and no other prinicpal wants you because you are over 35..

I'll be thinking of you when your morale is shot, when you go home dead tired and wonder why you thought you chose a noble career and are being treated this way.

I'll be thinking of you when you finally make the call to TJC or ICE or another pro-teacher group and express your regrets about how you simply had no idea of what you were getting yourself into.

I'll be thinking of you when I say that I am so proud of standing by my own convictions that I would never say "I told you so".

Whenever you are ready .... and you will be ready sooner than you think, you can stand with me and fight with me.

We got 40% of the vote. Next time it will be 80% .

But just for the record -- "Don't say nobody warned you. Don't say nobody told you. They did. You just got seduced by a little money that in the short run and long run will not change your life!

Anonymous said...

And one more thing .... don't you ever as ever again call us 'misfits'. We are 40% strong and this is at our weakest!

Anonymous said...

And one more thing .... don't you ever again call us 'misfits'. We are 40% strong and this is at our weakest!

Richard Skibins said...

I propose that we, the 40% who voted "no," opt out of COPE and instead direct that money to TJC and ICE. I also urge TJC and ICE to UNITE to defeat Weingarten in 2007.

Anonymous said...

Why do you all avoid this? Jeff Kaufman, jameseterno, Richard Skibins, et.al.?

NY Post 11/1/05
TEACHERS UNION BIG SUES
By DAVID ANDREATTA

The city is being slapped with an improper-labor-practice charge for allegedly ousting a teacher from his school because of his union activity, The Post has learned.

Teachers union president Randi Weingarten said the union is filing the charge with a state labor board on behalf of Jeff Kaufman, an outspoken critic of the Education Department who was kicked out of his school at Rikers Island this month.

The Education Department said he was removed because he ran afoul of Correction Department regulations. Kaufman, a union leader at Island Academy, claims the city wanted to silence him.

In addition to leading the charge for teachers to reject the city's recent contract offer, Kaufman last year testified to the City Council Education Committee that the city fails to transfer juvenile offenders to regular schools upon their release from jail.

Education officials at the time conceded that the system was inadequate.

"There's no doubt in my mind that this move was done to prevent my members from being represented and to silence me," Kaufman said.

Anonymous said...

Hey Anonymous-
If you want people to comment on something, put it on your own blog. This blog is reacting to a specific posting- the contract ratification vote- how dissident groups whose hands were tied behind their backs by the Unity Caucus (eg- unable to distribute their literature in the schools) were able to educate the membership to their rights and their power as a union. Try to stay on the issue and use another method in your attempt to smear dissident leaders. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous so obsessed with Kaufman:

I noticed you have posted the Andreatta article all over the place looking for kudos for Randi for defending Kaufman by filing unfair labor charges. While commendable, have you noticed that unfair labor practices have not been filed for all the other chapter leaders under similar attacks?

The answer is that this move dovetails perfectly with the UFT public relations machine – it is more important how things look to the public and UFT members. So because Jeff got the press, the UFT reacts. So typical.

We have always made the point that people who have publicly opposed Unity get the best representation because the UFT is afraid of the reaction if they don't. Hopefully Randi's actions answers some people who are hesitant to become active because they fear the UFT as much as the DOE. Do not fear. Just keep in mind that the UFT is basically a PR machine.

Anonymous said...

Hey anonymous....now that you have sold your soul to the devil, I cannot wait to see your comments next contract when the union agrees to have us come back on the Monday before Labor Day; when you file a grievance and it never reaches Step III; when your file is filled with U rating letters; when you cannot transfer to another school; when your teaching skills are wasted on potty duty; when you need medication and are given an alternative drug by E-Scripts; when you need a union rep and no one will be there to help you. To all of you who voted yes,
you have sealed your fate, and now you have to live with it.

To those of you who voted NO, I commend you for your unequivocal understanding of this sell-out; your strength of purpose; and your willingness to fight the most corrupt machination that is this union.

Anonymous said...

I am the husband of a teacher who voted no, on this contract. I am also the son of a former chapter leader who also voted no. The teachers who voted yes have helped start the process of busting up the union. How can a union which should be the most powerful in the city give back so much and get so little? The UFT leadership by using scare tactics that this is a good deal should resign. It is a discrace that 63% of my wife's co-workers in the city voted for this deal. My wife is a young energetic teacher who is going to look for a teaching job in the suburbs where they get paid a decent wage, and get the respect they deserve. Only then when the young good teachers leave the system for the suburbs will the city understand, that you can't treat professionals this way.

Anonymous said...

I have very mixed feelings this morning. Encouraged by the fact that 40% of those who cast their ballots against the new contract showed the strength of character, wisdom and integrity to vote to forgo raises because they were wise enough to see what is really at stake. I am also discouraged because so many voted in favor of a vehicle intended to steal much of the remaining power not previously surrendered by Unity crafted contracts. I am angry that our union president chose to sell us out and legally achieve what otherwise could not have been achieved by management.
I am dispirited because in the face of massive internal opposition to this contract, which many despise, Randi, once again reaches out to the Mayor and Chancelor and pleads to partner with them! How shameful! How foolish! I feeled demeaned and humiliated! Is there any hope of taking our union back?

Anonymous said...

I don't see it as a simple difference of opinion. Our own leadership betrayed us. My own "colleagues" said they were voting for the money and didn't really care about much else. This contract set a dangerous precedent that we will never be able to recover from. I spoke to a teacher who did strike way back when and is simply appalled that these same very rights were just given away for a raise we simply deserve. I have no respect for those who voted "yes". Where is their integrity? Are those the ideals and lessons you want them to pass along to students? Take the money and run? We need someone who is willing to fight for us. Not cower and tell its' members "Its the best deal we're going to get."
What a lousy deal it was.

Anonymous said...

Let me put it to you this way. Does a backstabber mean anything to you?

Anonymous said...

What don't you understand? Our leaders sold us out! We're you in a cave the last couple of weeks? Our leaders didn't fight for us. Colleagues votes "yes" for the money. It's not about respecting another persons opinion. It was how our Union leadership went about selling us this ridiculous contract. It was downright wrong to vote "yes".

Anonymous said...

When the DR came to our building, he has a Unity caucus application that he thought was bait for the CL. Apparently, better "service" was the offer; all you had to do was put out a Yes position paper to the staff, and lead the building in a Yes vote.
Much to the DR's chagrin, the CL informed him he was voting No. The DR returned the application to his bag. There was no sell-out by the CL, but he was given an up-close look at how Unity works. When the DR left, we noticed his cloven feet

Anonymous said...

I'm interested to know just what it is that Jeff Kaufman, the illustrious leader of the ICE people, did to deserve being removed from his school, which I believe (correct me if I'm wrong)is Riker's Island. I mean, what crime does a teacher have to commit to make him stand out so obviously from amongst thousands of murderers, rapists and felons, to cause HIM to be removed from the premises and sent to the rubber room?

Anonymous said...

Jeff Kaufman was removed from his job because he was an intellectual threat to the administration.

Anonymous said...

Dear Anonymous:

Your interest in Jeff Kaufman is truly obsessive.

A teacher does not have to 'commit a crime' in order to end up in the rubber room. You can do a professional, honest activity and be set up. Right now, there are dozens of teachers sitting in the rubber room who do not deserve to be there and will be exonerated. Where is your concern for them?.

Anonymous, could you spend half a day in Rikers Island without crying and phoning home?

Do you dare question Mr. Kaufman's motives or integrity? He is a retired policeman, an attorney, a first rate teacher and a chapter leader. Do you actually believe he committed a crime?

Can you even come close to these credentials or this courageous work history?

How many times do you have to post this Post article? Don't you have better things to do with your time?

Anonymous, stop obsessing about Jeff Kaufman and get a real life. And come clean and leave your real name and phone number.

Anonymous said...

Jeff, truth shall prevail! Everyone at Rikers is standing 100% beside you through this nonsense. We're all singing that ole song-if they only had a brain. Hurry up and get back to us.

Anonymous said...

Chik,

Here are the numbers: 65,690 teachers voted. 39,728 voted yes (60.5%) and 25,962 teachers voted no (39.5%). So we can round up and say 61% to 40%.

Roughly 15,000 teachers did not vote. I guess they did not like the contract enough to vote yes.

This not a 'respect other's opinion' issue; a theoretical debate. This is about thousands of teachers whose job has now deteriorated; who do not enjoy the same rights they enjoyed a week ago.

This is a serious attack on teachers and the power of the union.

Anonymous said...

The vote was 60-40, huh? I guess that Weingarten will claim thait was 80% who voted yes!

Anonymous said...

Wisdom Warrior --

If you want to read sound pro-teacher ideas, go to the ICE website and read the ICE platform paper -- What we stand for? Here you will find serious, rational ideas about working conditions for teachers and an honest democratic union that stands by it membership, supports and fights for its members and fully discloses what it does with its member's dues.

Of course we have mutual respect for ideas and open discussion. We are teachers. But when a contract eliminates rights that teachers have fought for for the past 30 years, do I have to have to respect ideas that take us backwards and make my working conditions worse?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

>If you want to read sound pro-teacher ideas,
>go to the ICE website and read the ICE platform paper

I've already done so. I see no evidence of disrepect or dishonor. I'm sure that FerryChk is not referring to anything written there. In fact there is no specific person or action mentioned in her messages. They way I read it, It seems that she does not respect the possibility of truth in Jeff's assertion that

>Numerous documented instances of improper
>voting procedures were uncovered over the last
>week indicating that the report of the vote today
>will be forever clouded in a shroud of impropriety.

Yet this question is never asked, there is merely the implication of falsehood.

Indeed, I hope that these issues will be taken up in the appropriate venue, and light be shined on the alleged incidents.

That seems like a battle worth fighting!

>Do I have to have to respect ideas that take us
>backwards and make my working conditions worse?

To clarify -

I maintain that a collegial respect for members who voted yes is the proper path.

But I would hope for a vigorously attack of those ideas!! But even in _that_ attack there should be honor. I say this even as I have been witness to cheap, personal attacks by a UFT chapter leader on those openly opposing this contract.

Take care!

-The strongest of all warriors are these two - Time and Patience. – Leo Tolstoi


One who excels as a warrior does not appear formidable
One who excels in fighting is never aroused in anger
One who excels in defeating his enemies does not join conflict
One who excels in employing others humbles himself before them
-- Chinese Martial Arts Saying

Anonymous said...

You have to also ask about the 15,000+ teachers who did not vote. You can't use the excuse that they couldn't make it to the voting poll or that they didn't know the vote was taking place.

You would have to say they were on the fence but that they could not bring themselves to vote yes so they chose not to vote. I am thinking that they were ambivalent about voting yes rather than ambivalent about voting no.

And then of course, some voted yes even if they didn't like the contract but felt we could not do any better.

The bottom line is that I am now working under conditions I did not ask for and we can have all the open, honorable, respectful forums we want but I still cannot understand why teachers would be willing to give back so much for so little.

Anonymous said...

I received the following from a former colleague. Note how the Unity chapter leader spent more time ripping ICE literature out of mailboxes than defending a teacher sent to the rubber room. Also note that the Unity chapter chairperson went to complain to the principal about the ICE leaflets and is in complete cahoots with the adminsitration:

Useless and Unity: Perfect together
I put all of the ICE info in the mailboxes at my school and our Unity Chapter leader and delegate ripped them out of the mailboxes and reported it to their buddy, the principal, in whose office they hang out every morning doing their knitting and making the schedule. My principal approached me and said that I’m not allowed to put anything in the mailboxes without his approval. I told him that was not the case and that I was allowed. He then referred to [a retired teacher and member of New Action] who he has written up, targeted, and given U ratings to for doing the same thing and trying to have a voice other than UNITY [denied by the retiree in an email] . Being a teacher who is not tenured, I told him it was fine. I then stood outside of the school after dismissal and handed out the flyers. More UNITY scare tactics.

My friend got removed from my school today and sent to the region. Two days ago he took his class on a trip. As usual practice in my school, he sent children that were not going into other classrooms for the day. One child did not go to the room she was supposed to, left the building and went home. This went undetected until my friend came back from his trip and went to pick up the children he left behind. After searching the whole building, the administration tracked her down at her home. They immediately put him on administrative duty the next day in our building. Today he came in and was supposed to give a formal statement, but instead they sent him to the region. Our chapter leader (who is useless and Unity) has done nothing to inform him of any of his rights. She suggested that he try to get a transfer. Could you imagine?

Anonymous said...

Voting in a school with a rabid Unity Chapter Leader

How One Upper Level Unity Chapter Leader Functioned

from an ICE supporter

For various reasons, I have avoided the stuffing the mailbox route instead I've been taking a laid back approach, emailing friends and from time to time giving out a few flyers using a one to one laid back approach.

However, some of my colleagues prefer a more aggressive or at least direct approach. For example my friend Z has just put stuff I print out in the mailboxes. I've been accused, but never to my face. Funny!

Yesterday, I heard that our not so greatly respected Chapter Leader, went ballistic!! Evidently somebody sympathetic put ICE flyers in teachers' mailboxes. Z told me that he accused us of doing it. Again, he didn't confront me, and Z denies it. But he and one of his slaves, as my friend Y called him, pulled the flyers out. Y went ballistic and laid into him.

Anyway I gave her flyers and she gave them out during her PD session, during which time I understand an argument ensued. Y didn't give me many details

This morning as she was still livid at him saying "who the *&* does he think he is" and "I couldn't give a crap what he says. I'm voting no and I think more people would vote no if they understood what this contract means."

Some people think 90% in our building will vote no. Could just be a function of who one hangs out with, but I hope so...

This is from a friend who one of our delegates and an ICE supporter:
CL called me up 8th period yelling at me for telling people how to vote. When I mentioned that people approached me asking me what I think about the contract, I told them what I think about it. He told me that's not what he heard. I asked him isn't the same thing you're doing by putting UFT literature in our mailboxes praising the contract? He mentioned something about putting that statement in writing? Anyway, he's freaking out now I’m curious if he calls into question all of our votes. Interesting day

Z went up to vote today. She said that Ch L, and two of his pals were in the teachers' lounge "watching" the voting "like hawks."
She said they didn't say anything but that she felt intimidated by them, but voted no anyway.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, Nov. 4th, 10:55 -

Yes, I dare question Jeff Kaufman's motives and integrity. He's a failed policeman, a failed attorney, and now a failed teacher in the rubber room. Yes, I imagine he did commit a crime - certainly his anti-union rants on this website are criminal. And by the way, it's pretty amusing that you ask me to leave a name and number while signing your own post Anonymous.

Anonymous said...

In answer to the above comment:

You are the accuser and that is why you should leave your name.

But, you are also a failed Unity hack who wastes your days posting belligerent comments. Lucky Unity gave you a job otherwise you would be chronically employed!

Anonymous said...

By the way, this is Jeff's website and he is entitled to post whatever he likes. You do not have to visit this website. You can go to your very own Unity website and do all your senseless ranting and raving!

Anonymous said...

I can't understand how our District Representative
expected anything other than the treatment he was given when he visited PRHS to talk up the supposed
advantages to voting "yes" for the contract.
During the three previous years, while we had been involved in our battles with an abusive administration our DR was nowhere to be seen.
It became obvious to almost the entire staff that our troubles at PRHS were strickly our own. Finally we achieved a change in administration no thanks to our union.
Then our DR shows up just before the election and tries to push the Unity lies on us leaving us no option but to show him the door.
Now it seems we have been called "trouble-makers"
and worse by the very people who's meal tickets we punch. Are we supposed to just roll over and take anything thats tossed to us? I don't think so.
The PRHS members of the UTP have no further use for Unity or their bs. They are no longer welcome in our school by us and as for our arrogant and nasty DR he luck he didn't wind up our parking lot dumpster.