Saturday, March 15, 2014

UFT STATEMENT ON CONTRACT

Anybody anywhere near the inside at the UFT has been spending a great deal of time the last few days addressing rumors about what the terms will be in a possible new contract.  I'm really not sure about what is true or untrue.  Printed below in full is a piece from the UFT weekly Chapter Leader Update about the negotiations.  Read into it what you like.

Contract negotiations between the UFT and the DOE resume

The UFT has begun meeting regularly with the Department of Education in an effort to reach a new contract for teachers and other UFT-represented DOE employees. The two sides met last weekend and again on Wednesday and today (Friday), with Martin F. Scheinman, the arbitrator who is the neutral chair of the fact-finding panel, serving as mediator. Our 300-member rank-and-file negotiating committee met on Thursday. No settlement is imminent, but we are making headway now that we have someone across the table that is serious about getting to a deal. Our goal remains to have a new contract ratified and in place by the end of June. Contract negotiations are never conducted in public. When a tentative agreement is reached, it will go before members in a ratification vote.


For a look at what the Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE) would like to see in a contract, read here.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

why does mulgrew poll members as to what they woud like to see in the next contract in regards to all the rumors.Randi used to do that and use it as a basis for negaotation - then say its what teachers requested.
Or can teachers have an opt in choice retro or service credit?

Madeline Fox said...

Accoding to the latest news reports regarding contact negotiations , As am a concerned senior teacher with 28 years experience looking to retire at the end of the school year.,What the DiBlasio administration is floating around is to spread out the retroactive pay over a period of several years . How will that benefit me who worked without a contract for the past five years? Will i recieve back pay that is owed me after retirement or will extra retirement time be given to compensate for time I worked without a contract. Hope the UFT leadership will fight for what is fair for all it's members!!

Too old to quit; to old to retire said...

Madeline,
You can't wait until 2018? That's the point. They'll save a fortune by not paying retro to all those retirees and teachers that quit before the payment is due. The UFT has never got the DOE to pay retro to retirees or teachers that left before the payment was made...why start now?

Anonymous said...

I have little confidence the union will do the right thing for their members. The working conditions are atrocious and the membership needs to be reminded why unions were formed in the first place. Money and/or service credit helps but the abusive working conditions needs to improve or no one will go into teaching.

Anonymous said...

We'll be shafted. Wait and see. Longer school days, longer school year. More teaching periods. Pick one or two cause soon we'll be seeing it. oh and us paying for our health benefits. Remember in days past people would take a city job because of the security and benefits in lieu of higher salary? Now why would anyone want a civil servant job - oh wait the word servant tells all. Disgusting. Give me service credit or a buyout and let me escape from this hell on earth.

Did anyone hear that our esteemed mayor is seeking to get rid of the February break in order to give the Muslims their holidays off?

Anonymous said...

Not looking forward to the contract. Nobody here thinks this ends well.

Anonymous said...

If you are retired you won't get your retro ?? That doesn't sound legal.

Anonymous said...

Retired or not, you will get retro if you worked during the retro period. Anything else would be illegal. That is money owed to you and how every other municipality in the country has ever done it.

Too old to stay; too young too retire said...

How many lawyers out there? If it were so illegal why didn't past contracts provide for it? It's a funny thing about contract and labor law; the wording of the contract determines the parties' rights, not "fairness," "equity," or some other common sense standard. This is the way the City saves money and the Union doesn't care about members who leave. Sorry to delay your retirement.

Anonymous said...

So you're saying that if you worked in 2010 and they are giving a retro for 2010, that you won't get it if you retired in 2012?

Too old to read blogs said...

That's the way it worked in the past.

James Eterno said...

I looked it up and at least for 2002 and 205 retirees did get the retro. People who resigned did not.

Mike S. said...

Any more rumors about a service credit "bump" in lieu of full retro?

Anonymous said...

My main objective of a new contract is to get back the rights and respect that former teachers in the past fought for. Teachers are treated like second class citizens in schools that have principals that are dictators. Teachers in my school have to type up lesson plans daily and the principals use the current evaluation system to catch teachers off guard and to rate them ineffective. Especially those principals who graduated from the Principal's Academy. I would like some retro money, but a good portion of it will be taxed. I rather go back to the days where teachers were treated with respect, senior teachers had the right to transfer under the UFT Transfer System, we can do our lesson plans using a plan book, resources be provided for us to use in the classroom, observations should be conducted fairly, etc. My parents are retired teachers. They fought hard for the rights our UFT representatives have given away in our past contracts. Mulgrew, if you are reading this, do not let our school system follow the trend of other states. If that is so, no one will want to teach.

Anonymous said...

I am an ATR with 25 years in and 62 years old set to retire July 1, 2014. Is there any advantage to retiring June 30? I was a little confused about this.

THANKS for all you do!

Kathy

Anonymous said...

Any advantage for an ATR retiring any other day than July 1, 2014?

Thanks1

Anonymous said...

Any advantage to selecting a date other than July 1 for retirement? (I am an ATR)

Al said...

All of you retirees have to chill out..If you resign, you get nothing from any updated contract, you have forfeited those rights-you are done. If you retired as I did in 2012, you will definitely get paid paid for the retro period YOU WORKED plus and increase in PENSION and an increase in the price for those CAR DAYS earned (not more days)..ALL SUBJECT TO ADDITIONAL INTEREST!! Therefore, I will be credited for 2009 thru 2012...YOU have to stay on TOP of EVERY payment due to you. (The office people don't care about you) NOW the reality check: how they divide that 18% is crucial and WHEN they pay it. (If the city drags it out, it will cost them more in the long run due to low interest rates in the banking system, they need to get the retro down ASAP). For those are getting SS benefits, I'm not sure if Social Security is going to look at this as a benefit like your CAR checks are in which you are not discredited. If the retro percentages are divided evenly, consider that you hit the jackpot with an extra few bucks across your entire benefits program. Keep in mind that when you retired YOU DID NOT sign off to exclude retro-contract raises that came across your active working years as in this situation. Let's hope for the best and congratulations when the contract is signed off by the UFT and its members!!

28 yrs Tech-Teacher-K-5 Brooklyn NY

Anonymous said...

How soon will retirees receive their back pay? I do hope that we get it in tome so that at least we could enjoy having it and not wait until 2015 for obvious reasons, of course.