Monday, May 05, 2014

MULGREW EMAIL AND EXEC BD UPDATE

The Executive Board voted for the contract tonight without seeing it but the New Action people asked to table it and then voted against the contract they never saw.

I am posting below in its entirety the email President Mulgrew sent out earlier today.

Two points are clear from reading this:

1-The UFT is going to argue that the city had no money in spite of major surpluses. Mulgrew stated directly, "The cupboard was bare."  That is difficult to swallow when each day we hear about the city surplus growing.

2-The retro money will be compounded but without any interest. Some have said that there would be interest but it wasn't mentioned by the President in this email.



Dear James,

I'm pleased to report that the Municipal Labor Committee, the umbrella group representing New York City's 350,000 municipal workers, voted overwhelmingly today to approve the health care savings program.

The city and its municipal unions will convene a joint citywide healthcare committee that will work collaboratively and transparently to identify ways to deliver health care more efficiently and streamline administration of benefits for all city workers.  All the municipal union presidents feel confident that this program will meet the agreed-upon savings targets without diminishing city workers' health care benefits.

With the health care piece in place, we can now move forward with our contract ratification process.  Our previous mayor tried to make it impossible for the next administration to give educators the raises they deserve.  Michael Bloomberg set aside no money in the city budget to pay for the two 4 percents for 2009 and 2010 that other city workers received.  Over the five long years that Bloomberg refused to negotiate the cost of paying out those raises ballooned.  That's the budget that Mayor Bill de Blasio inherited. The cupboard was bare.

Despite that virtually empty labor reserve, we figured out a way forward with our new mayor, who was a willing and respectful negotiating partner. By agreeing to stretch out the retroactive payments and raises, we made our members whole and at the same time won significant raises in the contract's later years.  Without the delay, we could not have achieved either.  At the end of the day, UFT members will get more money in their pockets.

The phase-in of the retroactive raises has no bearing on the final amount of retro payments you'll receive.  All in-service and retired members will receive 100 percent of the money they are entitled to, compounded back to Nov. 1, 2009, by 2020.

The way this contract handles the retroactive raises is not unusual.  What is unusual is the recklessness of the previous mayor, who ignored the city's largest union local and allowed such an enormous retroactive debt to build up.  Bloomberg's plan failed: We now have a proposed contract that pays members every dollar they would have earned if they had received their raises when other city workers did.

Here's the bottom line: With this landmark proposed settlement, UFT members will get every penny they earned and a total of 18 percent in pay increases over a nine-year period that includes the worst recession this country has experienced since the Great Depression.

We will be posting the Memorandum of Agreement, once it's finalized, and additional information, including FAQs, in our special Contract 2014 section.

Sincerely,

Michael Mulgrew

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Every penny we would have earned up until when? Up until current or up until 2018? Someone needs to directly ask him if we will be making the post ratification 8% at some point. If yes, then this would be much easier to swallow for many of us. Otherwise we're making less than other nyc unions until 2018.

Anonymous said...

Just want to clarify: The executive board voted in favor of presenting this contract to the Delegate Assembly when they do not know the details of the contract?
The Executive Board voted to move forward on a contract that they have not seen, and therefore, not read the Memorandum of Agreement that provides the nitty gritty details for the contract?

James Eterno said...

That is correct.

Anonymous said...

Every penny we would have earned up until or the retro is put into our base salaries in 2018. Every penny, every cent, all of the money. Very simple. Enjoy it! Let's ratify this!

Sean Ahern said...

se10% Now!
Go Back to the Bargaining Table

After 6 years without an increase in the salary schedule the tentative agreement leaves NYC teachers with:

The highest class size in NY State

The lowest median salary in the NYC metropolitan area

The lowest rate of retention in NY state

Free public space for hedge fund charters while public schools students are crammed into decrepit trailers

All this in the richest city in the nation!

Its the "tale of two cities" in contract form.

Vote No and send UFT representatives back to the bargaining table.

Smiley faces at City Hall and Tweed don't pay the rent!

Anonymous said...

We would need another retro for the money we aren't getting after ratification that we would get if we received the 8% 4-5 years ago. You can't put that into base salary.

Anonymous said...

Has anybody looked at the contracts being awarded in the affluent suburban districts? Most are contributing 10 - 20 % of their healthcare and have seen zeros and ones as well in their latest deals. Some have taken pay cuts to prevent layoffs. Some have seen substantial excessing, which in the burbs basically means you're out of a job in that district for good. We've avoided layoffs, avoided increasing co-pays, avoided givebacks, achieved some substantial non monetary gains, along with modest financial gains. This contract provides retro pay, a fantasy with Bloomberg in charge. Look at the MOA when it is produced, there are a lot of misconceptions out there, then make your decision. Sending negotiators back to the bargaining table in a weakened position is not something to be lightly considered.

Anonymous said...

And not a word what ATRs get if they accept buyout?

Anonymous said...

Our retro continues to accrue until all 4 of the 2% retro salary increases in 2018. With each of the retro 2% increases the percentage of of retro goes down 2%. Further the 1% 1% 1% 1.5% 2.5% and 3% increases are calculated as if the 4% and 4% raises were in our salary and not being paid through retro payments. In 2018 our salaries will be there and the in 2020 we will have recovered every penny we were owed. We have to vote Yes now. We have to work on being focused on getting the next contract on time. Re-elect Bill

Anonymous said...

Our retro continues to accrue until all 4 of the 2% retro salary increases in 2018. With each of the retro 2% increases the percentage of of retro goes down 2%. Further the 1% 1% 1% 1.5% 2.5% and 3% increases are calculated as if the 4% and 4% raises were in our salary and not being paid through retro payments. In 2018 our salaries will be there and the in 2020 we will have recovered every penny we were owed. We have to vote Yes now. We have to work on being focused on getting the next contract on time. Re-elect Bill

Anonymous said...

ATRs at top pay will get 10 weeks severance

Anonymous said...

James, you wrote retired teachers would get their back pay at once and stated that they would "win big" in this contract. Where did you get that information?

Anonymous said...

Sancus • a few seconds ago
In today's anti-labor, anti-union, anti-teacher atmosphere I think it's a great contract. Full retroactive raises( I prefer it being payed out in smaller chunks so less taxes are taken out) solid wage increases going forward, a mechanism to grieve excessive paperwork, more professional development, a plan to get ATR's back into the classroom where they belong and no givebacks whatsoever. What is not to like? Anyone voting no needs to have their head examined.

Anonymous said...

This is a terrible contract for the hard working teachers of NYC. We have had a lot of paperwork dumped on us for years without extra compensation. I hope teachers decide that this contract is insulting to us. We deserve more and we deserve better than this garbage being thrown at us.

Anonymous said...

Allowing 200 public schools to be turned into charter schools, and weakening due process rights for ATRs are major concessions. We already had a draconian teacher evaluation imposed on us for no additional compensation. In addition having to wait 4-6 years more for money we were supposed to get 5 years ago is a little too long. Those comparing our healthcare contributions to the suburbs are insane. I would gladly trade an additional 10-20 in additional healthcare premiums for their salary scales. Almost all suburban districts are topping out at $115,000 to %130,000 RIGHT NOW. We will not get to $119,000 for another 4 years.

Anonymous said...

Many of the retro calculations I have read in this and the past thread are assuming the longevity 'bonuses' are also subject to the % increases. Remember the final 'salary' step is actually 8B and then the bonus is on top of that. That will bring peoples proposed contracts and proposed retro payments down (regardless if we get both past and future contracts).

Are the longevity bonuses affected by the raises? If they are not, they are subject to the same cost of living depreciation everything else is and we are therefore losing money on those. Not to mention a teacher in the system for 9 years will get the same dollar amount raise as someone in the city for 30 years. We need some answers.

Anonymous said...

The retro pay and raise being stretched out is the only way that we are able to walk away with grace and not bankrupt thhe city. Are we not forgetting there was a crash when we did not get our raises under Bumberg? By getting all members every cent they deserve, new grievable articles, no increase in premiums, teacher voice and a collaborative Mayor and Chancellor, we would be foolish to go back to the table and even more foolish to vote no. We MUST vote YES. I applaud UFT for getting members more money in their pockets.

The phase-in of the retroactive raises has no bearing on the final amount of retro payments you'll receive. All in-service and retired members will receive 100 percent of the money they are entitled to, compounded back to Nov. 1, 2009, by 2020.

The way this contract handles the retroactive raises is not unusual. What is unusual is the recklessness of our previous mayor, who ignored the city's largest union local and allowed such an enormous retroactive debt to build up. Bloomberg's plan failed: We now have a proposed contract that pays members every dollar they would have earned if they had received their raises when other city workers did.

Here's the bottom line: With this landmark proposed settlement, UFT members will get every penny they earned and a total of 18 percent in pay increases over a nine-year period that includes the worst recession that this country has experienced since the Great Depression.

Anonymous said...

Speculate and assume away everyone. The devil is in
the details but of course there are no details. Another
fast one by the UFT being marketed as a major milestone,
(millstone?).

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry to harp on the past but it was the union leadership who decided on not supporting another mayoral candidate in the 2009 election. All these delayed retro, which is delayed justice, and this schlock contract was brought to our members by the union leadership.

I feel that the union must decide on which side of the fence are they on because I see our union weakening each year. I truly hope I'm wrong.

Anonymous said...

People saying we are getting every penny we would have had we received the raises in 09-10 may be and probably are wrong. We're still waiting to see if we're getting money that we would be making if we were earning 8% more between 2015-2018. Nothing so far has said we will.

Anonymous said...

Once again the people pushing a YES vote are voting their pocketbooks rather than the rights of teachers. This is another attempt to kill due process by targeting ATRs first. I am not an ATR, but I was excessed a few times back in the 70s and even laid off for a short time. My seniority rights got me back into the classroom and I was so thankful to the UFT support for helping many of us get recertified so we could fill other positions until we were called back.

If any teacher votes YES, they are voting for a future where they may find themselves without due process rights.

As for merit pay, even Bloomberg had to stop it because the city couldn't afford it. And, whether you want to believe it or not, it will turn you into a test-prep teacher. But to get that extra money, you have to give up the rights teachers before you worked hard to get--including going on strike.

Just remember, one day any of you can be excessed. Good teacher or not, it can happen to you. And the one thing you never want to fool with is due process. First the UFT tampered with seniority rights and now weakening due process for ATRs. Don't you see the writing on the wall??

Anonymous said...

Sold up the river as usual. Mulgrew is a douchebag. Ditto for Farina and Blas. Buncha crooks.

Anonymous said...

I understand why the contract was structured like this but I do not believe if Bloomberg was mayor the Union would have agreed to the same. They gave a break to deBlasio

Anonymous said...

What a scam. 10 weeks pay for severance, and that's for a max teacher. 6 weeks if you 14 years.

Anonymous said...

2 file letters in 2 years for an ATR equals firing. the cobntarct reads very different from what Mulgrew said. Contract says "problematic." What does that mean? And successive means any time over 2 school years. That could be any type of nonsense.

Anonymous said...

Is it me or does it seem a bit perplexing that 75% of our retro will be paid AFTER this contract ends (if it's ratified)? If the city can not afford to pay our raises now or give us our retro what makes anyone think they'll be in a better position to do so years from now. The city has a surplus now. They are kicking the can down the road and I fear we'll end up settling to forego the 75% of the retro payments when we start negotiating our next contract. This contract is not good and it sets us up for even worse one next time.