Thursday, February 19, 2015

ESTIMATING THE COST OF ARBITRATOR RULING ON SENIOR TEACHERS

NYC Educator made the first attempt to calculate the cost of arbitrator Martin Sheinman's ruling that forces active UFT members to pay the cost by deferring raises so the city can have enough money to pay full retroactive money to people who retired between November 1, 2009 through June 30, 2014. We did our own breakdown for an individual teacher on maximum and here is what we came up with.

Maximum salary would have been $119,471 as of May 1, 2018, but 3% of that money will now be deferred for a month and a half until June 16, 2018 or three pay periods. Therefore, by taking $119,471 and dividing it by 24, we come up with $4977.96 per pay period. Now multiply this by 3% (.03 is the value of the deferred increase) and we get $149.34. Multiply that number by 3 since we are being deferred for three pay periods and the result is $448.02. That is part of every senior teacher's gift to retirees. But that is not it.

We still have to add in the one month extension to the contract. The value of this is harder to calculate. If Michael Mulgrew and his Unity Caucus negotiate and set a new pattern, the most likely value will be nothing for that first year. We will only lose after we start getting increases.

If people wake up and vote out Unity or another union establishes a new citywide pattern, let's assume a more historically relevant 3, then we must recalculate. If we were to get 3% on December 1, 2018 as opposed to November 1, 2018, the date a new contract would have started without arbitrator Sheinman' s intervention, we can start a new set of calculations.

Let's take $119,471 and multiply by 1.03 for a 3% raise. Maximum then comes to $123,055.13. Now multiply by.03 to figure out the value of the increase. The total is $3,691.65. Divide that by 24 pay periods to figure the cost per check which comes to $153.82. Multiply by two checks (a month delay caused by Scheinman) and the cost is $307.64.

Now add the $307.64 to $448.02 and we get an approximate final cost of $755.66.

There you have how much a teacher on maximum will be billed (estimated) to pay the retirees.

I don't expect to see too many thank you notes from retirees in the comments section.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

James,
Please do not lump all retirees into the "ungrateful" category. There were many of retirees from the expired contract that sent out emails to members on their listserv to vote no on the contract. I emailed ATR/ACRs that the contract would detrimental to them especially and that I, as a retiree from the expired contract (2009-2014), was willing to wait until a fair, equitable contract was negotiated. Take into account that their are members who have been in the system less than 10 years and see the ratification of the contract a great deal since they have many more years to go before eventually retiring. We need to look at the $1000 kiss-of-death incentive that prompted many to go for such a horrible contract. I can't tell you how many retirees were not in favor of this contract and thank you for your dedication in the constant fight to have the union leadership to do the right thing for all the members and not the chosen ones. So the bottom of my heart I thank you. It is a disgrace how the leadership has pitted the retirees with the in service rank and file. But I will remember this come May 2016. And injury to one is an injury to all.

NYCDOEnuts said...

You're forgetting to add in the amount from lost summer pay. That 488 divided by the 20 pay periods that our summer pay is calculated with is an extra $24 per summer pay period that teachers won't be getting. $24x4 checks is another $96 per teacher in the "senior teacher only" scenario ($192 if you believe the june 30 check would have reflected the pay we would have received). I touched on that meme here. It's a hidden boom with this deal.

http://nycdoenuts.blogspot.com/2015/02/back-when-three-months-looked-like-six.html

Ms. Tsouris said...

This retiree thinks that retirees shouldn't be voting for Union officers, but as I stated on another blog, this is how the corrupt bloated and callous Unity caucus maintains its stranglehold on the UFT and its members, active and retired

NYC Educator said...

Reworking of contract---500 bucks

Delay of payment--------250 bucks

Being lied to by leadership, which sold us this piece of crap via a blatant appeal to fear----priceless

Pissedoffteacher said...

As a retiree I will be more than happy to take my money but I shouldn't be thanking anyone. It is money I earned. I did not vote for the current union administration who is responsible for the cost of this money being put on backs of working teachers and I resent any posts trying to make us feel guilty. Instead, how about thanking all the working teachers who voted for Mulgrew and this contract either out of fear, ignorance or just plain laziness

Anonymous said...

Another retiree, former chapter leader, here. I am surprised and rather disappointed that you, too, James, are foisting this mess on the retirees. Some of those retirees opted to reach for the carrot that was the bait in this horrible contract. The promise to get all that retroactive money in one fell swoop if you walked out the door by June 30. I also recall that it had been deemed restructured payment but that seems to have gone out the window too.
This offers just another opportunity to divide and conquer.
The cohort of members who retired during that 4 point something year window all had the experience of working under the new regime whipped into shape by Bloomberg. These members are different from those who retired just a few years earlier in that they are aware of what the NYC Board of Education has become.
Can you blame the retirees for this outcome while knowing full well what Unity/Mulgrew and company represent?
Let's not lose sight of the forest for the trees.

Anonymous said...

Wait,won't the money be included by the summer if we get it by June 16?

Anonymous said...

We salute them too.

Anonymous said...

The blame goes to Unity/Mulgrew and the arbitrator and not the retirees. Except for the thank you line, this post just explains the cost. Why are you retirees getting all angry? Maybe a little guilt.

Anonymous said...

Thanks. I mean that. Unfortunately, as usual, teachers pay the price. I'm currently retired, and I can't tell you how glad I am I don't work for the city any longer!

Think of the idiocy of how things are done: some of my checks more than one year after retirement are still being sent to my former school where they disappear.

It took me months to get off of payroll. That's right: I had to spent months begging payroll to stop paying me. I literally had to contact three different subsections of the DOE, each of whom told me, in classic DOE fashion, that it wasn't their job -- until the third person referred me back to the first person. I call this the DOE wheel of death. I first encountered it almost 30 years ago when I 65 Court Street for help. Three phone calls later and I'm being told to call the first person again. It's amazing that this kind of behavior still goes on.
This time when I emailed all three parties about the kinds of conversations I was having with them, they called me and quietly asked me not to put anything else in writing, said that I had "misunderstood" what they had said and that I would be taken off payroll. Finally.

I say to all current teachers: it's about survival. Find a way to survive.

Anonymous said...

James I just retired this past June and like anon 535 I implored my very young colleagues to vote no and in my last act of solidarity I voted no to this contract. One young teacher called me sunday night to tell me about this arbitrator's ruling and the first thing I said was thank you (to all the active teachers) for helping make me whole.

Anonymous said...

James-
I remember way back when the UFT election ballots were mailed directly to AAA. Will the next election be the same as the contract vote, where ballots are collected by the UNITY REP in the school? I don't trust UNITY and believe they are a corrupt group, led by that slime Mulgrew.

Bronx ATR said...

Hi Eterno,
Instead of focusing on all the crap Mulgrew, et. al. has allowed to rain down on our heads, isn't it time to find and get behind someone, anyone, to run against him. We need someone who will get loud, stand nose to nose with Cuomo, and use the media effectively. Sitting back, tweeting and writing articles in that monthly UFT rag (that no one reads) isn't doing it.

James Eterno said...

Wow. Thanks for support. Line on a thank you was a kind of sarcastic throw off. Didn't realize retirees would take it seriously. Thank you for putting principle ahead of narrow self interest by voting no. Two people did that in my chapter too.

James Eterno said...

No. If it is done as in the past, ballots for UFT Elections are mailed to our houses. We mail them right to AAA.

Anonymous said...

James,
You are right on the money! It will cost me about $ 500, I don't blame the retirees, I blame Mulgrew! Wait till he cannot come up with the healthcare savings. He is nothing but a crook!

catt55 said...

Why isn't the blame being laid on Bloomberg who refused to negotiate hundreds of city contracts????

Anonymous said...

Because Bloomberg is gone. De Blasio could have spared $60 million to easily solve this.

Anonymous said...

How much money did the city make in interest on $180 million dollars withholding it since June? The city is a joke! Deblasio has no clue. He's only looking out for the upperclass and the lower class.

Anonymous said...

While that $755 out of our pockets
is a punch in the face, lets remember how the UFT UNITY very quietly negotiated the TDA fixed rate DOWN from 8.25% to 7%.

That cost members tens of thousand of dollars over the span of a career!

THAT WAS HAVING OUR HEADS SLAMMED INTO THE WALL.

Anonymous said...

Yes it is.

Anonymous said...

I would like to remind everyone, who the union leadership decided to place the retro burden, of Harry Lirtzman's posting in NYCE's blog. There's money in the city coffers but the UFT wants the in-service members to pick up the tab. Why???

http://nyceducator.com/2014/12/expert-uft-negotiators-at-work.html

UFT Orphan said...

Why do we have to go to an arbitrator if we have a signed contract? We should go to court.

Raving Lunatic said...

Rest assured, duespayers, that I shall be at 52 Broadway extra early, maybe 11 AM, to work on this issue. I am very concerned that people believe this is our fault. Rest assured that it is not our fault, that nothing is ever our fault, and that we did the very best we could under tough circumstances.

For now, please get off this topic altogether and get back to tweeting about Cuomo. Please use hashtag #MulgrewIsTheBestBecause.

Thank you, and please make it go viral before we converse again.

IFailedAlgebra said...

Your analysis needs to take into consideration the future value of the cost. But a nice try, nonetheless.

Anonymous said...

Don't blame the retirees. This is the union's fault since they were advised that the funds weren't there for retirees at the time the contract was signed.

Feel sorry for all those people who retired in June instead of September to avoid the installment plan for back pay; there were encouraged to do so. They haven't received a penny.

I retired before that, but I'm worried about ever getting anything. I filed an address change all over the place since there's no single data base for a retiree's profile. I filed with the local school 3 times and just found out that one of my CAR payments was voided since the DOE "could not find me". The local school gets the CAR payments and mails them to you. Mulgrew says the back pay will be put in the EFT account that links to your pension payments. HR Connect says they don't have the facilities to do that and it will be sent to your last school.

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous Retired with VOID CAR
Payments:

I retired and was kept on payroll for at least six months, regardless. Checks were being sent to my school, without my knowledge, and one for over three thousand dollars was cashed fraudulently. After contacting everyone I could think of, including the police, I have gotten little satisfaction. I paid taxes on the check I didn't receive, and have not gotten any word of that error being corrected.
Who do we contact for such problem???

Anonymous said...

Hr connect