Here is the letter:
Note to Janus et al: The UFT Will Survive and Thrive
Dear Mark Janus:
Congratulations on your new job with the Illinois Policy Institute, the right wing think tank that financed your assault on American public employees. I’m glad to hear you’re doing well. We are, too.
We got the e-mail from your friend, “Amanda Burke,” telling us how we could desert our union. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, aka, Betsy DeVos, thoughtfully provided Amanda to save us from the evils of union membership.
Did we take the bait?
Here’s a post from the Facebook version of the Organizer:
I was thinking of not paying my dues until I realized that this is a right-wing conspiracy against unions, public education, the middle class, etc. I WILL continue paying my dues. Getting notices about opting out has made my decision much easier.
My “other” union, the Professional Staff Congress-CUNY has re-signed its members at a 96% rate. This is despite the fact that one Bob Bellafiore, another friend like Amanda, has e-mailed PSC members instructions for opting out.
Here’s what we e-mailed him in return:
Dear Bob,
I want to thank you, the anti-unionists paying your bills, and Betsy DeVos' friends at organizations like the Mackinac Center for reminding working families of all the reasons we are sticking with our union.
Every email you send to a teacher, firefighter or police officer in New York shows us the lengths you are willing to go to help wealthy special interests undercut working families.
We have a message for you: We knew you were coming, we know who is backing you, and we know what you want.
Strong unions mean higher pay, better benefits and improved working conditions for our members. You know that, which is why you are trying to destroy us.
Knowing this will make signing my re-enrollment card and paying my union dues even more of an honor and a privilege.
I'm sticking with our union!
There’s even better news at the UFT: There are 29, count them, 29 , among all the teachers, counselors, school secretaries, occupational therapists, and ed paras in all of Queens, who are not dues-paying UFT members!
In all of the alternative high schools (District 79) there are two non-members!
We’re sticking with our union!
We linked Friday to an Op Ed from NYSUT President Andy Pallotta who says that only nine people, that's right just nine, have left NYSUT in the first two weeks after Janus.
Here is the relevant paragraph from Pallotta:
In fact, in
the two weeks since the Janus decision, just nine members quit NYSUT. In contrast, more than 9,000 members signed
new cards re-committing to the union, even as another 1,300 fee-payers – who
previously were not full-fledged members – have decided to join NYSUT, some for
the first time.
This space previously reported on the news coming from the AFT Convention where the UFT boasted that over 99% are staying in the Union.
What is going on here?
I see four possibilities:
1-Virtually nobody is trying to leave the Unions. Maybe there is real solidarity.
2-Unity has a strategy to say virtually nobody is opting out and hopes that it will become a kind of self fulfilling prophecy.
3-Unity is in serious denial. We heard a report that said that DOE HR phone lines were overloaded in the days after Janus with people trying to leave their unions. There have already been way more than Pallotta's nine that have said they are dropping out of the UFT in the comments section here. Are they all Koch brothers plants?
4-Unity has something up their sleeve to make it very difficult for people to quit the Union.
I have no idea what the answer is. I am just reporting what I am seeing and hearing.
Personally, I want everyone to stay in the UFT. Please keep paying dues or organize a better, stronger union. I don't see anyone organizing an alternative right now. Therefore, the Unity led UFT is a much lesser evil than having no union or an even weaker one with thousands of defectors. A union with fewer members will have absolutely no leverage in negotiating with the city.
53 comments:
Count me as the 1st Brooklyn teacher to drop out. More uft propoganda as we suffer. Need i say more? I will now pay my mortgage and buy a new car with the retro i never got. Maybe the bank will wait 3 more years interest free as a favor.
Maybe Mike Sill will help me, after 20 years of begging and pleading, get a job i actually want, instead of being jerked around and ignored on the open market.
Is the uft safety team coming in to stop the ignored discipline code violations? How about cell phone use and abuse? Ok. Count me out of the union.
Uft claims victory again. And? Why even listen? We know how bad the situation really is. Half of my school staff quit the job in June.
Four more Koch brothers stooges.
Come on. All that stuff is true.
833, are you a unity hack? Tell me what they have done. Why so many problems?
All I can say is go Manchester United! If you don’t like the UFT fuck off and go to Oklahoma!
I dropped out...
Another Koch brothers fool. $100,000 with no healthcare premium and a pension. Yeah, your union does nothing. Try Eva's school.
Nah, ill just quit soon.
Option 2,3 and 4 simultaneously. It's the good ole summertime, nobody's doing a thing. I'll wait and see if the UFT does something positive for ATRs.
keep waiting
If there was a monumental disaster, a block away from 52, the UFT wouldn't know it for six months. Then they would put it in their paper and say how their intervention saved the day. Victory! Victory! Victory! I miss the good years when Bloomberg was cutting our hearts out with a rusty tin shank - the schools and the job were much better.
I used to get five - seven grand a year in per session before I became an ATR when my school closed. No school will hire me because of my salary being a economic disincentive via Fair Student Funding. The UFT hasn’t addressed any of this. I’ll opt out before I get the retro, even though I’m sure they’ll take their retroactive cut.
This blog is the only place where people are opting out. It looks like 5 people. I don't believe them until they take a photo of their pay stub showing no dues taken out.
Most have too little knowledge to even know options...
Wy wouldnt you opt out? DOnt need their PD. Dont need their discounts. Dont need their lawyer.
10:09 PM, 100k after 20 years, with our level off education, in NYC, with worsening medical benefits, and reduced TDA by 1.25%...That isnt great.
What about their counseling? Dont we need that?
Listen guys, the city is broke and I had to give something back to our friend Bill. Things are much better, we have only eight ATRs and only eight have dropped out of the UFT. I can’t understand why.
Fraternally Your’s,
Your Best Friend,
Mike Mulgrew
You mean when you file a grievance nothing happens? What about the faulty pension consults with experts who know nothing? You dont like 10% over 8 years? Retro is coming, isnt it?
Open market closes in a week, still waiting for an interview from 40 applications.
In this day and age, who in public sector is making $100,000 with no health premium, 7% guaranteed on TDA and almost three months off per year? Those who work in good schools with decent administrators are content for the most part. Those who work in dumps and ATRs have a totally different life.
Union gets those benefits. Without it, we are charter school teachers who will all quit as soon as they can.
How is it 10% over 8 years now? You are adding even more time to contract.
You are totally right. Open market sucks. You think it gets better without a union or with an even weaker one?
Ok, you win, 10% over 7 and a half years, they extended the length twice. Approx 1.3% per year, minus taxes, minus the raise in union dues every year, that is a pathetic deal.
No health premium? You are ignoring the fact that health benefits have been made worse. When copayments go up, that's like a premium, just in a different way. While 7% TDA is good, WE got a worse deal when it went down. That is a worsening of benefits.
Ok, you are right about healthcare and TAD getting worse but what would we have without a union or with one where 20% drop out? Givebacks will be worse.
Sounds like a unity excuse. It sucks but it could be worse. It got worse, but only a little worse instead of a lot worse. How about maintaining or improving? Sorry, too long, too many times getting screwed. I could write a long essay about all the issues. Im filing the papers tomorrow.
How will it get better if people leave? it won't.
And the counter is...With everybody paying, it has gotten worse and worse.
Where has it gotten better when people drop out?
Again, it doesnt get better with us not dropping out.
Let me ask you then this particular question? When in the past, there is plenty of evidence from states that have gone right to work, has there been a drop in union membership that has led to better working conditions for workers? It hasn't happened. You are ignoring ample evidence.
NY may be a little different, as we have argued, because the unions are in bed with the government in so many ways. That said, what is de Blasio going to do at the bargaining table this fall if 20 or 30% of the teachers are no longer in the UFT? Give us a better contract? I don't think so. Would you do that if you were the mayor?
We are in a bind as the choices right now are Mulgrew/Unity and their brand of unionism or an even weaker UFT. I'd like a third choice but don't see people stepping up to organize a better UFT or even a new union.
I am enjoying this debate with comments staying on topic and presenting well thought out points.
I agree the union may be made weaker, but as a glass half full person, i again ask, what has happened with the union at full strength. You said "That said, what is de Blasio going to do at the bargaining table this fall if 20 or 30% of the teachers are no longer in the UFT? Give us a better contract? I don't think so. Would you do that if you were the mayor?" I again counter, we got trashed with the union at full strength. You are again arguing it could be worse. I am arguing the uft has lost my faith, i dont trust them, and i will no longer continue to support them, as it is clear the money has gone down the toilet, we got awful contracts, we support AL Sharpton, we have no student discipline, 4-6 observations, principals doing whatever they want, open market is a sham, teachers with outstanding records are being force placed against their will, teachers cant get jobs in their home borough...
I agree right now it is between the lesser of the evils however the only thing that will change it is if more people step out of the shadows and become active trying to change things. Anonymous comments here aren't enough.
How the fuck, in the 2014 deal did we get 10% over 7+ years AND 2 years of 0 AND the majority of the 10% pushed all the way back to the last two years AND retro held for 11 years AND no interest on the retro? That's all that needs to be said. Of course, as others said, I could make a much longer list. When is enough, enough? If the next deal is 3 years at 0 plus 0 plus 0...Would that be enough to drop out? And now they added 3 more months of 0, copayments have gone up, schools are more out of control than ever, and we still have up to 6 observations with danielson.
I have been emailing the uft for over a decade for a transfer into Staten Island. All good ratings for me. 17 years of waiting with no help? With hundreds of vacancies? That's just unacceptable.
Why is my lunch period 45 minutes when the instructional periods are 60 minutes? Yes, DR was told. Obviously, CL knew. Pay for that?
Administrators get 8.25% fixed TDA Teachers 7% Thanks Weingarten
Largest class sizes in metro area Thanks Mulgrew
Retro Pay waiting till october 2020 Thanks Mulgrew
If you die before Oct 2020, you forego the retro THANKS MULGREW
July 2018-Contact DOE HR and stop union dues THANK ME !!!
We used to have to go back a couple of days before Labor Day. We agreed to it (2005 contract) but so many were upset that UFT agreed to give up 1.25%. If enough people bitched about Danielson and the ATR pool they would be gone too. Probably have to give up an arm and a leg though.
Everyone in my school (app. 60 teachers) called the UFT to complain about those PD days before Labor Day and gave their names.
Then you are stupid, another terrible trade.
The point should be that if you speak up things happen. Not always for the best though. I didn’t call to give up the days or for the 2005 contract or the last one. I have called and signed petitions to end Danielson and the ATR pool. Not too many have done even that.
We gave up something huge to get those days back, not because you called. Dont credit the uft.
We accepted to work extra days in the 2005 deal, then to get those meaningless days back, we agreed to cost ourselves, for some of us, hundreds of thousands of dollars, or at least tens of thousands of dollars. And you are proud of that trade? I think some of you are too dumb to understand what 1.25% compounding over many years is worth.
Upset over 1.25 interest? Try being an ATR for seven years - then you’d have something to bitch about.
I have been. How about half my career. Actually the 1.25 is much more important, depending of course upon how much you invest. I max it out, so as stated above, hundreds of thousands of dollars over 30 years.
By the way, try not being an atr, 4-6 observations, principal and ap always walking around and into classroom, lesson plans, unit plans, critical about grades, stupid PD...I preferred being in the pool.
I taught for 23 years and have been an ATR for seven. I’ll take teaching any day of the week over out of control assholes that are twenty years old in high school.
This shows how out of touch the Unity establishment is, that they think all who are dissatisfied are Koch bros. plants. They do realize that even half the GOP doesn't like the Kochs?
Think about why you took this job and not another job. At least part of it had to be about being in a Union, "contract" job, even if the contract sucks and in many schools is a paper tiger.
I used to work in parochial school. I actually left the DOE to go there, back in the "Workshop Model" era. It was Nirvana when it came to work rules, but the pay, not so much of course. And when we unionized, the pay and benefits increased substantially. Notably, it was optional to join, so the Union really had to work to convince people to join.
Withholding dues, which I've certainly considered, could be a wake-up call to the Union bigwigs at 52 Broadway. The problem is, we can't take our money somewhere else. I'd love to give my money to James, or to Pat Lynch or Ed Mullins, but we can't. Pulling dues only works if we can put our money to better use with someone else, and the deck is stacked against us being able to do that.
Except for giving the money to me, I think you have very valid points TJL.
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