I listened to Mayor Bill de Blasio's press briefing from this morning. The parts that might interest most of you:
Jillian Jorgensen from NY 1 asked specifically about the UFT Executive Board and Delegate Assembly meetings today and tomorrow on strike authorization. The Mayor responded by saying that he spoke to the UFT over the weekend and a strike vote is not planned. He said he talked to Michael Mulgrew and it is clear to him that it is not on the agenda for this meeting.
A UFT insider told me the Mayor's remarks may not necessarily be accurate.
On layoffs of city workers, The Municipal Labor Committee (an umbrella group of all of the city's public sector labor unions including the UFT) and the Mayor are agreeing to go to Albany to try to get long term borrowing authority for the city. Layoffs of city employees are now on pause according to de Blasio. The Mayor said nice words about Michael Mulgrew in his remarks.
More from Jillian on twitter:
40 comments:
He sold us out
I thought this was such a bizarre comment by the Mayor. So far all I hear from the UFT is silence. I am wondering have they sold the teachers out again? Probably will say they gave in so as to not lay off any teachers. What is the point of a job if you are dead. I don't have much faith in the UFT or our leader Mikey.....
LOL. So much for militancy...
Ok, I'm in a faculty conference online now. Principal says he knows nothing.
James What do you think? I feel Mulgrew sold us with the Twitter response from Jill.
Governor Cuomo is in a unique position to do something about this
"School districs would be well advised to look at what's happening at colleges," @NYGovCuomo says. "Don't be shocked when we get to Sept." and "schools wind up going to remote."
12:48
Cuomo is the Wild Card in this...He's worked very hard to get NY's infection rates down since the peak. I don't think he will allow DiBlasio to screw it up. It wouldn't surprise me if Cuomo orders the schools to go remote once the infection rate starts to climb in the city. Especially since it would allow him to "show-up" Diblasio as well as control the rate of infection in the NYC area.
Now the mayor is saying he won't let indoor dining resume until June 1st, 2021 or until there is a vaccine, yet it's all right to eat in small classrooms. Doesn't anybody see this as illogical or am I the only one? Why isn't anyone addressing him on this?
Cuomo: "My advice on K-12 is err on the side of caution. If you do in-person education and you're not prepared or you can't implement the plan and do it on day one, you will see numbers go up, you will see more disruption. If you're not ready, better to start when you are ready."
Steve Swieciki
@NYCMayorsOffice
and
@NYCSchools
For the last week I’ve been doing school building inspections for UFT. I’ve conducted 14 so far, with another 11 scheduled. Not a single school I’ve seen is actually ready. Some schools still haven’t even received PPE, cleaning supplies, or MERV 13 filters.
WOW!!!
Mulgrew speaking to business leaders now, who have been privately pleading with him not to obstruct reopening. He doesn't really sound like a union leader about to authorize the first teachers strike in a half-century. Says the union is trying to get schools open.
2:43 PM Why wouldn't the union be working to get schools open - safely? Shouldn't that be the ultimate goal? We can work remotely until things are hashed out, but I'm getting the impression that there are many people that don't want to go back until there is government-enforced vaccination of covid.
Mulgrew is confused because he is not loyal to the rank and file.
He deludes himself into thinking that he is a politician.
He is corrupt and weak.
At this point Mulgrew would be foolish to not authorize a strike vote. He has made it clear that schools are not ready or safe to reopen.Custodians, principals, teachers, parents and students have said schools are not ready.
If he says we are ready now no one will believe hime and he will be voted out next election.
There never was going to be a strike. There will never be a strike. Mulgrew, Cuomo and whoever the NYC mayor was, is and will be, own us and most teachers know it and accept it. Cuomo runs the show. Period.
He sold us out so he can say he is avoiding layoffs. And there will still be layoffs. Just a month later, when we are already remote again, since the infection rate will have skyrocketed. And that will allow less teachers, since 68 is the max on remote.
Mulgrew:
“We will know within the next few hours if we are going to have a major war.”
1:31 The city indoor dining ban should've been rescinded months ago. Instead people go to Westchester and Nassau. Hopefully the New York Hospitality Alliance wins its lawsuit against DeBlasio.
You're right though that like most things DiBlasio says and does, he makes no sense.
Regardless, he's costing the City a ton of tax revenue, which is going to cause more of us to get laid off.
This puppet mulgrew will not authorize a strike. he is working with the mayor on this. It makes mulgrew look good in front of the members because he looks tough and it looks good for the mayor because union is working with doe. All this stuff is political bullshit. We need to get rid of mulgrew and get leadership that represents all of us.
from Michael Sill-I asked about the voting process for a strike in which he replied the following:
There isn’t going to be a rank-and-file vote. Votes will be taken, if necessary, by the Executive Board and the Delegate Assembly. Meetings are being held at the school level, usually with not only the Chapter Leader, but the UFT District Representative and a UFT Officer or other representative of UFT leadership. This is an opportunity to share thoughts with UFT elected representatives.
I don’t know how any of you felt at your meetings, but neither the CL or DR had any interest in anyone’s opinion or concerns, but were pushing their own agendas and could not answer all questions or beat around the bush to avoid concerns of financial hardship, healthcare, voting, etc. I understand unity, but not when the union we pay dues for do not allow all members to have a say.
Both Jorgensen and Shapiro said Mulgrew today sounded like a union leader who didn't want to go to war.
The dithering over the strike vote seems to confirm that. Is it on? Is it not?
We'll see if that take the vote tonight at the Ex Board meeting, but the games-playing with the vote itself says to me, UFT leaders are looking to cave and only need a face-saver to get them there.
As always, hope I am wrong. But not impressed with today's gamesmanship so far (as of 5:00 PM EST.)
“We’ll know shortly over the next couple of days if we’re going to have a major war, even a bigger war, with the city of New York,’’ says @uft president Mulgrew, who has threatened teacher strike if school safety demands aren’t met
You should all be happy, you now have a wartime president.
Maybe it is related to the city council hearing
HEALTH AND SCIENCE
Coronavirus cases are on the rise again across more than half of the U.S.
New cases are up by at least 5%, based on a seven-day average, in 26 states as of Sunday, compared with just 12 states a week ago.
Many of the recently growing outbreaks across the country are occurring in Midwestern states, including Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and the Dakotas.
New cases nationwide have been steadily falling for more than a month, but they now appear to be flattening out at over 40,000 new cases per day.
Remember,
Shapiro is a de Blasio apologist/puppet.
Her ‘sources’ are de Blasio himself, so her articles mean nothing.
Since Shapiro reads these blogs, I’m sure she will see this.
Ms. Eliza, what will you do when de Blasio is doing nothing in two years.
Purely anecdotally, I know a number of people who have gotten coronavirus mostly in New York City in March. Many of the people have lasting symptoms like fogginess and lung problems. The more I learn about the virus the more I would like to not get it.
I would also really really really like my kids NOT to get this virus. Even though many kids are fine, I would like to not roll the dice with my own or yours.
This does not bother the mayor.
It's gonna be chaos when kids and staff start getting seasonal flu symptoms...identical to Covid symptoms. And just as deadly for kids.
Commonsense says to go all remote now and return in April (hopefully all kids will have had both vaccines by then).
WOW. Mulgrew punted. No vote tonight. Waiting for city to meet demands.
The @UFT leadership wants you to believe they're "negotiating" with de Blasio for some "safety plan" that they'll claim they "won" tomorrow at the DA.
You can be sure they will have gotten nothing tomorrow that de Blasio hasn't already given today.
The UFT is WEAK.
No wonder de Blasio has been so smug in this battle.
He knows @UFT leaders are easy to roll.
Anonymous 6:41 Agree 100 percent Fully remote until return in April. I agree because of the flu and covid being a great threat.Only after vaccines are available.Even Scientists agree during cold months will be a huge increase of covid.
Well, no strike vote. Doesnt sound militant to me...
Q--Can you walk through this--some of us have little activism experience, What would strike look like?
Main work would be strike plan for each school. We go, leave and come back together. We stand together. We hope cooler heads will prevail and we get to an agreement. But once you authorize you have to be ready to walk.
Q--If you come to agreement, do you have any timeline for in person instruction?
All work has to get done. I don't know how we do that in short time. We need to get processes at school level and it will take time. Safety is more than words on a page.
My school has no PPE. What exactly is testing protocol we want?
Everyone being tested makes people comfortable but they are concerned with medical monitoring, We just saw that at work in Oneonta. Every school has to have a representative sample mandated on monthly basis. Also some zip codes have uptick. We had some issues and city did right thing by putting a lot of people in quarantine. Doctors say that's how we do everything. We have to have a very quick mechanism.
Q--Janitorial staff concerned--You get sense that they feel unready to open. They can't figure things out. In one school ventilation was broken for years, and they were adamant students not come in. It's a disservice mayor doesn't listen to us in terms of testing. Country looks to us for leadership.
If we come to an agreement, there's no way that school opens. You know procedures, and many custodians and school leaders do not. This is a great source of frustration. Thank you for doing the work. There will be a lot more. If we have an agreement, schools like that won't open yet. People in DOE thinks progress is being made, but they haven't done anything for two months.
Q--Also doing walkthroughs in D75--Ionizers come with wrong chemical, waiting on new tablets. Thermometers without batteries, no signage. One principal said we need you guys not to let us open. We can't open until everyone is safe, We lost a member at my site, and a member lost a husband. We can't have anyone else dying.
I agree. That's why we needh a strike vote if we can't get there. Members are afraid, and rest of country is looking at us. But they haven't been through what we have. Walkthroughs show what happens when DOE waits until last minute. If we have to go to court, we will use that. If not, we will give them time to fix it.
Q--D75 neglected, no bus contract, busing is crucial, will result in IEP violations. If they want us in first, why do they help us last. I support UFT actions.
Resolution--paraphrased
EB gives leadership authority to negotiate--if no agreement, we will have strike authorization vote 9/1 at DA.
Resolution passes unanimously.
Mulgrew--We won't agree without approval of doctors. We are prepared to do a lot of work either way to keep our union safe. We will also be looking at layoffs. Right now they want to lay off 9,000 members without any additional state cuts. Without help, that number could go higher, If we have an agreement we will have a quick EB meeting before DA.
Everyone will wear a mask in a school. If you have a meeting, it will be multiple times so as to enable distancing. If a principal doesn't understand, call us immediately.
Mulgrew returns to negotiations 6:46
Inside city hall reported...UFT EB did not vote to authorize strike. Mulgrew knows that striking when infection rate is under 1% is stupid. Take all the labor actions you want... Go to court, Sick out; coronavirus symptoms... take a day or 14 days. The infection rate is going to go up. City said 3% infection rate and schools will close. Today, Cuomo said he thinks this is inevitable. Mask up. Get a Flu shot. Get a pneumonia shot. Schools are going to open and then they will close, AGAIN.
these comments are so bizarre. when it looked like Mulgrew wanted to strike, 75% of them were anti-strike. Now that it looks like he doesn't want to strike, they're all 'he sold us out' and pro-strike comments. That's how you know this is hardly some kind of organic commentariat. it helps that so many of you commenters just steal posts from the NYC DOE Teacher's Group.
Sold you out. Played you. Quiet the ramblings. Etc. Look out for yourself.
7:43, It’s just that we all hate Mulgrew. Whatever he for we’re against because we know he’s only for himself.
7:43 PM No, both sides have been commenting on here. I'm anti-strike, pro-union, anti-Mulgrew/Unity. Mulgrew should not have said we were going to strike without hearing all voices. How will it look if you have teachers on picket lines becoming physically or verbally violent with "scabs," (or I could call them teachers that don't agree that striking on a picket line is the best good idea)? That could become a social media nightmare.
People read social media comments in one place and voice them on another. Or people comment in more than one place. Both forums have to do with schools, teachers, and unions. What's so shocking about that?
To many lives lost. Its not safe to go back just admit it Mr. Mayor.
That group is TOXIC. I left it awhile ago.
Cuomo, it is not interesting like in the beginning of the pandemic.
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