Can anybody figure out what is really going on in the school system this fall? The media is reporting that an Early Retirement Incentive is being discussed by the unions and the city (it would have to be approved by the State Legislature and signed by the governor) to save the city money. Meanwhile, at the same time there are reports of thousands of new teachers needing to be hired to alleviate shortages. If thousands take a retirement incentive, the shortage just grows.
From yesterday's NY Daily News:
New York City employees facing potential layoffs should get early retirement incentives as part of the city’s efforts to identify savings amid a worsening fiscal crisis, Mayor de Blasio said Monday.
“It’s not the whole solution, but early retirement will definitely be a piece of the solution,” the mayor said at his Monday press briefing. “Early retirement as a policy is something we have to put into play."
An early retirement incentive when there is a huge shortage seems contradictory. This is from Politico from yesterday:
The city agreed to bring on 4,500 new teachers to alleviate a shortage sparked by a policy requiring separate teachers for in-person and online sessions. But the principals and teachers unions say that will only be enough to staff elementary schools, not middle schools and high schools.
"We still do not have the number for middle school and high school," United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew said Monday at a press conference at the Mickey Mantle School in Manhattan.
I know there are grand conspiracy theorists in our audience who think there is a giant master plan at work here but as an Oswald was the lone assassin of JFK theorist, I am just trying to make some sense out of this. In addition, has there ever been a retirement incentive offered after school starts? That just further adds to the chaos.
Maybe, all of you are right that the DOE just wants to get rid of anyone paid a decent salary. Could the DOE be planning to do what they always wanted to do in some schools by letting the School Aides teach as the next group up?Aides are way underpaid and they do just about everything else in the schools when asked. Don't bet against the Parent Coordiatiors being deputized to teach soon too.
I wish we had a real union to stop the madness and teachers who were ready to organize that union rather than just complaining or opting out of dues.
For those who want to worry some more, this is from the same NY Daily News piece:
De Blasio has been in talks with city labor leaders for weeks to identify savings from the city’s workforce — whether it be through early retirement incentives, or having city workers pay for a portion of their health care premiums.
45 comments:
I really don't see the inconsistency but then, again, I suggested that Safety Agents and Custodians cover classes, as well.
Seriously if you can hire two new teachers or 1 1/2 F status retirees for every one grabbing the incentive, the math makes sense from a bean counter viewpoint. There isn't much learning going on, any way...they should reconsider my suggestion.
In my opinion, everything is a smoke screen.
How do we go from layoffs to the hiring of new people in a week? So, you are telling me thousands of people will be fingerprinted and vetted in a week’s notice? Please. That would cost a ton of money.
The state isn’t giving out more money to the city.
We are all in schools for one reason and one reason only and that is to work out the kinks of remote learning. We are to have trial runs etc
Half of city kids have opted remote.
It will cost a billion extra to do this plan.
The city claims to be in a 9 billion dollar deficit.
Where is this money coming from to pay extra people and offer incentives?
Then again, you cannot apply logic to the doe.
The happiest guy in the room is mulgrew. He gets more dues to his union.
Wonder if the NYPD and FDNY will also be given incentives...sanitation....
Watch Mulgrew offer up huge givebacks and concessions on healthcare.
He is a coward and he always folds like a cheap suit.
James says "I wish we had a real union to stop the madness"
Then says not to opt out.
Incentive during the school year? Huh?
Incentive will be for this July to August window only... Watch
I'm not so sure it makes any sense to try and look at any writing on the wall at this point. The ERI is an MLC initiative. The MLC has been active behind the scenes in helping the city find $1 billion in savings (according to de Blasio) and everyone from the mayor to the governor to the state legislative houses (who are just not putting any new active ERI bills on their agendas) are being super tight lipped about it. I'm pretty sure we'll all know at the very last possible moment.
As context .. Layoffs have not been announced so the earliest they could happen at this point is October 22 (because the city must give 30 days notice to departments and the city hasn't). Because of this, I'm pretty confident we're looking at a cash loan/ERI scenario with furloughs but no layoffs. I think those are pretty much off the table at this point for all city employees. So, since the school year has already begun, I'm pretty sure that any ERI would not include teachers at all.
Any ERIs for teachers in the city would be jumped on by almost any person who qualifies (because everyone, from the press to the city to parents and even our union puts way too much pressure on teachers to get them to stay on the job for a full 30). So an offer to too many may destabilize the whole system. So I would not look for a great deal that includes city teachers this year.
Ironically, if the city (or even the state) is going to get a cash loan from a pension fund, it would probably be ours. The healthiest pension fund in the state (maybe the nation) is NYC's Teachers' Retirement System. I'm still waiting for Harry to get some free time to look over the documents I sent him but I'm fairly certain that NYCTRS has 99.1 BILLION (BILLION!!) dollars that it isn't using on retirees right now. That is an enormous amount of money. So (and here's the irony).. knowing our union and their track record with rank and file members ... I wouldn't at all be surprised if NYC teachers were offered nothing (or not much) with an ERI ... while our own pensions get used to helped bail everyone else out. I hope I'm wrong but the history is pretty clear: This is what it means to be along for the ride with the UFT.
But hey don't worry, James. We're all in this together, right? 👌
PS .. Is it possible to organize an ICE meeting? tia
CUT THE FAT AT CENTRAL AND TWEED FIRST. THAT WOULD SAVE THE CITY ONE BILLION DOLLARS.
I bet they offer an early retirement incentive that not one teacher takes because it will be cheap like Mulgrews' suits. The DOE offered ATR buyouts recently that were only taken by ATRs that were planning to retire without an incentive. That sure told us what to expect from DeBlasio's braintrust.
Now he sayd this? As we are getting sick?Pay dues?
Mulgrew: Now our task is to hold the city to its promises so we can keep each other safe while giving our students the support they need and the best possible education during this difficult time.
John G, there are 2 duplicate ERI bills (one Assembly,one senate) that were drafted in the middle of the Summer and are in committee waiting for go ahead from Cuomo to get out of the gate. They specifically do include teachers. They also call for a very short period...like 30 days from signage... for people to opt in.
I think all they are doing now is being secretive to try to force as many people as possible to retire without any incentive. Already happening in my school. A few who were planning on retiring end of this year anyway freaked about covid and put in in the last couple of months. That's what they are doing: squeezing as many out without incentive as they can.
They could easily push a bill through and get it signed with the 30 day window expiration by the end of the year. It would make the opening after the holidays a little chaotic but it will never be more chaotic than it is already.
There will still be a big penalty for retiring before age 62( unless you have 25 years) so I'm not sure as many as you think will take it. !/2 the teachers in my school were blabbering about checking out until they heard about the penalties!
You can google the bills to see all their details: Assembly Bill A10595, Senate Bill
S08599
Good point. I wonder the same.
Speaking of retirement. Anyone know for sure if it's possible to convert CAR days into service credit and if so what the rules are for NYC teachers specifically ? I have almost 200 CAR days.
@6:12 ...the incentive will be 1 week of service credit for each year of service . For a lot of people it won’t make that big a difference . For many it will make a big difference. It will be greatly dependent on age and where people are re being on the cusp of a major retirement bump up.
UFT leadership does NOT give a shit how many members sicken or die.
That is the honest truth.
UFT
@UFT
“Once you saw your friends, even with the masks on, people started to feel a little better, started to joke and feel less stressed. It felt like, ‘These are my people and I’m OK and somehow or another, we’ll get through this.’”
I'm not sure the incentive will save a lot. The economy is very unstable and retirement means you're only getting a percentage of your salary. Also, most teachers at my school are under 40. Many teachers either don't have the time or the years, so I don't know if many are going to bite.
Disgusting propaganda excusing their abject failure to support their members. We need to vote out Unity after this betrayal.
UFT
“Once you saw your friends, even with the masks on, people started to feel a little better, started to joke and feel less stressed. It felt like, ‘These are my people and I’m OK and somehow or another, we’ll get through this.’”
The city is now officially designating the southern Brooklyn spikes a coronavirus “cluster.”
Mulgrew-No comment
Teachers-Get deathly ill
This has been on the table and in negotiations for a while. I heard about it back in August and Mulgrew is sucking up to de Blasio like a newborn baby on a mother's nipple. Mulgrew and the UFT only want to keep the most members so they can collect your dues! A teacher making top salary pays half the dues two teachers with 8 years would pay. They will sacrifice everything we have earned through the last five decades for more dues. I wrote the letter below to them on September 7th. The deal was done, the agreement between the UFT and CSA was being ironed out and the legislature and de Blasio agreed on borrowing power. Cuomo is the lynch pin that would not set. Cuomo know that in 2022 the budget could be just as bad for NYC and NYS and he wants to be reelected to a 4th term, so having the layoffs and "cut[ing] the fat" now would be better for him. I heard the deal was dead...the CSA was standing firm on not giving up their 8.25% TDA, even after the UFT agreed to massive givebacks, the other unions were also on the table for at least meaningful additional medical contributions. Yes there are going to be layoffs with out this "grand deal" but with it we will lose decades of progress.
David Irons
Mon, Sep 7, 12:00 PM
to mmulgrew, LeRoy, Amy, Adam, bcc: sedelman
I certainly hope that the UFT understands that supporting the grand deal coming will lead to the strong possibility that the contract is opened and UFT remembers forced into huge givebacks!
I hear there is a deal in the making if not done that allows NYC to borrow, a retirement incentive and some form of “savings” or “support” from the unions. While this might seem like a great deal and a positive for NYC and municipal workers, it is a very short sighted one.
Do not sacrifice union members or our rights! The budget is bloated and needs some cutting. Yes, the city is in trouble , but it will be in danger next year too and the year after and the year after that! Then what? The only thing that changed is you allowed the NYS Financial Control Board to come in and decimate our contracts!
The NYC economy is not coming back very soon and if you agree to a deal that sacrifices tomorrow for today you will face consequences for it. The UFT needs the respect and dare I say admiration of its members. If members See the UFT sell them out then they will be just as short sided as the union and simply fill out a form online in 15 seconds which ends their dues obligation.
Allow the layoffs to come and NYC to sacrifice in that form. While it is terrible for members to get laid off, the fact is many other people have been sacrificing and fighting for decades to secure the rights and benefits we have today; simply giving up everything we have worked for and invested in to save people who have worked in the system for a year is criminal. Do not sacrifice any rights or privileges or you will lose far more in dues than you already have! There is no point in paying UFT dues if you are simply going to make unilateral decisions and give up members who have paid for decades to save people who have paid for months!
There are horrible months and years ahead for NYC and NYS. The best position we can take as a union is stand firm and fight to keep everything we have negotiated!
David Irons
Sent from my iPhone
https://www.albany.edu/slgf/SLGF_TRS_report.pdf
Shelley
Yes David some great logic there about saving what we worked years for instead of saving people who have only worked in the doe for a year or so. There are always sacrificial lambs but it's better you sacrifice a few than all.
Randi says...Districts are still prioritizing washing desks and elevator buttons, but ignoring the issues like out of date ventilation systems or windowless classrooms.
Mulgrew says we are doing great.
D
If you haven't figured out by now that DeBlasio doesn't know what he's doing then you unfortunately are a bigger moron than he
I'd like to have an ICE meeting too, John. Let's set up something on Zoom or Meet.
Incentive wouldn't be offered till next summer. It won't help most of us. Too young...
Stop complaining. They said it's safe. So what's the problem?
Why would they not do the right thing? We are professionals. Why would they not treat us with respect? We are human beings. Who would put another person's life in jeopardy? I will tell you who. Everyone who thinks $$$ is more valuable than life. 19 years ago they promised that it was safe to return to the schools located near ground zero. They announced that the air was safe. The city needed us as part of its revitalization--like a cog.Damn our health. Damn our lungs. Damn our families. Damn the residents and students living in the zone. Damn the police and firefighters who kept us safe. So I ask, why don't you trust these people in power?
We are so lucky that the stock market is not the economy and that the markets have not only recovered from the bear market pandemic but are at new highs because there are only two ways to get the return our pension and our TDA pays: the stock market and the city budget. Obviously taxes are down and will be for a decade or more. The markets are inflated by Fed policy and will, by most estimates under perform in the next decade, returning to trend after outperforming in the recent great bull market. So the budget, sick as it is, must fund an unhealthy, underfunded pension and TDA. Saying ours is healthy next to others in the nation ignores the fact that ours is grossly underfunded and is unique in how it is funded.
THE NEW YORK CITY TEACHERS’ RETIREMENT SYSTEM FISCAL ISSUES AND RISKS
The State and Local Government Finance Project
Center for Policy Research,
Rockefeller College,
University at Albany
Like most other public pension plans, TRS is underfunded: in 2018 its assets could cover only about 74.5 percent of benefits accrued to date, a shortfall of $18.7 billion under the TRS assumption that assets will earn 7 percent annually in the future. Employer contributions increased from 4.3 percent of payroll in 2000 to 27.4 percent in 2008 and 44.1 percent in 2017, primarily driven by investment shortfalls, benefit increases, and changes in actuarial assumptions. The increase from 2008 to 2017 is equivalent to an approximately $1.5 billion increase in annual city contributions, or 2.5 percent
of city tax revenue. TRS has two important characteristics that set it apart from most other public pension plans in the nation. First, like other New York City pension plans, its contribution policy is more conservative than the typical public plan in the sense that city contributions rise relatively rapidly in response to investment shortfalls. This protects the solvency of the pension plan. The trade-off is greater risk to the city budget of sharp contribution increases in short time periods, relative to other commonly used
contribution policies.
Second, unlike any other public pension plan we are aware of, in addition to the regular retirement benefit TRS members may contribute to a Tax-Deferred Annuity (TDA) program that offers guaranteed fixed returns backed by the defined benefit pension fund and thus by city taxpayers. The TDA is an optional investment plan available to TRS members, maintained under section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Employees may make contributions subject to an annual IRS contribution limit
that in 2019 generally was $19,000. The guaranteed rate for most members is 7 percent, set by the state legislature. It is well above guaranteed fixed returns that may be purchased in the private market, which are currently around 2 to 2.5 percent or less. The TDA assets are pooled in TRS’s pension fund. If the TDA assets earn more than the guarantee,
the additional earnings are kept by the pension fund, keeping city contributions lower than they otherwise might be. If it earns less than the guarantee the pension fund must make up the difference to the TDA, increasing costs to the city and its taxpayers.
Every time teachers have failed to stand up to NYC, Albany and the their own corrupt self serving union leadership, including corrupt chapter leaders they have sent the message that they will take whatever abuses come next. Your jobs are being replaced by paras. The city and state are salivating at the thought of a virtual teacher for thousands of students while paras paid significantly less facilitate in the classroom. Shelly is right. We are already defeated. The majority of teachers just don't know it yet. Your apathy and cowardice have consequences. As Waiting 4 Support has said, the chickens have come come to roost. Those of you still fighting are to be admired for your dedication but as you fight, you are still being undercut by members who continue to be apathetic and cowardly.
If they are going to do a retirement incentive, it has to be enticing.
Not a one time 50k payment or one week for every year you work. That’s not enticing
If you really want to make an incentive enticing, allow early pensions. For example, for a small amount of time, you can opt into a plan that is age 48 with 22 or more years.
This would pique the interests of many. One can be still young to collect a pension and get out of NY and not worry about medical benefits.
All a one time payment does is entice very few people who are of retirement age to leave and even that is 50-50.
I do not see Albany offering anything or signing off on anything enticing.
In my mind, an incentive would be a great long term savings. People can retire and their pensions are longer, but not as high as they would normally be and the new people you hire will quit in 3-5 years and never be vested.
To me, that makes sense, but this is the doe we are talking about.
@6:53 am
Well said. For a few years I've spoken about the need to speak up and act out by not doing the dirty work for the mayor(inflated grad rate). Unfortunately many chose to play along because the outcome was the outcome-- a fake bill of sale handed to many inner city students/ families. The same students/families who are probably essential workers and living doubled up. When you get in bed with a who$@ you will get fu@&. So now the shoe is on OUR foot and the president of the US, mayor and union president have given us their arce. It's a cold cold world. Stay safe and don't drink the koolaid.
Given the Covid predictions nationally and internationally, I estimate everyone will be on remote permanently sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is crumbling day by day. Cuomo is rubbing his hands with delight. The MLC is a perfect device for him to "reimagine" education in NYS and ultimately destroy everything we have worked towards for decades. Canizzaro and Mulgrew think they are running the show. Together they are setting up RC and DeB for an early exit. What they forget is Cuomo will dispose of them, and us, immediately after. Cuomo has never attended a public institution, he has no interest in or respect for public education, except as a place to park his political hacks. He will turn and place the blame on every struggling classroom teacher who is still alive at the end of this pandemic.
Let us watch the Covid rates two weeks after each level of school opening. It will not be pretty...
I think in the future they will have classroom teachers and remote teachers. Remote teachers won't need as much education and they can be paid a lot less. People will take this option so they won't have to deal with classroom management issues, classroom observations and commuting among other things.
@10:49 am
Do you know of any politician who attended public school? At the end of the day, people need to look out for others. Covid is so symbolic of the nation/world over the last few years: relentless attacks. Widespread death. Intolerance of life. Vile. Depressing. Don't drink that vapid putrid toxic juice. If someone shows you who they are, believe them.
if they did
age 50 before the start of the 21-22 school year
with 25+ years of service parameters
1 month for every year worked
i'm gone!!!!
How about they offer us half pay at twenty years if your 50 and older.I would guess it would be cheaper to do this then pay our full salary.
For what it's worth, I am a new teacher who has had early Childhood and common branch certifications for a year. I have good connections with schools. After it was announced that they were reversing the hiring freeze for this school year, I readied myself to apply for any opening I could find. There were almost none - and I have been very actively looking. So, when they say 4500 positions, I am genuinely baffled. As far as I can see, they do not exist.
7:45: I think they want to hire new people only as a last resort. They want to use doe employees not in classrooms, subs and retirees first. If you got something, you may very well be excessed when the school doesn't need you anymore. I'm in the ATR and I still can't get anything permanent despite the desperation for teachers.
Any new info about this ?
One union posted on their news line today that the City and State reached a tentative agreement on a retirement incentive last week. However, the State legislature will not take up the matter until after the election. This seems like a positive development but no other unions are reporting this news.
We will post it too if it is public and you can get us where this information comes from.
Not will to die yet has left a new comment on your post "EARLY RETIREMENT INCENTIVE IS STILL ON THE TABLE D...":
Hot topic yet flat line. I don’t get it . What’s the source 9:09 ?
James, check out the OSA union site’s news line for yesterday. ERI has been an extremely hot topic. DC37’s Executive Director gave an update a few weeks ago. You can listen to his presentation by going to their FB page. DC37 is integral in getting the ERI done. They even provide a template that they encourage all to use and write every NYS Assemblyperson and Senator to get Bill A10595 done.
Thanks. Will do.
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