Duration
Oct 13, 2007 to Oct 31, 2009 (2 years 18 days) 4 months 13 days longer than DC 37 Settlement
Givebacks from Last Contract Remain in Full Force
No improvements in teaching or learning conditions.
Hall and Cafeteria duty remains.
No ability to grieve unfair/inaccurate material in personnel files.
No ability to grieve unfair/inaccurate observation reports.
37.5 minute small group instruction period continues four days a week.
Longest school year in the region with 190 days continues that includes school in Aug.
Transfers for teachers subject to whims of principals.
Excessed teachers have no right for placement in a vacancy.
Teachers from schools that are closed or redesigned have no rights to be placed in a vacancy.
Members accused of certain acts are still guilty until proven innocent & can be suspended without pay.
Wages and Benefits
$750 one-time lump sum payment on Jan 2, 2007
2% effective Oct. 13, 2007
5% effective May 19, 2008
0% final seventeen months and twelve days of the Agreement
New five year longevity: $1,000 for teachers with 5-9 years experience and $500 for paras starts May 19, 2007
Direct Deposit for all new employees.
With this agreement UFT member salaries have increased at roughly the same rate as every other city employee over the last thirty years except we are working ten percent more time for 10% extra..
Increase in city contribution to our Welfare Fund to allow a $1,000 per family annual drug co-pay cap.
Per session activity maximums increase by twelve sessions.
Secretaries and Lab specialists hired after July 1, 1985 are eligible for restoration of health sabbatical leaves.
Transit-Chek program extended to include LIRR, LI MTA buses and Metro-North.
Healthcare & Pension Negotiations Incomplete
According to the November 7, 2006 NY Times, Bloomberg wants “separate talks aimed at achieving crucial savings on health care and pension costs, which have climbed in recent years.”
Contract assigns to the Municipal Labor Committee a “blank check” to negotiate cost containment initiatives and program modifications to City Health Benefits Program that are not subject to our approval.
If MLC agrees with Mayor, UFT members will not vote on any potential mandatory health care contributions. (Transit workers were able to vote on whether or not to contribute 1.5% of their salary for health benefits.)
They’re Giving us Sand in the Desert Provisions
If charges of corporal punishment or verbal abuse are not substantiated, UFT members won’t get a letter for the file. Currently, members should not get a file letter if charges are not substantiated.
New paperwork reduction committee on top of the two that already exist in Article 8I.
New Peer Intervention program (we already have one); new PIP is not confidential and can be used in 3020A.
Voluntary Buy-outs for Excessed Staff
The DOE may offer a voluntary severance package (the amount of which still must be decided) to all excessed personnel who have not secured regular assignments after a year. Excessed staff who accept the package must resign or retire “irrevocably”.
60 comments:
Yep! I would post it.
No give backs in this contract!
No time for money swap. Real raises!
$750 one-time lump sum payment on Jan 2, 2007 (pensionable)
2% effective Oct. 13, 2007 (Instead of waiting for the city to sit down with us.)
5% effective May 19, 2008
New five year longevity: $1,000 for teachers with 5-9 years experience and $500 for paras starts May 19, 2007 (That should help raise the retention level.)
Increase in city contribution to our Welfare Fund to allow a $1,000 per family annual drug co-pay cap. (People applauded that!)
Per session activity maximums increase by twelve sessions. (Another pensionable benefit.)
Secretaries and Lab specialists hired after July 1, 1985 are eligible for restoration of health sabbatical leaves. (Increase in health protection.)
Transit-Chek program extended to include LIRR, LI MTA buses and Metro-North. (Tax deduction.)
Sounds like a winner to me! Post it!
Jeff Zahler said:
It’s shameful, Jeffrey Kaufman.
You sat on the Negotiating Committee. You had full rights and responsibilities. Your input was invited. No restrictions. No censorship. No litmus test. You had your chances. Did you use or abuse them?
It is shameful that you did not rise up to obey your conscience, assuming it was telling you the same then as what you say it is now.
For shame, Jeffrey!
When the Negotiating Committee members put their heads together to formulate and weigh the terms of a potential settlement: did you then urge us to wait as you now say we should have done? No! And your selective memory has let slip that the Executive Board voted unanimously ( all characters were present and you are a character) to recommend economic and non-economic issues both to the D.A.
Have you no shame? You and you allies, active service and otherwise, never had an idea, or the sense, or the guts, to make any suggestion, or offer any amendment to what others were putting forward. As Warner Wolf would say, “Let’s go to the video tape!” Your unproductive negativity is on the record, Jeffrey. To say the least, it ill serves the members.
Jeff Zahler said...
It’s shameful, Jeffrey K.
You sat on the Negotiating Committee. You had full rights and responsibilities. Your input was invited. No restrictions. No censorship. No litmus test. You had your chances. Did you use or abuse them?
It is shameful that you did not rise up to obey your conscience, assuming it was telling you the same then as what you say it is now.
For shame, Jeffrey!
When the Negotiating Committee members put their heads together to formulate and weigh the terms of a potential settlement: did you then urge us to wait as you now say we should have done? No! And your selective memory has let slip that the Executive Board voted unanimously ( all characters were present and you are a character) to recommend economic and non-economic issues both to the D.A.
Have you no shame? You and you allies, active service and otherwise, never had an idea, or the sense, or the guts, to make any suggestion, or offer any amendment to what others were putting forward. As Warner Wolf would say, “Let’s go to the video tape!” Your unproductive negativity is on the record, Jeffrey. To say the least, it ill serves the members.
Let's ask Joel Klein if he likes this contract. You know he doesn't. He didn't get performance pay or even a discussion about it. He didn't get forced buyouts. Congratulations to the negotiators. You stopped him on the brink of what he must have thought would be a sweep. Now he's got nothing to wear to tonight's cocktail party. Sigh, poor Joel.
The person right above me is so right. Klein now is an irrelevancy aspiring to be an afterthought. He got nothing. He's hardly mentioned in the papers. The coverage is entirely positive in facts presented and tone. The UFT is recognized for its bargaining and political power and yet there is an amazing abatement of acrimony. They don't claim there's givebaks and they don'y even lament that there are none. The members will pass this by a margin far beyond an avalanche. Come wait & see!
So what? What's next if this is ratified? We'll start paying a percentage for Health. Our 5% won't look so good when it kicks in. Randi must think we're idiots. Honestly. The corporal punishment provision is just plain ridiculous. This contract may pass thru, but I'm voting Randi out.
How fitting that you would talk about sand in the desert provisions when you produce ICE in the winter arguments.
There are no givebacks, so SLUSH -- er, excuse me, ICE -- has to make them up. Suddenly the same way we have negotiated health benefits for the last 50 years is a giveback.
If anyone needs to know how good this contract is just take a look at the depth of the dishonest arguments ICE has to make.
Unity is right. Somehow the opposition was asleep at the wheel.
This also happened with other votes on the Executive Committee.
However dear Unity writers, we are still members in good standing who deserve to have LIF grievances returned to us.
And, if for some reason the health costs really bring down this raise, then shame on you too. At least tell us in advance what % is on the table. Don't we have the right to know?
Unity hacks don't think we deserve to know anything except what they say is good for us.
VOTE NO ON THIS CONTRACT! VOTE UNITY OUT! Anyone but Randi. UNITY RAUS! We've all been used as pawns in a self-serving political game. Bloomberg and Randi win, we lose. We gave up so much in the current contract, and we aren't getting anything back. Say no to collusion, corruption, backroom politics and under the table deals. UNITY OUT!
Jeff Zahler has made some good points. I don't care who runs this Union if its democratic. The negotiation committee was completely democratic. Randi became a more democratic leader with every negotiation meeting. And thats the truth!!!
This is the best contract I've seen in all the years I've been in the UFT. That's over 19 years.
VOTE YES!
Even a union as weak as CSA won't sell out its rights. Look at what Joel Klein said in this week's email to principals.
Last year’s contract with the UFT included precisely these kinds of changes, with the UFT agreeing that excessed teachers would have no rights to placement at any school and that principals would be the final decision-makers regarding hiring. Principals celebrated this reform in the UFT contract and have told me that they fully support eliminating forced placement for assistant principals. In spite of all this, CSA rejected our compromise.
CSA continues to insist on another contract provision that the UFT abandoned in last year’s contract—the right to grieve and arbitrate all disciplinary letters. Once again, principals and assistant principals heralded that reform, telling me that they didn’t want to waste time on grievances and arbitration proceedings over letters that didn’t result in any tangible disciplinary actions. They, correctly in my view, wanted to spend more time with their students and teachers. But the CSA continues to demand the procedural right that allows them to grieve and arbitrate letters to file...
They know how important this is because they use it against us. All the more reason why they refuse to give it up but we won't get it back.
Extending the worst contract ever for three more years, (the one that has not yet finished and then the two in the new contract)is just going to lead to more frustration that a 3.5%% annual raise won't fix. Our working conditions are impossible and will only get worse.
We're supposed to be thankful that we have a new committee to discuss paperwork because the two that exist already aren't getting it done. You call that a victory?
VOTE NO
Wanting to vote on paying for health care is the right position on this issue. Randi didn't deny that this will happen. Get ready to say goodbye to a substantial part of your increase. If you don't think that's coming, then wake up.
mvplab-
ICE is not afraid to post the good, the bad and the potential bad. Unlike Unity, we tell the truth.
No givebacks ?
(because we gave back already! --- where are the "GETBACKS"?)
+ letters stay in file without grievance
+ no Labor Day Weekend
= lousy contract opposed by rank-and-file
Under the agreement, which must be ratified by the UFT's rank-and-file members, educators would receive:
* A 7.1% increase over 24 months, ending in October 2009. The current teachers' contract runs through Oct. 12, 2007. Teachers would get a 2% increase in the first year, beginning Oct. 13, 2007, and another 5% effective May 19, 2008. The contract would expire Oct. 31, 2009.
[ May 19, 2008 ---> October 19, 2008 = no raise for 17 months ! ]
by the time the contract expires
your pay in real dollars will be less than it is today!
From the NY Sun (not a friendly place for teachers):
"To the credit of both the chancellor and the United Federation of Teachers, the new contract preserves concessions won by the taxpayers, like longer working days that were eked out in the last round of negotiations. New Yorkers are spared the spectacle of backsliding.
In addition, the taxpayers have won a new buyout arrangement. A chronic problem in the school system has been the teachers who can't find assignments, often — although not always — because principals recognize the particular teachers aren't qualified. Up until now, excessed teachers have been a drag on the payroll, being shunted into substituting jobs if no full-time work materializes. The new contract gives the teacher the option of accepting a one-time payment and leaving the schools entirely."
Why is the anti teacher and anti union NY Sun smiling?
Just DA Truth says he/she is for democracy but Randi's followers barely voted down a proposal to have District reps elected. Her democracy phase must have had a quick shelf-life.
Does anyone believe Randi when she claimed there was no secret deal
between her and Bloomberg regarding CFE or Mayoral control?
From UTP:
Max Factor said...
A less than the cost of living increase, no attempt to regain anything that was lost. I think is more than a coincidence that this contract was delivered before union elections. Randi is counting on membership short term memory to help her numbers. I don't want to hear how there are no givebacks this go round after she gave them practically everything last time. Unity Out!
11/08/2006 5:44 PM
Anonymous said...
The devil is in the details. I agree with Max Factor. Unity Out!
11/08/2006 5:47 PM
snakehead said...
The whole thing reeks of collusion between Randi and Bloomberg. They are counting on us being suckers. Bloomberg gets the UFT's support for mayoral control of the schools, Randi gets reelected. It makes me sick how they use us, we are nothing but pawns to them. VOTE NO on this contract!! UNITY OUT!!
11/08/2006 8:58 PM
I want to hear an estimate of how many letters everyone thinks came out of the file last year! Well, if chapter leaders were diligent and members willing, more letters came out of the file last year then ever came out before. And if anyone here has any letter dated earlier than 3-years ago, that letter should be removed. It's automatic--no grievance necessary. So let's stop the nonsense about letter in file grievances.
Are you guys serious? THIS IS A GREAT TENTATIVE CONTRACT. ICE needs a reality check. Tell me one union, one working group, that has received more than we have received with NO GIVEBACKS. The ICE leadership should really look around their schools. They will see teachers who are happy about this contract. ICE has made it such an issue to hate Randi that they've forgotten about their "love" for the union and service for their "brothers" and "sisters." SHAME ON ICE. SHAME ON JEFF. SHAME ON JAMES ETERNO WHO THINKS HE CAN NEGOTIATE A CONTRACT WITH THE CITY IN ABSENTIA. STOP TRYING TO SHOW OFF!It's hard to admit it guys...Randi did a great job! Step aside!
If LIF are as Mylab says, it speaks to the following:
Ineffectual representation by the chapter leader and district rep and step 3 process (which usually wins in abritration before the last contract gave that step to Klein's arbritrators)
or
the letter was deserved.
Either way, I know of loads of principals who never wrote letters for file because they hated the grievance procedure. Yet those stats weren't investigated.
If the survey had started with "choose one giveback you would like to see returned"
I am sure the union would have seen just how important an issue this was to us. Instead you arbitrarily took it away with first taken a survey on that issue.
If CSA no longer wants to give that up, then it speaks volumes to the importance of the protection of due process.
Look at back issues of NYTeacher. It reported a spike in LIF. Randi told the teachers in my school that if there was a spike in LIF, she would renegotiate it with the mayor. Given the present political climate was now in her court, that was a lost opportunity.
As for the posters here, vote as you wish, but this contract will fly through. However it's issues such as the above that may elect new leadership if you start an effective campaign NOW!!!!!!!!
So get off your blog and get the word out to the schools that Randi was in the catbird seat on this one and yet teachers are still treated with disrespect. The money may be good, but the pressure on teachers is greater.
I know of schools where teachers get together every Friday for drinks because they cannot stand their principals. They have been receiving LIFs for the most ridiculous things.
Jeff, you lost me at DA today. Just lost me. I hated the last contract,. And sure, I’d be even happier if we could have gotten back from the last contract. But who is kidding who? There couldn’t be any getting back here, this year, not under those guys at Tweed and city hall. Only someone who ignores the real world of contracts and unions and the press and the public would have held out for more – left our contract out there for Klein to chew on, rather than securing a damned good deal for the members in very, very tough union times.
No better deal was coming down the pike this time. Or last time either, for that matter.
ICE wants the leadership?
I have my issues with the current leadership sometimes. But today at DA you voted against sending this to the members for a vote. As if they can’t be trusted to take votes for themselves.
Sorry. That’s not leadership to me.
ICE wants democracy? How come they voted against sending the contract for ratification by the membership? Either you want democracy or you don't! Make up your mind.
There are people in ICE who support this contract and are comfortable saying so publicly. Unlike Unity.
I can't blame people for jumping at the contract and I believe it will be supported by most people. If there are no hidden agendas on health people will be happy with getting what they can while they can.
It is ICE's job to point out the other side and not just jump on the bandwagon. So some of you are hammering Jeff and James for doing that? In fact ICE as a group has not taken a position but from the emails it seems that the majority of people are opposed to the contract on the "principle" it leaves awful conditions the way they are. Remember the idea of "principle?"
In fact Jeff made an excellent presentation at the DA posting a warning about possible hidden agendas. Do you all like mayoral control? What do you think the price of this contract will be? Now some of you will say that is a done deal anyway but the UFT could have played a role in taking things in a new direction. Now that is a dead issue.
As for all of you and as Jeff Zahler said-- this is all about the UFT elections, what a joke! Unity has that way more on their minds than ICE. If that was what it was about wouldn't we have gone along with the overwhleming majority and pander for votes by supporting the contract, like New Action did, and will continue to do to win back the 6 high school exec bd seats for Unity adn themselves?
Dear Jeff and James,
Your Contract at a Glance is a great counter to the Unity/Media spin machine. Thankyou. I deeply appreciate the patient and dogged determination shown by you and all the other rank and file delegates, chapter leaders and ICE activists in the face of overwhelming odds these past two years. May the road rise up to meet you all and the wind be forever at your back!
With this new contract the Unity leadership has entered into a pact with Bloomberg to preempt the rising frustration among the membership and secure Unity's place as junior lackeys in the corporate takeover of public education.
Unity is standing at the schoolhouse door with their preemptive contract in hand, whispering in their sleazy underhanded fashion, "Mayoral Control Now and Forever!' They are writing a new chapter labor misleadership and opportunism.
I share Micheal's disgust with these misleaders and second the efforts to put alternatives to Mayoral control before the membership. Education of the people, by the people, for the people! Not a sorting system for the oligarchy, and not with teachers as dutiful sad sack enablers for the school to prison pipeline.
This might be a good time to reach out to ICOPE and others seeking alternatives to Mayoral control in 2009. Build connections and networks to surround the Unity machine and isolate them in their privileged fortress. grow a progressive opposition based in our schools and communities. Asymmetrical strategies help the little fish to overcome the big fish.
Pay increases will be traded off for concessions in the health plan that members will not even be permitted to vote on.
Scripted instruction, increased reliance on high stakes testing, diminished roles for teacher and parent involvement, push outs for senior teachers to make way for the revolving door of new short timers. Lousy working and learning conditions= angry kids and burnt out teachers. Fewer and fewer teachers will make it to retirement thanks to the givebacks in the last contract. More kids on track to prison, the military and dead end jobs. The whitening of the pedagogical staff, segregated overcrowded schools for the large majority. This is the system that (dis) Unity misleaders expect teachers to embrace without protest in exchange for 7% over two years. Our leadership is contemptible and they view the membership with dread that we may one day wise up and rise up.
First look at bad deal for New York teachers
By Megan Behrent, UFT | November 10, 2006 | Page 11
NEW YORK--The United Federation of Teachers (UFT), the union representing more than 100,000 teachers and school-based staff here, announced November 6 that they reached a tentative contract agreement with the city a full year ahead of the expiration of the current contract.
The last contract--which was settled two years late and weakened teachers’ rights, extended the work day and school year and created extra work for already overburdened and exhausted teachers--was ratified last fall by a narrow majority. As a result, the UFT created a new expanded negotiating committee and began discussing preparations for the next round of contract negotiations.
The UFT also entered into a bargaining coalition with many of the other city unions--with the notable exceptions of AFSCME District Council 37, the biggest union in the city, and the police, who bargained separately.
The UFT leadership clearly felt pressure to settle a contract in advance of upcoming union elections and declare it a victory.
The proposed contract, subject to ratification, does provide a small raise of 7 percent over two years and a limited erosion of work rules. And unlike the previous two contracts, it contains no provisions for extra work time or major concessions on work rules.
It does, however, contain a “voluntary buyout” clause for teachers who are not given an assignment in a school due to cuts in enrollment and who have not found a new job within a year. This could make it easier to pressure even high-seniority teachers to “voluntarily” accept a severance package rather than guaranteeing their continued employment, as the current contract provides.
Already many union activists have recently found themselves “in excess” and unable to find new jobs due to their reputations as a union militant. The proposed contract doesn’t preclude future concessions on health care, which is negotiated by the city’s Municipal Labor Council and is headed by the UFT’s Randi Weingarten.
As the New York Times noted, the teachers’ settlement “seemed to be part of a larger strategy by the Bloomberg administration to pave the way for separate talks aimed at achieving crucial savings on health care and pension costs, which have climbed sharply in recent years.”
Given the deteriorating work conditions, loss of union rights and additional workload teachers face as a result of the pattern of concessionary bargaining, this new contract is not enough.
Members of opposition caucuses within the union, such as Teachers for a Just Contract and the Independent Community of Educators, urge teachers to vote “no” and send our union leadership a message that we can and should do better. We also need to reject this cynical attempt by the union leadership to gain votes in this year’s union election.
This is why the opposition is running in this year’s UFT election to rebuild a democratic, rank-and-file led, militant union that can fight for better working conditions for all of us.
Put Randi's secret deals to the test:
NO on the contract = NO on mayoral control! should be our slogan.
To ask for a NO vote is counterproductive. Let the new teachers have their money. Focus on working conditions and the givebacks because that's were the sorepoint is now. Even new teachers are treated badly.
The money will be there if we turn down the contract. The pattern is set.
We have a golden opportunity during these good times to get rid of the givebacks. Let's go for it.
Vote No!
I agree that this is a damn good contract during these tough union times...depending on who's Mayor, 2009 may be alot brighter. By then we will have a lot of support beacuse we'll have the statistics to show how horribly Mayoral control failed our school system and our students.
I think Randi did a great job and I appreciate this not being dragged out. I hate seeing those articles in the Post and News about how lazy we are, how we're overpaid and don't work all summer etc.
Kudos to her! In terms of Jeff Kaufman's comments at yesterday's DA, what is it with him? Would nothing please him or is he just really intent on knocking Unity every chance he gets because he wants to be a Union boss? It's really tedious to be with him at a meeting and his platform is really not too bright. I wish he'd stick to teaching at Rikers...his cynicism is tedious finally...
Hello! You are preaching to the choir and we lost the last round when the givebacks were overwhelming. Time to step back and reevaluate. New teachers are not listening to these arguments--they want the money.
However they may take a serious look at a good opponent who speaks to the issues with the same savvy as Randi.
ICE has to be careful they don't start to disconnect from the "WILL OF THE MEMBERS". Vote Yes.
to Jeffrey Zahler- I assume that you did not sign the Confidentiality Agreement required by all members of the Negotiating Committee. Because, if you had, you would not be able to comment on what Jeff K said or did not say during those closed sessions. I think members should be advised about your inability to keep confidences when divulging them gives you political advantage. Shame on YOU. Confidential means just that. Concentrate on the Contract that you love so much and not the opposition. It seems it turns personal when you have no substance to argue. We get it- you hate Jeff K. Now tell us why we should support this contract.
As the New York Times noted, the teachers’ settlement “seemed to be part of a larger strategy by the Bloomberg administration to pave the way for separate talks aimed at achieving crucial savings on health care and pension costs, which have climbed sharply in recent years.” No give-backs, yeah, right.
Boy, looking at many of these comments, it appears the hacks have been hacking! People within the UFT with opposing viewpoints are not the enemy. To paraphrase the campaign statement of a few years ago, It's the bosses, stupid. Stop attacking, detracting, and worrying about losing your power and argue the issues. This MOA is not good for the future of teachers in NYC Public Schools. The Mayor should not control education in our City. We are allowing him once again to take the reins and ride us into the ground. We must vote no.
Members of opposition caucuses within the union, such as Teachers for a Just Contract and the Independent Community of Educators, urge teachers to vote “no” and send our union leadership a message that we can and should do better. We also need to reject this cynical attempt by the union leadership to gain votes in this year’s union election.
How do you spell P-R-O-J-E-C-T-I-O-N?
SLUSH and TJC are opposing a good contract because they are afraid that teachers might just vote for a leadership which delivered that contract. And they talk about cynical attempts to gain votes.
The only thing that would make them happy is a bad conract.
From the NYC Educator Blog:
I didn't realize it was tomorrow. But it turns out schools in Nassau are all closed, in recognition of Veteran's Day. You remember that holiday where we show respect for those who've faught for our country? Unlike city offices, schools are open tomorrow.
Thank goodness we have Unity at our side. It's true, of course, that they gave us the innovative sixth class (the one that is not a class). It's true they made us do hall duty, cafeteria duty, and potty patrol. It's true we can no longer grieve inaccurate material in our files.
We may have the longest school year in the region, and we may not be able to transfer. We may be guilty until proven innocent, we may be subject to 90-day unpaid suspension, and we may be sent out to wander an endless purgatory of substitute teaching for no offense whatsoever. And no, we didn't get that 25-55 legislation they promised us along with the above goodies.
But the Great Randini and Leo Casey sacrificed as well. The UFT office is open one entire hour extra every week. Consider that while you inspect the potties.
Can you imagine what it must take for them to spend one extra hour doing whatever it is they do in there? Thank goodness there weren't any givebacks in the new contract. I'd hate to think of them spending yet another hour.
I'm going to join Unity and get my daughter a patronage position. Should I tell her to bring a coloring book, or do you think they already have them?
Anyway, before you complain about working Veteran's Day, think of that extra hour, and how many times Propaganda Minister Leo Casey has to play Minespeeper before it passes.
Posted by NYC Educator at 8:30 PM
Since we are coming to Thankgiving and I was raised on a farm in the Southern Tier I remember the words of Robert Louis "Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant." The new proposed contract does allow us to reap a harvest, but it plants no seeds. We must look to the future and the shortsightedness of our leadership is astonishing. Our working conditions deteriorate with each passing day; the days and years have grown longer; the supervision more oppressive. We must plant the seeds- or we will perish. We must stop the loss of our rights. We must say no to this deal.
Mr. or Ms. 9:07
We must be ecstatic after the last contract with all the givebacks.
Once again you guys are so full of hate you don't see the greater picture. By asking people to vote no when you know this will pass is total stupidity on your part. If you keep on this track you will lose even more.
For heaven's sake, spend some money and seek out a good PR firm to get you to your real goal--ousting Unity!!!!!!
Bush, Rumsfeld, Hastert, Frist, et.al all arrogantly believed their power would not come to an end. Only after they screwed the American people a few too many times, did the people take back the government that was theirs. We can't bring back the lives that have been lost in Iraq, but we can prevent new deaths. Randi's arrogance will end. She worries about grabs at her power, not about the membership she is duty-bound to protect. We must stop the death of the NYC Public Schools and the UFT. Rejecting this contract will be a good first step.
Why doesn't Jeff speak for himself instead of hiding behind the many anonymous (anonymi?)?
ICE has spun so many conspiracy theories about Randi I guess she was solely responsible for the change of power in the House of Representatives and Senate also.
In that case - Thank you again Randi!
James said:
"I fully acknowledge that we have made strides in closing the gap in salaries when compared with the surrounding areas. But in terms of teaching and learning conditions and our rights, we are further behind than ever compared with most of the suburbs."
(Note: took out the last sentence because it should end here)
This is the message you should be sending out because simply stated it sums up the whole truth and will get Randi ousted. Forget about putting all your energy on voting this contract down because if it wins with a wide margin, you will look like the Republicans.
What you stated above so eloquently
will send chills down the spines of the rank and file.
It's time to steer away from a losing battle realize your ultimate goal...New Leadership!
HOW DARE YOU!!!
I heard about ICE's hijacking as official UFT literature. They did this last year also as if they spoke for the UFT. ICE took the UFT logo and portrayed it as if their b*llsh*t was official union policy! How dare you lie to the membership about what over 1200 delegates decided both in Oct and Nov representing all 1400 schools as your 20 person point of view! They spoke, loud and clear, and it is official union policy to bring this proposed contract to the membership
Who the f**k do you think you are to manipulate us. Talk about Karl Rove tactics. This is why they lost and why you are despicable anti-unionists fascists.
SHAME ON YOU!
Jeff Eterno, hooray for Farmingdale. And all these other places too. Is that the best you can do, show us other contracts? You were on the negotiating committee, weren’t you? Plenty of members there to talk to? But Jeff Kauffman says himself that at the end of the day, only 3 members voted against this deal at the committee. I’m guessing one was Jeff K and one was you. Who was the third?
You couldn’t even convince a couple of teachers in a negotiating committee to go along with your plan (did you even have one), but somehow you’d have done a better job with Bloomberg. This is bankrupt stuff, Eterno.
This is a good contract. And it’s the best contract we were going to get under this DoE/city administration. I know it, the members know it, Klein knows it, TJC knows it, ICE knows it, and in your heart probably even you know it too.
Norm makes it seem like it is OK to vote "yes'" for this contract. Yet ICE has and continues to do everything possible sabotage it from going forward. Besides the ridiculous praise of Jeff Kaufman's joy at pontificating way too long at the DA, ICE's tactic is to sabotage, save no expense, including the membership.
As for his statement that "ICE as a group has not taken a position" on the contract, then why did both they vote against it in the negotiating committee, the Ex. Bd., the DA and are trying to fill our membership with lies as in this post. It is not a position I suppose just an M.O. - "anything that Randi does I'm against"
Tell the truth Norm, you don't care about the membership, you just hate Randi.
Thank you all for admitting about this contract "discussion" (as the last one) is not about the membership or political reality but about internal UFT politics. Despite what Norm says, you want a vote, not what is good for the membership!
jameseterno and Jeff Kaufman talk a lot her but say little about their role in the negotiating committee. I was at all of them except 2 meetings and they said nothing (except to each other)! Tell the truth. What did you guys do to talk about the demands (which were passed unanimously by the Ex. Bd., which they sit on, without heir new "found demands")? What did you say about the demands during the Ex. Bd. James? I heard you said that you "obviously agreed with them".
Did you guys vote against them at the DA?
Who is "Michael" (November 09, 2006 4:36:14 PM )? So much for anonomous.
Posted on http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/
The Contract: What Lies Beneath
We have been besieged by questions: After all the rancor and viciousness of BloomKlein where did all this sweetness and love come from? What are the real givebacks?
With fall-out from the phony promises and massive sell-job and threats that a “No” vote would result in dire consequences still echoing from the dreadful 2005 contract, these questions are a signal from many people who have been beaten and battered by recent contracts and have lost faith in the union leadership to negotiate anything that is truly favorable to the members. So, what gives this time? Should we lift the hood even a bit to see what monsters might be lurking beneath?
A clue in the NY Times?
“This time the city extracted no productivity increases or other concessions, which seemed to be part of a larger strategy by the Bloomberg administration to pave the way for separate talks aimed at achieving crucial savings on health care and pension costs, which have climbed sharply in recent years... But negotiations over health benefits are to be conducted separately in talks with the Municipal Labor Committee, the umbrella group for the city’s unions, and since Ms. Weingarten is the committee chairwoman, her good will is essential if headway is to be made on insurance issues.”
A follow-up headline proclaimed: “With Teacher Pact at Hand, City Looks at Health Costs.”
Does this contract basically waive the right of our union to bargain about health benefits by giving this power to the Municipal Labor Committee, in effect removing member rights in perpetuity to vote on any loss of valuable medical benefits? Does the contract assign to the Municipal Labor Committee a “blank check” to negotiate cost containment initiatives and program modifications to City Health Benefits Program that are not subject to our approval? If MLC agrees with Mayor, will UFT members get to vote on potential mandatory health care contributions? (Transit workers were able to vote on whether or not to contribute 1.5% of their salary for health benefits.) If a flat rate percentage is tacked on in the future, what is the real raise, especially for the newer lower-salaried people?
And let’s not forgot the possible quid quo pro in exchange for supporting (or not opposing) mayoral control, which if continued will continue to be an unmitigated disaster for the teachers, students and parents in NYC. Can you get somethin’ for nuthin’ with Unity in charge?
It feels like April! It’s only November
The teachers in my school are so angry about the current contract. We don’t even have time to use the bathroom during the day. When passing colleagues in the hall, the constant comment is, “It feels like April! It’s only early November.” The weight of the workload and schedule are crushing. We are very angry about the current conditions, and the fact that we can’t do much to complain since most of our rights to grieve and to participate in the decision-making processes of the school are gone. The older teachers are afraid — under the current system they can suddenly become “senile” and unable to teach. The younger teachers don’t understand. Whole classes are guinea pigs as large numbers of new teachers “experiment” with what works. Fed-up, on the ICE blog
With only TJC and ICE members voting in opposition, the negotiation committee did not address any of the issues raised by Fed-up when it agreed to a tentative deal with the DOE . The contract extension contains no take backs of any of the givebacks of the 2005 contract: letters in the files still can’t be grieved at step 2; 37 minutes and a thinly disguised 6th teaching period; loss of Circular 6 and reinstatement of potty patrol; loss of seniority transfers; erosion of workplace rights; inability to question administrative decisions; teachers standing at the mercy of anti-union principals who control through intimidation.
What is funny about you "contract at glance" is that you cite the NY Times. I don't remember them being at the negotiating table. I know jameseterno and Jeff Kaufman were.
Someone above asks “who is Michael? But I’ve got a better question. Who is Megan Behrent?
A posting above quotes in its entirety an article by Megan Behrant that seemed to have been published somewhere else (it says p.11), so I googled it to find out what newspaper it was in. Turns out it is from the Socialist Weekly.
And on its “Where We Stand” page, in a section entitled “Revolution” we see that the Socialist Weekly does not believe in reform, but rather revolution since “capitalism must be replaced.”
Well, so long as we all know where we stand. But if Megan’s real agenda is revolution then she ought to admit that no contract would ever be enough.
Yousay you want a revolution? I don’t think I have to be McCarthy or McCartney to say, “Count me out”
Science Sam it was Lennon who wrote Revolution, not McCartney, or was it Lenin? What Megan said about the Contract stands. You Unity guys have now resorted to red baiting.
Or maybe the socialists have resorted to “Unity” baiting and union revolutions.
Let’s not resort into victimhood. After all, if a blogger came on here and agitated against our contract, and I discovered that it was someone who publishes in a far right magazine whose stated mission was to eliminate unions, I wouldn’t hesitate to point that out either. And I’ll bet we’d all be okay with that.
As far as Unity goes, I don’t know anything about that except that it is the union group that Weingarten belongs to.
I stand corrected on McCartney. Always found the pun on Lenin and Lennon amusing .A friend of mine was teaching Lenin in high school history once and the Aim was something like “Why was Lenin important?” The principal happened to stop in for a minutes. As he left, he said, “Excellent topic. But why not discuss Paul, George, and Ringo too?”
He was serious.
Ah, administrations.
I’ll correct myself on something else – It wasn’t Socialist Weekly that the article appeared in. It was “Socialist Worker.”
Science Sam you seem like a reasonable person. Did you know that a Socialist named Bernie Sanders was just elected to the US Senate from Vermont? We really don't need red baiting in the argument over the contract. Being a socialist doesn't make someone evil.
People from ICE-TJC-UTP range across the political spectrum and so do people from Randi Weingarten's ruling Unity Caucus and her close allies in New Action. There are socialists and even a Communist in the ruling groups. Take the politics out of the debate on both sides.
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