If you are wondering how much you paid in union dues in 2006, here is the answer. Teachers who worked continuously throughout the year paid $1,012.74, paras $506.44, Secretaries $757.98 and Guidance Counselors $1,033.48. The UFT did not provide us with data for other titles.
This is the first time union dues have gone over $1,000 for teachers and guidance counselors while at the same time the union no longer provides services such a Superintendent’s level grievances or Letter in the File Grievances as these were eliminated in the last Contract. People might be interested to know that back in the eighties the UFT made dues increases automatic. If the average salary goes up, then dues increase automatically. Are the services getting better? Please let ICE know.
27 comments:
The $750 so-called bonus was hailed as a way of off-setting our Christmas spending. What they really meant was that Randi is Santa and we have to pay her for the honor. So much for the bonus.
When the taxman got through with my bonus, I barely had enough to pay a couple of bills.
I really want to know where the $1,000 I pay in UFT dues are going. For new teachers, that amounts to more than a week's pay!!! Why is the UFT providing Homework Help (oh, I forgot...is it to provide extra funds for Randi's patronage mill?). I WANT UNION DUES TO GO DOWN!!! What are they doing with my money????? I really would like to know all the services that the UFT provides. Other than working directly with members on issues such as grievances, retirement and certification (and other issues as such), there should be no other positions....
I only mention Homework Help because it is such an egregious abuse of our hard earned dollars. Let the DOE provide Homework help...oh, wait..isn't that what the 37 1/2 minutes are??? Also, we need to nix the UFT scholarships. Why are we giving them? Same with all those stupid luncheons? Are those coming out of our dues?
Finally, I think that the UFT president should make no more than twice the highest teacher salary....
How ungrateful some of you teachers are. Then again, you are absolutely right. Lower the dues. Better still vote ICE-TJC and get Randi out.
Please explain how the UFT can provide fewer services and dues can be increased? I don't quite understand.
It's hell. More dues and no services. We pay more and Unity laughs at us.
We overthrew King George III's rule over us. Now it's time to overthrow Randi.
I never thought much about it, but paying more than a grand a year seems excessive, even in these times. I'd rather increase my contributions to charities, not to the salaries of Randi and those in unelected positions on the UFT payroll.
Besdies the numerous services the borough offices provide (including my DR's continuos support), here is a short list of what the UFT provides:
teacher center
peer intervention program
shanker scholarship for students
professional development
supplemental educational services
course catalogs
sandy feldman fellowships
financial services
pension and retirement consults
salary assistance
tax help for members
jobs & career opportunities
professional union committees
political action opportunities
educational pathways for paraprofessionals
Here is ashort list of publications:
NY Teacher
environmental health
school safety
paraprofessionals
parents and students
teacher brochures
health benefits
money matters
health services
course catalogs
Here are the members it serves:
charter schools
-elementary charter school
-secondary charter school
empowerment schools
family child care providers
federation of nurses
jewish home & hospital home care
lutheran medical center
staten island university hospital
visiting nurses services
guidance counselor
hearing education services
iep teachers
katharine gibbs lab specialist
lincoln center institute teaching artist
menu of information and services
occupational / physical therapist
paraprofessionals
retirees
school secretaries
school social worker / psychologists
speech teachers
high school teachers
middle school teachers
elementary teachers
vocational school teachers
special education teachers
teacher assigned
Obviously this costs nothing.
I can't beleive Union Dues is your greatest gripe! I should vote for you because of my union dues? This can't be your platform?
I am the anonymous from comment #3. I wish the membership knew where the funds were going. I am a single mom (divorced with a husband who is behind in child support) who is having a rough time making ends meet. My salary is just not making it. Why does the UFT think that they should collect so much of my income???
If dues were cut in half, that five hundred dollars would be in MY pockets and help me..it would not make or break me, but every dime matters when you are raising kids alone.
I read the comment about what the UFT is providing. The Sandra Feldman fellowships? Get rid of that....put the savings in my pocket. The Shanker scholarships? How dare the UFT and Randi look charitable on my back? We are a union...not a charity. Tax help for members? Does that mean they will do my taxes for free? What is that??? GET RID OF IT. Job and Career Opportunities? HUH? Get rid of that. And Homework Help? Let the mayor pay for that!!!
I really think our union is quite out of touch with members' needs. The union dues are outrageously high and only going to go higher. There is no accountability and nobody up top seems to care. How much does Randi make? 300K??
I am seriously contemplating leaving teaching as are many of my friends. The salaries are awful and the conditions are so bad. I love my students but I can't provide for my family anymore...
As for the person who asked if the Union Dues were the platform for ICE UFT (which I never heard of before)....well, what is Randi doing to help people like you and me? The $750 bonus was nice but was it just a "bribe" to get our votes in the next election?? Why do we now have permanent building assignments? Why do NYC teachers have the longest school calendar of any teacher in NY State???? The more I learn about the union and Randi, the more I want her out on her overpaid butt.
My understanding is that many of the "services provided" by the union are provided by Unity members who work afterschool jobs at the borough offices and who are getting highly paid for their faithfulness to Randi. What percentage of afterschool borough office workers are card-carrying Unity members and what percentage are not? Shouldn't the best person for the job get the job? Are these positions ever generally advertised? Or should we continue this patronage mill? Friends working at the borough offices have told me that don't necessarily agree with Randi and Unity but they love their afterschool job- so a few bucks a year for Unity dues, working a few phone banks a year and keeping their mouth shut at meetings is the price they pay to augment their salaries.
The union should provide many of the services and I wouldn't even mind paying these dues. But the automatic dues increases without going to the members and all those 6 figure salaries are what disturbs me. People are living large on our backs. They may work hard but it ain't exactly teaching.
I was surprised that the Unity hack listed Peer Intervention.
Didn't Randi just sell that service down the drain too? And now the DoE can use it against a teacher.
The Teacher Centers are not what they used to be. Many I know got their jobs through connections. When one particular TC person wasn't really doing the job and both the staff and principal complained, Iris made excuses for her.
I guess our dues aren't woth this either:
UFT: Know your rights February 5
Posted by jd2718
Inside the new edition of the New York Teacher is a twelve page pull-out: “Know Your Rights - Pedagogues.” It is both very welcome, and well overdue. Do not throw this out. Put it aside. Look through it. And again. File it somewhere you can find it. There is nothing dramatic here, nothing new. But the format, making this basic and essential information easily available to every teacher in a readable form, that is noteworthy, and positive.
If we do not know our rights, how can we defend them? Letting teachers know their rights is a very important first step. A teacher cannot assert rights that s/he does not know exists. A teacher can ask a Chapter Leader to act if the teacher is aware of a rights violation. And, putting it delicately, an informed membership can help focus a Chapter Leader on contract enforcement.
A few notes (below the fold): —- >
Batches of these should be sent to the chapter leader in each school, to keep on hand. Fresh batches should be sent at the beginning of each schol year.
This (or updated versions) should be included once a year in the New York Teacher.
Are there other editions coming out for guidance counselors, secretaries, paras, and others covered by the UFT? (I’d say that secretaries and paras really could use something like this)
And, immediately below the president’s message should be a note about chapter meetings, chapter leader, chapter elections, UFT Bulletin Board, and an invitation to take an active role. (you’ll notice that the message ends with a natural lead-in. Just needs a separate box)
I read about 10% so far. Nothing exciting yet. Nothing wrong yet. Just basic, vital information. However, if you find errors, please, please tell me, tell your chapter leader, e-mail the New York Teacher… whatever. But let someone know so it can be fixed.
Many of those services pointed to by the Unity person made the ICE point perfectly. Teacher center is mostly a waste and scholarships, etc... are basically just places to hold patroage jobs for people loyal to the Unity machine.
Does anyone really think that much of this stuff will build a strong union to help improve our salaries or working conditions?
We definitely do not get our monies worth out of the union.
Those NY Teachers and environmental health guides are really helping us. The Unity guy has to be kidding.
If Unity thinks they provide services that are worth $1000 per year, then they are deluded as well as incompetent. Some people will say anything to get their double pension.
Hey Anon How about those brochures on how to teach? Surely you have learned a great deal from them.
Letter to Sunday's Daily News
Brooklyn: United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten complains that no one listens to her because she's a teacher. In 26 years in the city school system, I've never seen Weingarten teach unless the press was present. She's a labor lawyer, disconnected from the UFT rank and file, working in the UFT corporate headquarters, where nary a child can be seen, and she has no idea what's really needed to reform education. Society must demand that parents raise their children. Every teacher knows this. Weingarten, the lawyer, doesn't.
Gary Perl
UFT services are wonderful if you like to call your union for help and wait on hold or get pushed around to a bunch of people who don't care to help in many cases. Of you can leave a message and have nobody ever call you back.
Whenever I call the UFT for help, they keep sending me to my DR's voicemail. But, SHE'S part of the problem!
I have a grievance and I'm waiting to get to the next step since last June. When I call, nobody ever calls me back or they give me two seconds and then brush me off. They all need to go.
Subject: [ice-mail] Meet Kit Wainer: http://www.elfrank.com/Kit
Date: Thursday, February 08, 2007 9:44 PM
Meet Kit Wainer video: http://www.elfrank.com/Kit
Feel free to pass the link along and include it in campaign literature.
I don't know whether cry or laugh at my yearly union dues increase..
The $750 bonus(?) was an insult and I agree with:
Anonymous Sunday, February 04, 2007 6:43:00 PM
I also find it interesting that many of us are posting anonymously.. That says alot.. about our union who is supposed to be working for us.
Very good point.
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