by Marjorie Stamberg, ESL teacher,D79
The situation of teachers in the ATR pool is urgent. Everyone is affected. With classrooms more overcrowded than ever, it is outrageous that some 1,400 teachers are being prevented from teaching. This is a direct result of the union's sellout of seniority transfers in the 2005 contract.
The union must act. Attached is a petition calling on the UFT to organize a mass citywide rally to demand that the ATRs be given positions before any new teachers are placed. I would like to ask colleagues to take this up in their schools and the various teacher groups that they participate in. Letʼs try to have a meeting of those interested in working on this soon.
You can just smell a sellout in the air, from the Weingarten/Unity caucus on the up to 1,400 ATRS now in teacher reserve. I think it's important to get something going on this before they pull their rotten deal. A petition seemed to be a way to do it. By having a petition for a demo, it could be presented at the Executive Board.
Please circulate the annexed petitions and fax them to Marjorie at 212-614-8711.
6 comments:
I am going to ask my chapter leader to call an emergency meeting to ask teacher to sign this petition. I'm interested in hearing her response to my request. I imagine it will be no, because like most elementary chapter leaders she doesn't do anything she isn't told to do by Unity.
Unitymustgo!
You don't need the chapter leader to do it for you. Do it yourself, because as you said they don't care about anything or anybody unless unity tells them to. This is a battle we must all fight to win! This can happen to everybody in the system. This is what Klein has been asking for. To get rid of teachers with high salariers and tenure! To be able to move teachers to where he needs them and you don't have a say in it! This atr thing is a stepping stone for something big. If we don't make a big noise about it, Bloomberg will win control of the schools in June 2009 and then we are all F**ked!!!!!!!! You think this can't happen to you? Just wait for it, it's coming for you too!!!!!!!!!
Daily News
Department of Education has more teachers than jobs
BY CARRIE MELAGO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Sunday, September 21st 2008
Despite nearly 1,400 teachers sitting in a reserve pool, the Education Department recruited 5,400 new educators this year - and 229 still don't have classrooms, officials said.
The still-unassigned teachers were hired by the administration, not specific schools, adding them to the already swelling rolls of excess paid educators.
"These are teachers who apply to work in New York City and are essentially such good candidates that there's a risk if we don't make an offer quickly, we'll lose them to another district," said spokeswoman Melody Meyer.
Some veteran teachers are miffed that officials would hire an abundance of newbies when so many existing teachers from closed or downsized schools are waiting for placements.
"It makes me crazy. Where's the loyalty?" said Eric Eisenberg, who was excessed this month from Tilden High School in Brooklyn, which is being phased out. "It's clearly designed to drive older, senior teachers out."
The new teachers, who cover classes for absent colleagues, have until Dec. 5 to find permanent placements or be fired.
The situation doesn't sit right with some members of the reserve, which has grown because of the 2005 contract eliminating the "bumping rights" that allowed displaced teachers to take the spots of less senior teachers.
"What's surprising to me is that this year, given how tight the budget was, that they would still have hired as many people as they did," said Teachers Union President Randi Weingarten.
Earlier this year, the teachers union filed a lawsuit charging that more than 80% of the reserve pool was filled with teachers older than 40.
But the New Teacher Project, a nonprofit that contracts with the city to recruit and train teachers, found in a study released in April that more than 100 teachers had collected salaries for two years without applying for any jobs.
According to that study, the city spent $81 million over two years paying for excessed teachers.
The New Teacher Project plans to release an updated version of the report Monday.
cmelago@nydailynews.com
This is amazing. No union would ever allow their senior members to go through this. When Verizon started using non union labor and laying of union members, their members went on strike. Some of them even resorted to criminal acts such as shutting down service by climbing into manholes and cutting lines with bolt cutters. One young man died by cutting into a power line. My friend who works for Verizon said that they wear a certain color shirt (I believe red) one day a week to honor him. So, their union honors a criminal act that helped save their rights. I am not saying that we should resort to criminal acts but we need to do something to get the attention of of the masses who will then pressure the mayor to do something about this pattern of taking away union rights. BTW, I know Eric Eisenberg and he is an asset that any principal would love to have. His wife is fighting a tough battle against a deadly disease and he is raising their four year old twins-- picking up the slack when needed, in order to scrape by. His wife is a teacher as well and I always wonder how our contract is affecting her considering that we get paid 60% of our salary, then no pay after being out for over six months of medical leave. To see this tall proud man with sagging shoulders on his last day at Tilden was a disgrace to the UFT and even more so to the people who negotiate our contracts. I can only pray that the added hardship will be something that he can handle with the dignity that he has shown through out his 16 years at Tilden.
First, absolutely on Eric Eisenberg. I've been at Tilden less than a month and I'm proud to have just met him. Schools would be begging for him if they had the money. You know Tilden and the other three schools tried to keep him, but couldn't raise the funds to hire him full time.
Second. THERE ARE MORE VACANCIES THAN TEACHERS. THIS MYTH THAT THERE ARE MORE TEACHERS IS A LIE. ALL OF US WHO ARE ATRS AND ARE TEACHING KNOW THIS. ATRS are teaching full schedules at many, if not most of the schools at which they work. Often, they do so, EVEN AFTER, new hires are made to the school. So, there is A NEED for them within the school. The schools are just NOT MAKING POSITIONS AVAILABLE TO THEM. Two of my colleagues were passed over for kids despite putting in hard and appreciated work. One retired in disgust. The second is still working -- still teaching classes. So, she's in an INVISIBLE POSITION which will become available, perhaps, next year and then AGAIN not be offered to her. Meanwhile, the school has a VIRTUALLY FREE TEACHER.
Tilden High School is staffed heavily by ATR's. There are classes that need to be taught. Positions need to be filled. THe principal has UNFAIRLY not been given the opportunity to hire people. (Even if the school IS closing, you should be given A JOB while you are working THAT JOB.)
Instead, he has to fills WHAT WOULD BE FULL-TIME POSITIONS with ATR's. So, all of us are working in in POSITIONS THAT THE DOE DOESN'T PAY FOR. IT'S FALSE ACCOUNTING. If the ATR's left their schools, kids would be without teachers all over the city.
What would Joel Klein then do?
He'd HIRE YOUNG KIDS.
SO THE POSITIONS ARE THERE.
THEY ARE JUST NOT AVAILABLE TO ATR'S.
If you saw the news today you know that Bloomberg is going for his third term. What does this mean for ATR's, you lose your job if you do not find a position after a year. And this will happen eventhough the union saya it will protect us.
Deals were made between Bloomberg and the City Council. The scandal from last spring with its members especially Quinn has disappeared.
When Richie Rich wants his way he gets it. And who is supposed to stop him the man is worth $2 billion and controls the media. So wake up brothers and sisters and do something to fight this.
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