Maybe Capital NY is not your first choice for summer reading but there are two articles that caught my eye this morning.
First, there is a piece today showing that UFT retirements increased substantially at the end of this school year compared to the last three. Did teachers take their contract money and run? Of course they did as those who retired by June 30 will receive their 2009-2011 payments in a lump sum now rather than waiting until from 2015-2020 to get the money. My favorite line in this article is the comment from our esteemed mayor's office: "A spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio said the increased retirement rate is not entirely related to the contract."
Another term worth noting is that the city is now referring to the money they owe us from 2009-2011 as "restructured payments" and not retroactive pay so as not to have to worry about paying people who resign, die or are forced out of the system.
While reading the retirement article, I noticed there was a link to another interesting piece where city Labor Commissioner Rob Linn explained how he expected to get the savings in healthcare to pay for our contracts. As stated yesterday before I looked at this article, chances are we will see changes to benefits as opposed to us paying healthcare premiums.
Linn worked out a similar deal for Local 1199 a few years back. Here is how benefits could change. Linn mentioned mail order prescriptions which UFT members already do. "Linn also said 1199 saved money by getting its members to agree to central X-rays and blood work, rather than in doctors' offices."
Let's see what they come up with for us. Three out of four teachers voted to let them figure it out.
1 comment:
I wrote about the non-retro Retro before the vote: The Phrase "Retroactive Payment" is not in the MoA
It was never retro, always an amount similar to what retro would have been. And, as you note, making all sorts of people ineligible.
Jonathan
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