The Council of Supervisors and Administrators (CSA is the union for principals and assistant principals) has settled their contract. They basically accepted the same terms as the UFT. This is what the city's press release says:
"The proposed nine-year, one-month, 15-day contract with CSA would begin, retroactively, on March 6, 2010 and expire on April 20, 2019 and include an average of 2 percent per year in raises over the life of the contract."
In addition, CSA members will get back pay for the two annual 4% raises from the last round of collective bargaining that former Mayor Michael Bloomberg denied to them. Those payments will be stretched out through 2021. Those who go from UFT to administrator will get the back pay. That was supposedly a sticking point.
Here is my favorite part of the press release:
"Even after the City’s budget factored in the pattern settlement for the first time since the contracts were left open in 2009, out-year gaps remained well below the historical average under prior administrations."
Translation: The city has plenty of money and the unions could have done better in this round of bargaining.
The city always forecasts a dire budget picture for the future (the out years) and then amazingly money appears and things are fine. This happens in good times and even sometimes in bad times.
As the economic outlook keeps improving now that we seem to be fully emerging from the Great Recession, it took some really poor negotiating skills on the part of municipal labor to get us where we are.
Who set that municipal labor pattern of 10% increases over 7 years and waiting for years to receive back pay from the last round of bargaining with the city? The UFT of course. We are certainly doing our part to balance the books and keep inflation in check.
One other point: I read the press release kind of quickly but I didn't see where the interest for CSA members who are in the fixed TDA was being reduced from 8.25% to 7% like the UFT agreed to do in 2009 but maybe I missed it. Or perhaps that was an exclusive UFT giveback.
10 comments:
Right- NYC 's. "Brightest" aint too swift led by that dolt Michael Mulgrew.
Btw- That take down from 8.25 to 7% cost us tens of thousands of dollars over the span of a career.
And "the brightest" barely even noticed.
I thought the reduction from 8.25% to 7% was determined by the state legislature and was not part of collective bargaining.
UFT agreed with the city to support a change in the state law that reduced the interest we get from 8.25% to 7% on the fixed TDA. In exchange, we got back the two days before Labor Day added back to summer vacation. We gave those two days away in 2005. Change in interest saved the city $2 billion.
When attempting to explain the huge loss that the take down from 8.25% to 7% represented to the members, particularly over a lifetime, one of our brightest called out at a chapter meeting, "I don't care, I don't put my money in fixed."
This is one of the fine reasons that Unity keeps a stranglehold on the members.
Wrong. The "brightest either vote for Unity or most don't vote in UFT elections. We do this to ourselves.
This is the typical sceneario led by our talented and skilled negotiators at the UFT:
We lose something and then give something of bigger value away to get back what we originally lost.
Brilliant!
You got that right.
If Cuomo calls a constitutional convention they can reduce the rate down from 7% to anything they want. This would be a way for Cuomo to continue his war on teachers and claim big savings. His major problem would be uniformed union resistance.
He will just reduce payments for teachers and exempt uniforms. Easily done.
If they lower the interest can we take our money out without penalty?
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