Crain's reports that the New York City economy has produced jobs at a record pace the last two years. In writing about the wonderful job creation numbers for 2014 and 2015, Crain's has this explanation for their headline:
It's the best two years since good statistics began to be kept six decades ago.
How does Crain's feel about the city budget? Let's look at this line from the bottom of the same piece:
The employment surge is why the city’s tax revenues are soaring and why it can afford to bust the budget.
Record job creation, soaring tax revenues and the city can bust its budget but UFT President Michael Mulgrew told us in May of 2014 that the city's cupboard was bare. Mulgrew then rammed down our throats a contract that set the worst pattern raise of 10% total over 7 years for teachers and other city employees (now extended to 7 years, 1 month for UFT members to pay for retiree retroactive money). That is the smallest contractual pay hike for city employees since I started teaching in the mid eighties.
To make matters worse, Mulgrew forced us to wait to get the same 4% + 4% increases piecemeal that other city employees received from 2008-2010. Those raises will not be fully added to our pay until 2018. The money the city owes us from those years, that we already worked for, we are receiving in installments up through October of 2020. We are loaning the city our money that we earned years ago. The next payout won't come until October 2017.
Why should we have to make an interest free loan to the city when the city is doing better financially than ever?
Do you think the city is thanking us for being so generous to them? The answer is no as conditions in the schools are quite arguably worse than ever with teachers in many schools under attack, often from third rate administrators.
Shouldn't Mulgrew be held accountable for agreeing to these miserably inadequate terms of employment? He seems to be looking out for the city's interests instead of the workforce he is paid handsomely to represent. We can do something about it by voting Mulgrew and his group of Unity Caucus followers out office in the May 2016 UFT Election and voting in people who are experienced negotiators who won't sell you out again in 2018 when the next contract is due:
The MORE - NEW ACTION Slate!
7 comments:
What I told my beloved, yet mentally impaired, colleagues at the time was that the city is claiming hardship now, but what if they receive a windfall in the future (i.e. now-[time adjustment Marty Mcfly])and whatta ya know! they've got extra money and they're not legally obliged to return our money, because we signed it away!
Maybe New York's dumbest will get a brain and vote out Mulgrew.
The amount of money the city is making by delaying our raises and retro is in the billion! It's sickening how badly we are treated. Waiting until 2020 for raises and money you were owed in 2008 has to be able me of the worst, if not the worst deal in NYC labor history.
Throw in the health care givebacks and it is a total disaster for city public workers.
We should have gotten on the back of that line behind 150 other unions like Unity told us we would have to.
For me the money wasn't the major issue- it was the discrimination against ATRs written into the contract. I don't even see how such a thing was legal - but NYC teachers passed the contract by 77%. It's the anthesis of what a union should do and be. Your New Action treasurer nominee was in on it. I'm voting Solidarity, all the way.
Look at the totality of the MORE-New Action slate. It is the only way to vote in this election.
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