Thursday, August 25, 2016

TEACHER'S CHOICE FOR THIS YEAR IS $148

We finally know the dollar amount teachers get to spend for Teacher's Choice this year. It is $148. Save those receipts. You can spend the money between August 1, 2016 and January 15, 2017.

Last year we were entitled to $121. It is funny how the UFT is claiming a 27.5% increase in the program in their article on Teacher's Choice but their text to us says we are receiving 21% more as compared to last year. A comment yesterday pointed this out on this blog.

Are we just that ungrateful?

In October when you remember you will not be getting another dime back from the huge loan we gave to New York City of money other municipal union workers received between 2008 and 2010, just know your union worked so diligently to get you a $27 increase to spend on supplies this year.

We can surely wait another year to get another 12.5% of our money back from the loan we made to our beloved city and be patient until 2020 to be paid back in full with no interest. We can take pride in the fact that the city has so much extra revenue. Maybe they can use some of the money to hire more lawyers to up the number of teachers they fire or fine.

What a system? Please allow me to put the sarcasm aside and wish I had a union fighting for us rather than telling us the city is broke and we are lucky to have a job.

44 comments:

  1. At one time circa 2007 teacher's choice was $270. It is quite obvious we have a corrupt union leadership that spends more time advocating for the city more than teachers. Mulgrew is the only union leader in the universe that does not believe in retroactive pay. When teacher'struggle to pay their bills just think their union leader makes hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Didn't Mulgrew say at the January 2014 DA that we earned every penny of the 4 and 4? He is clueless as to why is popularity is dropping among the rank and file.

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  2. Another UFT win. Long live King Mulgrew and the beloved Unity party.

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  3. Mulgrew conducts himself in an unethical way by not fighting for teachers and agreeing with whatever the city wants. Skipping a year on the lump sum payments was a huge give in to the city.

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  4. The teachers deserve a lump sum payment this year. If Mulgrew truly understands the classroom today (and he doesn't) then he would be fighting for a payment this fall.

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  5. He got you $27 more in Teacher's Choice. That's leadership.

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  6. But Mulgrew was not able to deliver retroactive pay for ALL in service members on the previous pattern.

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  7. I bet Mulgrew is getting a lump sum payment under the table from the city.

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  8. Our Union is on the payroll of the Gates Foundation and the DNC. They are anti -teacher and pro education reform. Why they keep getting re-elected is beyond ignorant.

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  9. Mulgrew is corrupt and negotiated a terrible contract. He said we will go to the back of the line if it did not pass. What he did not say was that we were already at the end of the line for years thanks to him. We were TWO contracts behind because of him and most other unions were only ONE contract behind. Mikey did not say this. He cannot be trusted.

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  10. Question? Sorry to be off topic, but aren't we in the midst of negotiating another new evaluation system? http://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2016/06/10/new-york-states-teacher-evaluations-arent-going-anywhere-in-fact-theyre-getting-a-makeover-that-nobody-planned/#.V786GFeYdE4

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  11. Mulgrew probably got all his retro money upfront by agreeing to this lousy contract. How he could let the city skip a year and UFT members have to wait until 2017 to get a few pennies of their money. Meanwhile we pay our dues and get nothing in return. He will bow down and kiss the ass of the next mayor when he starts negotiating the next contract. One of the give backs will be a delay in the retro lump sum payments in 2018, 2019 and 2020. He will say it's okay that the city is broke. He needs to be voted out in the next election, but we can't wait that long. Big thrill. Teachers Choice got an extra 27. How much will the UFT dues go up to in 2017? Every time you get money that's coming to you the UFT dues go up.

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  12. You make a good point. When we received our last lump sum payment in October of 2015 our dues for that paycheck went up substantially. This is so unethical and corrupt but many members allow this to happen. Hopefully this fall many of them wake up when they realize that we are not getting a lump sum payment.

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  13. Is it just me, or does any one give a shit about any of this anymore? The UFT is just a propaganda machine that keeps spewing bullshit faster and deeper that any farmer in Idaho. What is the UFT doing with all that money? Tell every new teacher you can that it doesn't pay for dental, eye care or healthcare. They won't believe you. After they check it out, they'll ask 'What is the UFT doing with all that money?'. An independent accountant should audit their books. They're a pack of thieves.

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  14. All 5 out have to do is look at the deferred raises and lump sum payments to know the union is not working for us especially when it will take 11 years to make us whole.

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  15. The money isn't the important thing in this conversation. It's that UFT has allowed the gradual and systemic decrease of our rights as teachers for money. We sold them. 77% voted for the last contract. The UFT feels money is the most important thing for us, because it is for them. How much is your dignity as a person and a teacher worth? Our respect is gone in the eyes of the media, politicians, parents, administrators and students. If we start to say no to these paltry pseudo-raises and insist on getting rid of the ATR pool, non- stop meaningless PD, giving tenure in three years, having tenure mean something, having a fair evaluation process, standing up and helping those teachers that need help and striving to improve the teaching profession, it would force the UFT to be a real union. Teachers have to make a choice as to what is more important - self respect with fulfilling, important work at a fair wage or being treated like a piece of shit for a marginally better wage.

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  16. To 5:57 comment-
    The UFT is simply a make work organization, whose existence is to serve itself FIRST under the guise of serving NYC teachers. FIRST Mulgrew and his cronies get theirs, and then NYC teachers get the leftover scraps. The UFT has evolved into a sister bureaucracy to the DOE where double dipping and nepotism run rampant. And if you think about it, you really cant blame them. They're just doing what their dues paying members allow. The apathy and ignorance of NYC'S so called "Brightest" has led to their rise. This website should be required reading for every NYC teacher. Until then, I refer to these masses as "NYC's Dimmest"

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  17. If Freidrichs goes through they'll ( Unity) either listen to membership or lose their cash cow. Or a new union could be formed. Different chapters for elementary, JHS & HS

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  18. Friedrichs is done for a while.

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  19. We need to send a message to the politicians that if you continue with the old guard we will vote you out of office. DeBlasio should go along with Farina who is old guard.

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  20. And be replaced with who?

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  21. I think the UFT should keep the teachers choice money and hire more lawyers to fight for teachers rights, sue abusive administrators, and defend those brought up on 3020a charges. I would feel way more content with an army of powerful lawyers on our side than getting 150 bucks for some supplies.

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  22. That money isn't coming from the UFT! If it was we wouldn't get any of it. In fact they'd like you to donate all you can to them via COPE.

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  23. Get out of COPE. It is voluntary and members can easily get out of paying. Why contribute when we got a lousy contract with lump sum payments not retro and huge deferrals in salary adjustments. How can the union allow ATR's to be harassed by field supervisors?

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  24. Urge all COPE paying members to get out of COPE. It is a scam and members have not been supported in the classroom by he union. Why support the union when they do not support us?

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  25. I say de-certify the union. That will wake them up.

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  26. All ATRs, check SESIS. 6 schools posted for rotation. But we are lucky to have jobs...

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  27. The union is complicit in the abuse of the ATR's. Make Mulgrew an ATR for a year and see how long he lasts.

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  28. Just looked on SESIS. 6 schools are listed. Just got my ATR email, that says the first assignment lasts until 10/14 and after that may change weekly. Anyone know what the deal is with the 6 schools?

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  29. The union is self-serving and puts the interests of the city over the dues paying members.

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  30. Sadly, comment 11:02 is a good example of the ignorance of so many UFT members.

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  31. The 6 are probably our first 6 rotations.

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  32. Thought the same thing anon 2:06. My list isn't bad except for rotating to campus magnet and having to deal with cruz sometime in November. God Help Me!

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  33. Gold help jus all. The job just sucks. I'm sorry I got into this field. And I have nothing but satisfactory for almost 20 years.

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  34. Not only that we have a union leader that is corrupt to the core. Why do we have to wait all of these years for the lump sum payments when the city has BILLIONS of dollars in reserve.

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  35. The City has billions in surplus and can definitely give us some of the retro money they owe us in 2016, but the union agreed to have us wait until 2017 for a lousy 12 1/2 percent of what they owe us. The City is saving so much by doing giving us our reto in dribs and drabs through 2020. How many teachers will resign before that time? For every year they make us wait they save because teachers leave the DOE. Just like having retired members wait fir their reto. How many retirees will pass away before it's time for a lump sum payment and the families don't get the money. Our great union let this happen.

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  36. We have a disingenuous union leader who works for the city and does not advocate for us. We pay his salary with our dues and the best he can come up with are a bunch of IOU's for the rank and file.

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  37. If Jul grew were working for us we would not have lump sum longevity bonus payments. We would have retroactive pay.

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  38. We are not getting 12.5% in 2017. We will get 12.5% of what has accrued so far as if 4% of the 4%+4% where added back in 09/10 minus the 12.5% we were paid in 2015 of the 2% that was added to the pay scale. In other words much less than what the very misleading UFT created charts would have you believe. This sudden emergence of the term accrued thus far that occurred back when we got the first payment really should be a much bigger issue. It dramatically alters the payment schedule and back loads much worse than people grasp.

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  39. It is back loaded that way because they know so many will quit, be fired or die by 2020 so the city can keep the money.

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  40. Anonymous 8:09 you said it all. Mulgrew/UFT do what the city wants and to hell with all their dues paying members. The city has a surplus given to them by the sweat and tears of the working and retired UFT members. That surplus of money should be used to pay some of the lump sum payments in 2016 instead of making us wait until 2017. The city will say that the surplus is now being used to pay the retirees who retired after 7/1/14 their recalculated pensions. At least they are doing that. Members who retire now will have a pension amount which includes the two 4% retro raises from 09 & 10 included in their FAS. They still have to wait for the lump sum payments in 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020. UFT members need to get fed up enough to get Mulgrew out in the next election. It's lousy that he gets to negotiate another contract in 2018. How many years will members be without a contract before they settle the next contract? Is this tHe future of the UFT?

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  41. You can't vote him out. Read this blog. UFT elections cannot be won by anyone but Unity.

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