January-April 2017: $56.65 X 8 Checks = $453.20
May-August 2017: $58.31 X 8 Checks = $466.48
Sept-Dec 2017: $58.44 X 8 Checks = $467.52
Grand Total for Union Dues for 2017 = $1,387.20
That may actually be less than the actual total by a few dollars because of the way the UFT double dipped from the lump sum payment in October for the money we earned back from 2009-2011 that the city has only repaid us 25% up to now. Whichever way you slice it, union dues come to around to $1,400 per year or well over $100 a month.
Many say it is well worth it for the representation a union gives us even if we disagree with how the leadership runs the union. On our own without a union it is hard to imagine us making over $100,000 per year with a decent medical plan to teach in NYC. However, some contend that the UFT has left most teachers alone hung out to dry so teachers could do better representing themselves and saving the dues money. I disagree with this view.
I think the answer is to fix the UFT from within or form a better union but I believe we need a union to represent us collectively more now than ever before.
24 comments:
I agree, but to fix it, since they have abandoned us, we must tell them that if they don't start working for us we will pull dues. Lets see the new contract...the open market, atr buyout, etc...
What possibly makes you believe there will be gains in the next contract? Does anyone read anything written here?
2 OBSERVATIONS FOR TENURED TEACHERS AND GET RID OF DANIELSON!
I'm so impressed and proud of those teachers who are standing up for their rights by striking and/or taking over their state capital--now that's POWER.
Mulgrew is keenly aware that he represents mostly woman, and he is very shrewd to play those cards well. Unfortunately, most woman are passive when it comes to their worth in the workplace, hence their acceptance of 1% raises as far as the eye can see, and their approval of his work by re-electing the clown to another term.
I would like to see this union fall under the umbrella of NYPD,FDNY, etc. and then the ladies can just sit back and let people with BALLS take charge.
How about a buyout
teaching is a women's profession, for mothers especially. Also for women who want equal pay. you know I have often wondered about men who become teachers. some are nice guys, men who want to teach and serve but still others are suspect. cowards, maybe. aimless, maybe. we all know it is a man's world - why would a man become a teacher? I have often thought. must be hard for men like anon 12:36...i'll bet he is white, probably lives in a suburb - my guess LI, probably supports trump - last hope for this demographic. I work with many of these "men". you can smell the fear under the rage as they watch their world crumble around them - they fear for their sons. Hey anon, sad for you that you did not have the "balls" to be something else...Mulgrew is a so called man yet he can't act, probably just like you. About 25% of NYC teachers are male, I guess that is not enough to man meat to take charge.... maybe this post will inspire you to act or maybe you wont.
In the #me too era, women are stepping up. Look who is fighting in WV, OK and Kentucky. Go ladies. Now we need some N.Y. women to step up and kick guys like 12:36 right in the groin.
I'm a male teacher who has worked for the DOE since the 90's. I don't give 2 shits that i work with mostly women. This is not about gender. Both my male and female colleagues are sick of how the UFT has been treating us for the past 15 years. Males and females are equally vocal about our anger toward the UFT and the DOE. No need to play the gender card here.
The truth stings eh 3:51?
Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. Unity has proven they will let us suffer over and over. Now I must be proactive, I pull dues, let them react.
12:36 You have a point about teacher passivity in a female dominated profession but that point gets lost in your condescension. Why is the female dominated UFT membership more likely to accept givebacks and delayed retro and other insults as compared to male dominated unions such as FDNY and NYPD? Why is Patick Lynch willing to lead his officers in literally turning their backs at Mayor DeBlasio but Mulgrew prefers to cozy up to a mayor that treats us like crap? Do we accept it because we are mostly female? Are pittances offered to us because we are mostly female? Do the men I work with demand more or get more respect than I get in the workplace? Is it the profession--something about teachers in general-- that makes us willing to accept crap? Are those inclined to go into teaching more passive than those inclined to join other more male dominated professions? I have no problem with these types of questions. I think woman and men in this female dominated profession should be asking hard questions and doing some serious, honest thinking about the answers. Where you lost me and I suspect you lost most people is with your generlization that we are all "ladies" who should sit back and wait for a man with balls to rescue us. If you asked every single man walking the halls of my school which teacher in the building has the biggest balls, I guarantee you the name of a female teacher would fall from their lips and the men I work with have no problem with that fact. Like anonymous 4:20 they don't give a shit about the gender of their colleagues. They do give a shit about how we as a profession are constantly getting screwed by democrats and republicans. They recognize that DeBlasio, Cuomo and our own union have done nothing to show teachers they are respected and valued. In my school, like Anon 4:20's school, men and women are tired of the UFT shit sandwich that has been on the menu for 15 years. Roseanne McCosh
54 years after the the United States passed the Equal Pay Act, women in the US still face a substantial gender wage gap across the spectrum.
Today, on average, a woman earns 79 cents for every dollar a man earns, and women's median annual earnings are $10,800 less than men's, according to a report released by the Senate Joint Economic Committee Democratic Staff last April.
- Business Insider 2017
Unless NYC hits a crisis in teacher shortage, the UFT will continue to get crumbs, unless of course they really get aggressive and DEMAND pay parity with NYPD, FDNY and even Sanitation workers.
Why do you expect change to come from the UFT? The rank and file must demand that change. Union power comes from us, not the leadership. I wish everyone would understand this simple reality. Ultimately, we are responsible as we vote on these contracts.
FACT: Not a single UFT rep has come to visit our school since the new evaluation system in NYC was brokered right before Christmas break in 2016. I mean not a SINLGE ONE. I want to give an earful to any Unity rep that comes by my school and let him or her know that I and all the teachers at my school hate the current evaluation system. I have written letters and signed petitions and got plenty of people to vote for MORE in last 2 UFT elections. However, I want to speak in person to the UFT to let them know how I feel about being sold out on our 4 observations and the continued use of the Danielson rubric which was never designed to rate teachers in the first place.
Wage gap is a lie. Lots of toxic femininity here today.
TO anon 12:36, -
It is unfortunate you are a teacher. I feel very badly for the women in your life and particularly for the females in your classroom - having to be subjected to your misogynistic attitudes on a daily basis must be difficult for them. Get some help.
And to all the men who are good teachers, to all the men who support women, thank you we need you and we love you for it!
His last sentence was sexist, but, don’t be so quick to dismiss everything else he said. Even feminist literature mentions that women are less likely to advocate for their own economic self-interest.
I’ve seen *some* women lead well on economic issues (e.g. the ones who lead the WV strike). But, it is not the norm in NYC. The pseudo-enlightened liberals of NYC practice self-sabotage when it comes to bread-and-butter issues.
Remember, a female teacher always has the option to marry an investment banker or even a cop in order to achieve stability. Many prefer this route to rocking the boat. However, male teachers do not have the same option in our society. The undercurrent of resentment from male teachers stems from this fact. Dismissing the resentment as “toxic masculinity” only deepens it. A better tactic would be to recognize it and fight harder so that we all benefit. Stop throwing us, your male colleagues, under the bus with your narrow causes. If you need help finding a voice, look to the women of WV, OK, and Kentucky as inspiration. You probably spend more time looking down your noses at them because they aren’t yoga-loving Brooklyn-based neo-liberal borgs. That “enlightenment” is simply masked condescension which, ultimately, leads to self-sabotage. Take your nose out of the New Yorker Magazine and take a look at your student loan balance. You are working class whether you like it or not. And, if you prefer marrying rich to fighting for our professional dignity, than don’t be surprised if I wince when you hijack our union for your identity-based causes.
4:22-
Cut the crap. You know nothing about me and even less about yourself. If you were honest you would know that what I said is true, although I might have offended you in the way I said it.
Please. You’re mad at 12:36, but, you’re about as “woke” as an Ambien addict. Everything he said is true, but, his Iil-advised comment about testicles threw you into a man hating rage. To you he’s not a real man because he’s a teacher. In your mind, a “real man” is one like your husband with a “real job” that pays more than yours. And, then you throw something in about equal pay. Nothing about that mentality seems like tortured logic to you. Hence, here we are, with a crappy union, eroding benefits, and lousy working conditions.
Your response is actually why we don’t see NY women stepping up. When given the opportunity, you step-up, you turn sideways, and you kick your coworker in the nuts while shouting “#MeToo!” Meanwhile, your boss laughs his head off at the whole spectacle, gives you a crappy raise, and snorts “yeah, you too.”
To the woke womyn: I was born a white man but now identify as a womyn of color. Can I join your movement?
Nice reply!
At 5:45am...no
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