It is six weeks with full pay and if accrued sick days are used, it can be longer,up to 12-14 weeks. That is a gain but please note it is parental leave and not the expansive paid family leave (taking care of sick relatives) that the state mandated in the private sector.
- The cost will be paid for, not by the city, but by all active UFT members. We will achieve the savings by extending the present contract by another 73 days.
Therefore, the current contract raises are now 10% total salary increases for a total of 7 years and 3 months and 13 days (we already extended a month to pay retro for 2009-2014 retirees). The average raise for the present contract is now down to 1.37% per year. Mulgrew set the worst pattern ever and it only continues to get worse. That is not a misprint.
Any increase in the next contract will be delayed until mid February 2019 so you now have almost 30% of a year of another 0% increase. Remember, the contract originally ended in October 2018.
City must be broke again? No, they have surpluses as far as the eye can see ($8 billion) but UFT membership will pay the price once again.
Also, for anyone who says I am unrealistic expecting the city to pay for this, city government in Seattle pays for paid family leave for city workers; union members do not. Don't forget it's paid family leave so anyone can use it to care for a sick family member. It's not just for parents out in Seattle.
A real union fights for benefits like paid parental leave that the employer pays for. A union like the UFT sends its members the bill.
For prospective parents, I say take advantage of the six weeks and bond with your babies but please think of all the rest of your colleagues who are paying for it.
90 comments:
I dont want to write what was already written in the previous post...But this is awful.
Yeah, that's up to 20 replies already. If you assume a 2% raise on someone making 100k yearly, thats like an additional loss of $500, multiplies by 80K teachers, plus paras, plus school aides. Wow, we lost that deal.
By extending the contract into the 2nd term we just guaranteed another year of Danielson and the rest of our wonderful evaluation system.
Also the disingenuous UFT will say we didn't pay for it. This despite, assuming a 2% raise was in order, you're losing about half a percent by accepting a 3 month zero.
Do teachers have to exhaust their CAR before taking the paid leave?
yes. Another scam.
I updated the post with information from Seattle where the city government foots the bill for paid family leave for city employees. Please don't say I am being unrealistic asking for NYC to kick in the money when the city has an $8 billion surplus.
QUESTION: HOW THE FUCK CAN THE UFT DO THIS WITHOUT A RANK AND FILE VOTE? This is a change to our contract, it is a change to our working conditions, and it is a change to our salary. Is a lawsuit possible over this? I friggin' knew all along that we were going to have to pay for this crap. Now teachers who are choosing to never have kids or who are not having any further children will be fronting the bill for all the female teachers who CHOOSE to get pregnant. I hope no pregnant teachers are expecting congratulation hugs from me come next year. Lastly, this "paid" leave is only for one year. What is going to happen in September of 2020? Hey Mulgrew, I hated your guts in the past, now I really, really, hate your guts.
This is an abomination. From now on there will be a massive rift between teachers that want to have kids and teachers who do not want kids. The precedent has been set.
Oh yeah, what ever happened to Mulgrew's word of "no givebacks on paid maternity leave"? It is now beyond obvious that we can not trust that snake of a union president.
So the city sat down and said...Ok, so the teachers will burn all their sick days, then all the teachers will pay 51 million dollars for more time off, which is for 4,000 out of 120,000 members.
Pretty much sums it up? Where did you get $51 million figure from?
I read it as the total cost
Where in the law does it say there has to be a vote? Delegates represent us.
The day I get my check with the last of the retro pay (from ten years ago) is the day I quit. It would be tomorrow but I want that 35 grand they owe me and I have already put up with more for less so, when that day comes SEE YA LATER DOE SHITHOLE!!!! Beyond ridiculous , how could they leave off the family part?????? So So So done!!! Can't wait till the UFT feels my pain when I yank my dues. I have agreed with you for a long time on staying in the union James but c'mon we are closer day by day to not having one anyway. Hard to stick by a union who is union in name only.
Hey anno 4:14, the delegates represent us at the delegate assembly. They work to create contracts or changes to the contract with the DOE that SHOULD be ratified by every teacher in the rank and file via a vote. This shit that Mulgrew pulled is a major scam. We should have a say in this. A handful of teachers will benefit from this but 100% of the teachers are paying for it. You know what I would like to see? I would like to see every, single, female teacher in NYC getting pregnant at the same time. That would "cost" the city nothing, right?
So much noise NOW that you all feel the pain of having the Union agree to something that YOU didn't vote for. How about ATR agreements? We never voted on that, or the rotations, or the roving supervisors, or the teaching out of license or watching new teachers get hired while we hold those licenses. We aren't allowed our own chapter either. We have different rules than all other teachers while the majority of ATRs have done nothing wrong.
But this hits YOUR pocket so you all complain.
Oh, yeah, and the majority of ATRs are over 50 so they won't be taking advantage of paid maternity leave.
I hope that there are at least a few delegates at the DA who will vote this shitty idea down. This leave is being paid for by all the teachers in NYC. Only a handful benefit but 100% of us are paying for it. Mulgrew and DeBlasio are spinning this as a true "paid" leave. It is nothing of the sort. This idea sells out every teacher in NYC who either is not on ever having kids or will not be having kids next school year. Mugrew has some serious balls pulling this shit. We need to spread the word that this "paid" leave is a scam. I would love to see someone who is awesome at math create a flyer that we can distribute at our schools showing how much this is actually going to cost every teacher in NYC. Then we will see how happy everyone is.
And its not because you have to use your sick bank anyway and FIRST. We lose twice.
Great job to those IDIOT teachers that started this.
If you had only put this much effort into repealing APPR or making noise about bad admins.
Enjoy your paid leave.
FA approved it already. Mulgrew said this will not change any future raise. Well, first, we paid for it, we all already paid for it. 2nd, this should have been part of a nice new deal, then people may be more accepting of it. All we did today was guarantee 3 mobths of zero.
DA
When Mulgrew gets in with the city, we get screwed. Nothing new here.
These comments are ridiculous. In exchange for 73 days worth of a raise, teachers get a benefit that they will NEVER give back. That's an amazing benefit and a great deal. Save the belly-achinng for January.
So, based on the UFT's own info (http://www.uft.org/news/faq-paid-parental-leave), we really got a shit deal:
1. There's no real benefit. Parents still have to use their available CAR Days before the paid leave kicks in. This was the ONE specific problem with the current leave system! Why do mothers still have to empty their CAR before they can use paid parental leave? Why can't fathers use their CAR to extend their parental leave if they choose to?
2. The city is paying for NOTHING. The DOE will consider this an unpaid leave. UFT Members are paying the salaries of the parents on leave through the Welfare Fund. What is the city contributing to make parental leave possible?
3. If both parents are UFT Members, they receive 6 weeks TOTAL, rather than 6 weeks each. Why are parents being penalized if both work for the DOE? Why won't each parent receive their own 6 weeks?
In sum, the UFT didn't fix the ONE big problem with the current leave system (use of CAR days), the city is paying $0 as the money comes from the UFT Welfare Fund, parents who are both DOE Employees are penalized, and for all of this we gave away another 3 months under the same terrible 2014 contract.
With a negotiating team like this, they won't need my dues money anymore!
Who said this is only for a year? That just can't be true. If the average teacher salary is $100k then this cost about $40,000,000. There's no way we just paid that much money for a couple hundred teachers to take an extra 6 weeks off. That would probably cost less than $15000 per teacher. I'd guess a max of $6,000,000 in actual salary for the year. These are just guesses as I don't know real numbers.
Great deal if you are one of the people getting the benefit. How about the teachers who toiled for years who the benefit does not apply to. Seems the venefits are going to the young while screwing the old.
How about teachers like me who made the choice to NEVER have kids at all? I'm loosing future raise money to fund the choices of other teachers to get pregnant. This is the fundamental flaw with this. It is a totally unfair system.
Do I have to return from parental leave?
who
Yes. Following parental leave, a member can take child care leave. The member must return to active service for a total of 12 calendar months. An employee who does not return to active service for 12 calendar months will be required to pay back the parental leave benefit.
There are teachers who are parents take child care leave and never come back. Don't take this union leave if you might not ever return after child care leave.
The more you read about this, the stench just starts to grow.
At the DA tonight, Mulgrew said two things that don't make any sense to me.
1: "No loss of raises." Obviously, the benefit to the City of extending the contract is to delay raises, effectively reducing our pay during the next fiscal year.
Turns out that 73 is exactly .2% of 365.
Let's assume an average DOE salary of 80,000. (Is there a more accurate figure? I can't find average DOE salary online.)
For a 1% raise, that's a .2% reduction. On average, that's $160 per member.
For a 2% raise, that's a .4% reduction. On average, that's $320 per member.
And a 3% raise, that's a .6% reduction. On average, that's $480 per member.
2: The more confusing part, he says, "We're not getting fleeced, we are paying exactly what the benefit costs." Without contract negotiations still ongoing, we can't possibly know what kind of raises we are delaying, and so we can't know the cost of this agreement. As you can see above, the difference between a 1% and a 3% raise is triple! The only thing that makes sense to me is that the DOE and the UFT secretly agreed that no matter what raises are negotiated over the course of the contract, the very first raise in the contract will be an agreed upon amount.
*"With contract negotiations still ongoing..."
I am ashamed of each and everyone of the posters above. All about me. Glad you weren’t around during Ocean Hill - Brownsville because we would have be broken by the lack of solidarity. A union is about all of us. This is a great new benefit for our future. We gave a new benefit to our future brothers and sisters.
None of us use every benefit. Some of us will never need glasses. Some have sworn off medications for religious reason. Most members are never seriously disciplined. The union is still there.
James Original post is most vile coming from a retiree. He should think about it. It explains why he was never elected to high office. He does not understand trade unionism and bargaining whatsoever.
In decades to come this benefit will be used by countless and other unions will join in too. I am not having children either but I will be glad to pay.
Tonite look at Donald Trump and then look at the UFT. We are on the right side of history. If it cost us a few bucks or even more than a few bucks, it is something to be proud of.
Interesting and insightful posts. I hope UNITY is reading this, not that they care. People have been voicing these sentiments on this and corresponding blogs for a long time now and still UNITY feels confident to shove this down our collective throats. Even with Janus looming they don't listen. They will spin this as a win and from my experience most (especially Elementary members) will never hear anything but their spin. I am elementary, and I talk union issues with other members all the time only to have them look at me like a deer in headlights when I bring up the same topics at later dates. Feels hopeless. I don't agree with those on this blog who have a I'm unwilling to pay anything view about maternity. It would and should have been funded by the city because it's the right thing to do. But, at a minimum the costs should have been shared. And to not address the obliteration of CAR days, which I have found in my own personal conversations with the moms in my building to be the number one issue they wanted to see fixed, is criminal. I don't see how any victory can be declared without addressing this issue. If UNITY had said the only way we could get a win on the CAR issue was fund it ourselves I might feel differently, but at this moment feels like a loss.
8:40 and others:
The fight is not about grapes and lettuce, it is always about the people - Chavez
The people won today, parents and babies.
I'm curious- and not sure if anybody knows the answer to this- but does the paid leave come out of the principal's budget? We have 7 or 8 preggos who are all due in the fall. We already excessed two teachers, and perhaps more to come.
Just one more reason to pull my dues when the opportunity arises. At least I'll recoup this TAX that Mulgrew and DiBLAHsio just slapped me with.
I can't WAIT until people like you leave my union and the benefits apply only to members.
People sacrificed in the 60's so I can have a duty free lunch....I will gladly make this sacrifice for our moms and dads
You do NOT have to exhaust your CAR days. That is optional. From the UFT website FAQ:
"Option B is the new parental leave. If you choose the new leave, you do not have to borrow days, as you will be paid for six weeks."
Mulgrew was asked if non-union people get the benefit and he misunderstood the question and said they don't get it and the place erupted in cheers -- people assumed he meant those who leave post_Janus -- but he meant those DOE people who are in other unions.
8:40:
I agree, I hope Unity is reading this too.
Shows exactly why Unity has won all these years and ICE has lost. Unity is thinking about all their members, now and in the future.
ICE is worried about esoteric “points or order” and a delayed raise that amounts to beer money while Unity is thinking about the babies.
I'm going to foster babies every year until I retire...lol
Is the 6 weeks pensionable? I assume it isn’t since the city isn’t paying us. Another scam to put retirement further out of reach!
You want to get your leadership to listen. Hold back your dues. Change will come when you hurt them in the pocketbook. Get 25 percent to hold dues post Janus and you will then get your Union back otherwise continue to be screwed.
9:58
And the Koch Brothers come out of their hole.
Do I have to exhaust my CAR first or not?
It is very unclear on whether you must use your CAR days or not. That would change the whole dynamic of the agreement. I am a man, if I get the 6 weeks and keep my CAR, I would not mind.
I think you do have to use your CAR days first as a teacher, from what Mulgrew said tonight.
You absolutely have to use your CAR days first, read what the UFT website says.
11:09
Hope you are not a reading comprehension teacher. That is not what the UFT website assays at all. Please read passage again.
Certainly Dads can’t use CAR days. CAR days are for medical recovery. Only the delivering parent can use CAR days.
Dads parental leave starts right away. It says teachers may use CAR days. May, May, May - but that is only for the birth parent.
If you want 7 weeks, you use a week of CAR, then paid leave. If you want 6 weeks, just paid leave.
The CAR point I do not have a definitive answer for. There is no Memorandum of Agreement online and to my knowledge there was none handed out at DA either.I would have abstained today if that is the case. I don't vote on agreements I don't see.
The person saying I don't understand trade unionism is dead wrong.A city with an $8 billion surplus can afford to pay what one commenter called beer money. The fact that we can't get the city to pay that says volumes about the state of unions today.
Wow, some of you forgot what a UNION is. It is for the shared good. I may not benefit, but others will.
Do you really think we would’ve had a deal when the contract ended? We never have. Well, we wouldn’t have one and the amount we lose is ONE time… And, yes, I can do math, it’s tiny compared what it could have been. We aren’t losing sick days or adding days to our schedule. A couple of months in a 30 year teaching career is nothing.
The City pays into the Welfare Fund, so I think that part was to force people to be union members, which is smart for a union trying to keep people in the union. You may not like it, but it is clever.
I also think this will eventually lead to a real family leave— not just babies— it will be the next step.
I expected a lot worse. Grow up and stop being so bitter.
I’m not UNITY, so don’t go there.
James:
There is one pool of money. It is all the City’s money. They are not giving something for nothing.
This is not “A Few Good Men” where if you ask the Colonel nicely you get everything you want.
If the “city” just paid for it, they would get it back somewhere else.
By the way, how does the city have an $ 8 billion surplus when everything is broken. The surplus is a financial trick there is no extra money.
Have you seen the city's economy? More jobs created than ever before. It is booming. Don't give me the there is no money argument. It is absurd.
Please explain how Seattle managed to find money to pay for the much more inclusive paid family leave for city employees that anyone can use to take care of a sick relative?
It is priorities. We aren't one. We are weak.
The first 11:41 makes some interesting points. You are making the it could have been worse argument. True when Unity is involved.
I remember Mulgrew saying city can't figure cost for paid family leave because they think we would all use it.
What has changed? It isn't coming.
Finally, I am happy for parents who will benefit. I heard from someone tonight. That said, I thought the reason to have a union was to make gains. Trading a delayed raise for a benefit is a wash.
I repeat, since the city has an $8 billion surplus, why should we have to pay anything for this benefit? A real answer please. The surplus isn't real doesn't cut it. Enlighten me.
By extending the current contract by several months our current raises are diminished due to this ill-thought out leave debacle. We should hear today or on Monday about the JANUS Supreme Court decision. The Unity UFT will see a loss of dues-paying members over this plan. This is another classic example of the 52 Bway decision-makers following Randi's lead of promising "we will never give back from our contract...". The leadership has a sad history of givebacks unlike other city unions who are flush with money and increased raises.
Anon 7:20
1. NOOOOOO. You dont have to use your CAR days. What ARE you smoming?
2. The city pays for the Welfare Fund. Not us.
3. They currently get norhing, right? Ok? So they have a new benefit, right? Ok.
In sum? You can't add. This deal is cheap and awesome. If THIS upsets you, then PLEASE leave my union. We'd be better off anyway.
That you'll have to work another 6 weeks in a few decades is a scam?? David, I think that criticism is a scam. That's ridiculous. 6 weeks? Are you listening to yourself?
6 weeks??????
No
It is super clear. You do do not.
No.
You absolutely do not. Get a reading tutor.
Mikey ‘givebacks’ mulgrew is in the mayor’s back pocket.
The mayor knows that too.
Mulgrew does not care about members. He cares about PR.
The papers and city hall will praise him.
Mikey givebacks may be a worse leader than Randi ‘we should be happy to have jobs’ weingarten
How ignorant can people be thinking this is a good deal? Teachers are in fact paying for this via lost future wages from the 3 months of the extended contract. THIS DEAL SET A PRECEDENT! The precedent is that every single teacher in NYC will have to "pay" for this "paid" leave in some form of givebacks for the rest of his or her career. Anybody who thinks this deal is a one time payment is crazy. We will all be paying for it forever. The fact is that only about 10% of teachers will use the"paid" leave each year but 100% of us will pay for it. Do the math: Even if a brand new teacher has 3 kids in his or her career, the amount that that teacher will have to pay into it will far exceed the benefit of missing out on a total of 36 weeks of leave. (6 weeks per kid equals 36 weeks total of paid leave) This is because new teachers have to work till they are 65 to collect a pension. Thus, the benefit is not worth the cost in the long run. However, that is not what burns me up. What really pisses me off is that teachers who dot want kids of their own, and teachers who are already are done with having kids will be forced to "pay" for the leave of teachers who do get pregnant and go on leave. And please do not tell me this is the same as eyeglasses which we all pay for but do not use. This is different in that that getting pregnant is a choice. I may not need glasses now but I may in the future. I know that I do not want kids and know that I will never want them. Why should I pay for others to get pregnant and take time off? People should make sound financial choices in raising a kid. It is not right to expect others to support your lifestyle choices. And yes, having a kid is a lifestyle choice. There is no rule that says everyone needs to turn 25 and have a kid.
My bad! Bad math, I meant that a teacher having 3 kids will get paid leave for 18 weeks in his or her career. That is a mere 18 weeks of paid leave that will have to be paid for over an entire career via smaller wages now that the precedent has been set.
Mulgrew has never. We Did It, and we got the city to agree. Duh. We paid for all of it, and then some. Its like we saying, we did it, me and the mercedes dealer made a great deal, and he gave me a car, or I just bought the car.
The car analogy works.I have slept a few hours and am looking at everything with some fresh eyes.
Only birth mothers being permitted to use CAR days in the first few weeks assumes that the mother is not taking off to bond with the baby, but is recovering from the illness of childbirth, an extra two weeks for a C Section. The six weeks UFT members are paying for are in addition to CAR. I don't think one has to use CAR days but why wouldn't you if you have them? You stay on payroll, accrue time and still get a sick day or two added to the bank.
Once you go on Option B, if I read this right(I didn't see the MOA), you are on an unpaid leave from the DOE where they are paying for your health benefits kind of like a FMLA but with pay from your union brothers and sisters.
I have one question for those that Norm calls the Unity apologists that I will make into a separate post: How did UUP (SUNY professors and others) manage to get the much more generous family leave benefit, which any employee could use for childcare or care for a sick relative, when the state really does not have a great budget situation? This was part of the UUP contract settlement last month with SUNY where Cuomo intervened. Expansive family leave in addition to raises. Pattern set with state workers is that family leave is a benefit employees get along with raises. In NYC, The UFT just set a precedent that employees have to pay for a narrow parental leave benefit themselves while the city is swimming in surpluses.
We would have to pay for any expansive family leave benefit ourselves too.
From the FAQ:
I copied this right from UFT FAQ.
Option A is to take the traditional maternity leave including any applicable right to borrow days and/or use a grace period.
Option B is the new parental leave. Under Option B, immediately following the birth of a child (the day of the birth), the delivering parent may use available CAR days. Following the use of CAR days for up to six or eight weeks, the birth mother can use parental leave for a period of up to an additional six weeks — for a total of 12 to 14 weeks.
It says may use CAR days. You definitely don't have to borrow.
The UFT should consider adding extra money to the signing bonus when we have a contract. I will also consider stepping away from the UFT, at least for a year.
I would be OK with this paid parental leave if I was supported by the UFT. Ten to twelve hour work days, additional school work completed on weekends, non-paid after school meetings, non-stop paperwork; lesson plans, differentiated lesson plans, unit plans, project plans, actionable feedback, non-paid summer workshops, parent communication logs, Student Improvement Plans, lesson modifications, test modifications, no reimbursement for parking and tolls for workshops I am told to attend, numerous observations, berated by supervisors, immoral administrators, verbally abused by students, etc. It just wasn't this bad 15 years ago.
I have approached my CL several times. I am told to put up or get out. So, I do put up. I have bills to pay and a family.
I would be laughing if this wasnt so sick and sad. The other sad part, teachers are too stupid to even understand this, just like the 2014 contract. I bring it up, i get the "huh, what, you lyin, what that mean."
And most of the Delegatea have taken loyalty oaths not to disagree with UNITY leadership so there you go!
Agree with 738, in my 20 years, the basic intelligence of the average teacher has totally gone into the toilet. you could say the most basic of things, and you get that "what" and "huh" as referenced above. Its not teaching ability, has nothing to do with that, I just expect ability as an adult with a masters degree to hold a conversation and understand English.
So the city is saving by not giving us a raise? But the UFT is paying the parental leave? So I'm assuming the city will give the UFT the money we would have received between November and February. So did Mulgrew just figure out how to get a free loan to keep the UFT afloat if Janus turns out bad and we lose people? Uft would get ten of millions up front, but would only pay out a little each year.
8:18 Anonymous, I have to agree with you, but as a ten year teacher, I have to say it seems like the younger staff are the articulate ones and older staff can hardly spell things correctly when they write on the board.
If this really costs us $300-$500, then I'm happy to sacrifice a little to help others even though I already had my two kids and lost 12 weeks of pay on paternity. Also pushed back my retirement by 12 weeks. I'm just afraid there was a secret deal to give is smaller raises going forward. That will cost us more than the benefit most would get.
We have no idea about what we would have gotten. What im saying is if they agreed on 2% per year and the first 2% came on feb 15 instead of nov 30, i think people would have been ok. But we got nothing, and are still in total flux, and they made the 2014 deal, amazingly, worse.
You know what boggles my mind? I'll tell ya'. Everyone thinks that this "paid" leave is going to eventually be permanently "free". I ask why would people think that? The fact is that our contract is being extended by 3 months means we are losing potential future salary for those 3 months if we had gotten a raise like we should have come November. If the City wants to make this permanent why did they not have us sign a multi year contract with raises in it along with the "paid" leave? What I am getting at is that I will bet that come February, when the contract is finally over and we have a new one lined up, there will be future financial givebacks to fund this for the next few years. Will we now always have an extended contract? I wonder what scheme the UFT/DOE has in mind. But trust me, this may be a one shot deal or it will be something that will have to be funded permanently on the backs of teachers for the rest of their careers. Oh yeah, I just read the NYC Educator blog who is pissed that teachers are saying that having kids is a choice. NYC Educator says that "breathing is a choice". Well, that is the lamest thing I have heard in a long time. Breathing is involuntary as any graduate of a 7th grade science class will tell you. The fact is that having kids is a choice. As such, the only people who should be paying for the paid leave is mothers and fathers who are planning on having kids. The UFT/DOE should set up a buy in plan for it. The bottom line is that this entire "paid" leave is going to benefit a small percentage of teachers off the backs of the majority who will never use the benefit but have to pay for it anyway. Maybe we should all get free leave to raise and housebreak a new puppy. Call me crazy, but my dogs ARE my family.
How can you say we lost in this deal, we are teachers 75% woman, I have my children already but new mothers deserve this time. I don't mind putting in money for them.
I ask the UFT about the CAR days you don't have to use them. You can if you want but, you get 6 weeks paid with or without the CAR days.
Hey anno 7:09: It is great that you don't mind putting in money for your fellow pregnant teachers. However, there are PLENTY of teachers who do mind. Our society is so in tune with gay rights, and parent rights, and single parent rights. But what about child free by choice rights? I do have a big problem with paying for my fellow teachers who did not save up enough money of their own to raise a child. Why should I or any other teacher have to front the bill for a parent who willingly chose to refrain from using birth control and decided to have a kid that she or he can not afford? I would love to hear your logic on this.
Lol...ouch
The city should pay. They have plenty of money to spare.
Anon 7:53... Do you have a problem with requiring people without kids to pay towards school taxes?
The whole point of a union is that we can be a powerful force only if we stick together. Playing this game of "I'll only fight for me and the rest of my colleagues can go screw themselves" only allows our enemies to divide us. By that logic, we should never made concessions to prevent pregnant teachers from being fired, as they were 100 years ago.
You also seem to conflate not being OK with having to give up 30 or 40 sick days to have a kid (that's, of course, if you are a woman; if you are a man, you don't even get to spend more than a day or two caring for your newborn) with 'deciding to have kid that she or he cannot afford'. That's a ridiculous comparison -- do you really think it's reasonable to have to go 4 years without ever being sick just to have a goddamn baby?
Powerful force if we stick together in union. Definitely. The union's job is to get the best deal out of the city. City has $8 billion in surplus funds. They should pay for this benefit, not union members. Why make concessions when city is doing better than ever financially? Nobody has answered that simple question.
This debate is a great window into why UNITY has so much power...because if you are a reasonable, critically thinking teacher who is passionate about unionism and about making teaching a better profession to be a part of, you just cannot win.
Look at the comments above:
- You can go with the UNITY hacks, fight for a few things that will make a difference to teachers (while ignoring a lot more concerns), turn a blind eye towards real democracy within the union, and allow far too many givebacks along the way...
- Or you can go with a bunch of self-absorbed haters who will fight only for themselves, stab you in the back if your needs don't completely overlap with theirs, complain about anything and everything the UNITY hacks do or say (even on the rare event that they actually do get us a real win), and that, when it comes down to it, really don't give two shits about making teaching a profession that's worth joining
So who can I trust if: (a) UNITY people will tell me every shitty deal is a great one, and (b) the anti-UNITY complainer crowd will complain about every deal, good or bad? I guess the only difference is that the UNITY people will at least pretend that they care about me and want to help me while they're fucking me over, while the complainer crowd will proudly come on this board and post (anonymously, of course, probably without being able to resist throwing in a sexist or racist comment, because why not?) all about how they twisted the knife when they stabbed me in the back.
It must be very frustrating for good teacher advocates like James or Arthur trying to make a difference when they're surrounded by two different polar opposite groups of idiots feuding with each other while the quality of life for the noblest profession turns to shit.
11:00, Thank you for a well thought out comment. I get frustrated with certain anonymous comments too but I think it is a small number of people who repeat themselves. I understand the anger and wish I could do more to advocate for teachers so teachers would feel confident enough to be militant in their own enlightened interest.
Extending the contract to pay for this is not a victory. Delayed raises mean we the members are paying for this. We can argue in circles about wanting to pay for it, the fairness of it etc... but the fact is the money for paid leave is coming out of our pockets. It's a negotiated deal where everyone sacrifices their hard earned money to those who want to take this leave. Debate the merits of it all you want but let's be clear we the members are paying for it so it's not a gain, it's a trade-off . Roseanne McCosh
I don't mind donating a little money in exchange for the parental leave. I don't mind helping out new parents and their children. The UFT also donates money to Planned Parenthood which is contrary to parental anything. Although, I think this is absurd, I have stuck with the UFT.
I think this "It's all about me" mentality is yet another remnant of the Bloomberg legacy and it is pervasive in the UFT, the DOE, and in the schools. It is heartbreaking to live through the demise.
Like idiots and robots.
Mulgrew has sold veteran teachers out.
The DOE will still be allowed to have two lists of ATRs. The first list for ATRs who came from closing schools or programs and the other for ATRs who survived their 3020-a discipline hearings. Based on past placements, the DOE only recommends hiring from the first list and only when there are no ATRs left on the first list will ATRs who won their 3020-a termination hearings be offered a vacancy. To ensure that ATRs who won their 3020-a hearings are not offered a position, the Scarlet Letter (red flag) remains on their file for principals to see, even when the ATR was found not to have committed the charge. The average age of an ATR is around 53, so this qualifies as age discrimination. Many fellow teachers that are being hired have not completed their masters, or are completely inexperienced. There are rumors that Tweed had encouraged Principals to target their more senior staff, and field supervisors are also coming with an agenda.
Post a Comment