Thursday, October 11, 2018

NEW UFT CONTRACT TEACHER RAISES BROKEN DOWN

Dates                                                                                     Salary Increases
October 31, 2018 - Feb13, 2019  (3.5 months)                 0% *
                                                                                 

Feb 14, 2019 -  Feb 13, 2020                                                    2%

Feb 14, 2020 - May 13, 2020  (3 months)                            0%

May 14, 2020 - May 13, 2021                                                 2.5%

May 14, 2021 - May 13, 2022                                                    3%

May 14, 2022 - Sept 13, 2022   (4 Months)                          0%  
Total:  46.5 Months                                                                   7.5%

7.5% compounded will be a little more. The increases amount to about 1.94% annually.

There are also healthcare givebacks UFT members will vote on where new teachers have to go on HIP for year one and all of us have to go to non hospital settings for certain procedures.

We also still have to wait until 2019 and 2020 to get the final two payments back from the interest free loan we made to the city in the last contract. In addition, we are paying union dues on this money when we already paid union dues on the original checks.

All of this when the city economy has never been stronger. City investments with our money are doing better than expected. Those are our investments and the money should go back to us.The city economy is growing at a rate of 2.7%. The prosperity of the last ten years has passed us by.

As for city surpluses, this is from State Comptroller Thomas Di Napoli:
The city's most recent four-year financial plan, released in June, projects a surplus of nearly $4.6 billion in FY 2018, the largest in 10 years.

And further down:

To its credit, the city continues to contribute to the Retiree Health Benefits Trust, which now has a balance of nearly $4.4 billion, the highest amount ever.

What I would like to know is why NYC teachers are not worth as much as teachers just north of the Bronx in Yonkers? Check out their actual salaries for 2017.

As for the non-financial parts of the contract, two observation minimums for some teachers is a gain but it isn't nearly as strong as most districts have in the rest of the state where everyone has two observations and it won't start until next year. The other changes look cosmetic (committees on higher class sizes) but I have to see the actual language to be certain.

Will this contract change the anti-teacher culture at the DOE? Who knows? There's nothing in there I can see to reign in the many abusive supervisors that are running rampant in our schools.

UFT member expectations are very low. Remember, we have pattern bargaining in NYC where one municipal union settles on a raise and that sets a pattern for the other unions who receive basically the same increase in that round of collective bargaining. Arbitrators have upheld pattern bargaining many times. DC 37 set a pattern in June that does not keep up with inflation. The UFT is copying that settlement.

Beating DC37 would be impossible without a real fight and the opposition in the UFT is very fragmented so I don't see much of a battle coming. This contract should easily carry. Mulgrew and his Unity Caucus don't want any kind of struggle as settling over four months before the current contract expires shows.

If I were a Delegate, I would abstain without first viewing the entire Memorandum of Agreement. Anybody who votes on something based on Michael Mulgrew's word is making a foolish move.



* Extension 1 of current contract: Oct 31, 2018 - Nov 30, 2028 was to pay lump sum payments for 2009-14 retirees.
  Extension 2 of current contract: Dec 1, 2018- Feb 13, 2019  was to pay for Paid Parental Leave.

39 comments:

  1. James,

    I have no data, but are 3020 charges up?

    If I’m mulgrew, I mention that

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  2. Yes. We mentioned that in February at DA. Nothing in here to stop that.

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  3. Your right. contract sucks and I will opt out. How do I opt out?

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  4. This sucks...Everybody...put this website on blast to colleagues in your school. It really takes the veil away from the lily-livered unity negotiators...thanks again, Mikey. And for the anti-teacher culture in the DOE? Protections for us? Cosmetic indeed!!!!

    VOTE NO!!!!

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  5. You missed increases for paraprofessionals who iirc total nearly 30,000 members

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  6. You are right. I will break them down too.

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  7. So what, James? Do you think this is a done deal? I guess so, from your comments.

    SAD!

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  8. Social Security recipients are getting a 2.8% increase in 2019! And we get 2% raises! I'm sorry, my only recourse at this point is to end my dues!

    https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/11/your-social-security-check-will-get-a-2point8percent-boost-in-2019.html

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  9. 7% from 8.25% TDA lives on! But not for your principal or your a.p.. Thanks a lot, you guys at the unity caucus in the uft. Time to note them out!

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  10. Shared on my Facebook and Talented and Treasured Teachers FB group Keep up the good work

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  11. I wish they could have gotten rid of Danielson and replaced it with a better evaluation rubric. I also wish they would have gutted the Fair Student Funding plan so veteran teachers could actually transfer schools again. Oh yeah, how about bringing back seniority based transfers and regaining the ability to grieve letters to the file? I do not think for a second that the anti-teacher culture will be gone from the DOE anytime soon.

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  12. James, any word on which procedures one must use Advantage Care? To the best of my knowledge Advantage Care is in the City and Long Island. What good is this for teachers and their families that live in Hudson Valley or elsewhere?

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  13. "Wait- "To Serve the Bronx......It's a COOKBOOK!!!"

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  14. Bronx Teacher, Here is what I have from the Chief Leader on the MLC health givebacks.

    "Several areas of savings represent expansions of programs implemented as part of the 2014 deal to meet the larger cost-cutting goal. They include greater use of health clinics or doctors’ offices rather than hospitals—with no additional charges for employee health-care premiums—for procedures such as arthroscopies, colonoscopies, cataract removals, radiology and ambulatory surgery. A new fertility support program will supplement wellness initiatives already in place to manage chronic conditions like asthma and diabetes, and prices will be cut for some drugs."


    In addition, we know new employees will be put on HIP for year one. So much for keeping your own doctor if she/he is not in HIP.

    9:05, That is an excellent Twilight Zone reference.

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  15. Another Abysmal Contract!

    The economy is booming, teachers all across the country are fighting back and winning, and our union settles for less than 2% a year raises! Please remember that the inflation rate is well over 3%. If this is what we are paying for then I want my union dues back! This certainly does not make me proud to continue to pay my UFT dues!

    All Social Security recipients are receiving a 2.8% COLA increase for 2019, and we are getting less than 2%!

    The net cost of these raises will also be less than $600 million over the next three years. We already negotiated billions in medical give backs which are paying for the vast majority of the pittance in raises we are being thrown!

    The UFT should be ashamed to bring us this horrible contract. However, the sheeple which are teachers will simply take it! The city has billions in surplus, all while we are still waiting until 2020 to get fully paid for work we did in 2009 and then we get these horrible raises? Enough is enough! You need to tell the UFT that we can't keep losing ground to inflation. We deserve better than this!

    If we can't get better raises now when everything is working in our favor, then we will never be able to! Please share with your colleagues and contact the UFT and tell them you are mad as hell over this and you are going to end your dues if they don't do better!

    David Irons

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  16. Some will be upset and drop the union. Most will vote for it after crafty marketing from Mike's crew. Perhaps they're seeing it like the DOE sees certain things...making it right and legal will cost a ton, so just do it like you please and pay the few lawsuits that arise. My question is...how many are going to vote with their feet and drop out. In the past, there was no recourse, but it's a different world now.

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  17. I don't understand. If James says that arbitrators have upheld pattern bargaining and DC 37 has set the pattern already how could we get so much more in wages as some folks say?

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  18. We can't get anymore than what the pattern is. Anybody who says otherwise has not been working in this city for too long. However, we should have gotten our retro up front a loooong time ago. We are the only union that spread our retro out for so long.

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  19. I say 2 observations flat for tenured teachers, full retro payment upon ratification, and what they offered.

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  20. Since when does one unions conttact be seen as a pattern? A pattern would be when multiple unions agree to the same deal.

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  21. Folks wake up!!!! Are you educators or are you being schooled? The mayor gave himself a 23 percent raise. Your school chancellor got an amazing 25,000 dollar raise to live in an expensive city, while everyone takes 2 percent raise over 4 years. How can we all survive? This city is already the most expensive city in the country. Mayor has free housing starts work after his workout. His work day is as pleased with a 23 percent raise over 1 year. So you go sign your amazing 2 percent raise. After tax city and state you go a few bucks to cover your gas to work.

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  22. Hey! watch it!! It's an extra 48 dollars a paycheck after taxes!! So there

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  23. Tweets, current page. Tweets & replies Media

    Sal Albanese twitter

    @SalAlbaneseNYC
    11h11 hours ago
    More
    Most publications reporting UFT labor agreement is a 3 year contract. It's actually a 43 month deal & longer if u take into account clock doesn't start running until Feb 19. Old contract was extended by several months to pay for parental leave. Annual increase avg 1.9%. CPI 2.9%

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  24. Sal Abanese Twitter

    If @BilldeBlasio really cared about teachers he would provide them with a contract that keeps pace with inflation, at a time City is flush with cash.

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  25. Retro paid NOW! Our retro "deal" definitely didn't follow pattern. PAY IT ON RATIFICATION

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  26. I read over at the NYC EDUCATOR blog that the city was pushing to have 4 observations for all teachers. They were firm on that but caved. This fact alone shows that the DOE hates our guts and wants to continue to make our lives miserable. I also read that all observations for tenured teachers rated "E" or "I" will be unannounced. (No formal observations) My understanding of NYS law is that the minimum observation is one formal and one informal. How is NYC getting around this? I would actually prefer to have one of my observations to be a formal since I will know when the devil is going to be in my room. Thoughts???

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  27. In case there was any misconception that the latest UFT contract is garbage, the anti-teacher NY Daily News editorial board calls it "solid."

    The editorial, as so often happens with the Daily News, contains misinformation and/or lies.

    For example:

    "They’ll get average annual raises of about 2.5%, which is roughly the rate of inflation."

    Salary increase is 1.9% for 46 months,as James points out.

    Even if you leave out the extended months at the beginning of the contract that were the offset for the parent leave program and take the contract at 43 months (as both the UFT and the DOE call it), the increases are still only 2.09%.

    As usual, DN editorial lies.

    Would also note, DN wanted more health care givebacks but does like what city got:

    "And for squeezing modest, though still insufficient, health-care savings out of the city’s single largest public-sector workforce."

    Dunno how many readers of this blog need to be convinced to vote no - given the tone of the comments, probably not too many.

    But the DN editorial, lying about the "raises" and bragging about the health care givebacks, ought to help convince any thinking about voting yes to reconsider.

    No matter - the contract will probably pass with 90%+.

    But some of us should register our discontent with the contract, the union leadership that negotiated this garbage, and editorial boards like the Daily News that feel the need to lie when writing about contractual agreements instead of telling the truth.

    Here's hoping the next time Tronc does mass layoffs, the fucker who wrote the DN editorial gets it.

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  28. Interesting read: http://nycdoenuts.blogspot.com/2018/10/vote-yes.html?m=1

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  29. Thanks RBE. I think we have another post.

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  30. The contract is a solid contract, best I’ve seen since the 90’s. Roughly 8% over 43 months(compounded), no givebacks, due process and extra money for our paraprofessionals, a process to actually go after supervisors who harrass and retaliate against members, a stronger process to deal with workload, inadequate space, PD, curriculum and instructional supplies, over 90% of our members getting 2 evaluations, expedited class size process, increased safety with CL’s getting OOR’s reports and development of borough wide safety committees plus additional deans, a cheaper faster way to earn the +30 differential, expedited grievance process for salary, ILOD and religious observance, the Bronx Collaborative School Model and many improvements for our functional chapters. Also no premiums for our healthcare something that almost every union(check out the teachers in the suburbs, some parts of Long Island it’s 20%)has to pay. Great contract.

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  31. "We also still have to wait until 2019 and 2020 to get the final two payments back from the interest free loan we made to the city in the last contract. In addition, we are paying union dues on this money when we already paid union dues on the original checks."

    Sue the UFT in small claims court

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  32. How can you make the claim that over 90% of our members will get 2 observations? Between those who get ineffective, developing or are probationary adds up to way more than 10%.

    No givebacks is a complete untruth. The healthcare concessions are givebacks. You can argue that they are acceptable but they are givebacks that will cut into whatever we gain.

    Tell the truth for an honest debate 11:57.

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  33. The contract is effective on what date?
    Are changes in the contract retroactive...if so, to what date?

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  34. February 14, 2019. It was an early contract, no retroactive.

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