Wednesday, October 03, 2018

PAYROLL SECRETARY REVEALS MORE PAID PARENTAL LEAVE INFORMATION

The following email came to the ICEUFT@gmail.com address.

Hi,

I would like to know if you can make a posting about the UFT Parental Leave.  I am a payroll secretary and I just found out things about the leave that I don't think the UFT told its members about.

1)  The UFT will try to match the salary that the UFT employee was getting at the time that they are going to take the parental leave.

2)  Taking the parental leave will cause an adjustment in the UFT employees summer pay.

3)  The time that the UFT employee is on the UFT Parental Leave, does not count towards pension or other things.

4)  If both parent want to take the leave they can take it at the same time, but they get 3 weeks each.  For example:  If the birth mother takes the UFT parental leave for 4 weeks then the non-birth parent can take the remaining 2 weeks.  It isn't 6 weeks each.  

Thanks,

anonymous



UFT not telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth to its members is not a revelation. They are amazingly adept spinmasters for sure.

I will address each point separately.

1) The UFT is admitting they will try to match the salary but not guarantee it because the union and the city may have underestimated the cost of Paid Parental Leave. The City is giving the UFT Welfare Fund $50.8 million to pay the benefit, but as we pointed out in July, if more parents take advantage of the leave than the city is paying for, the city is not on the hook. According to the Independent Budget Office, the city is making a $9.5 million profit on top of all of us paying for the benefit with a 75 day deferred raise due to a contract extension. The city gains no matter what. Rather than reducing benefits to parents, the UFT might consider cutting back elsewhere if there is a real baby boom.

Here is the text from the actual agreement:
Section I, Paragraph 2:

The administration of the program and the level of benefit provided is to be determined by the UFT and UFTWF. Any dispute or disagreement by a UFT represented employee regarding the UFT or UFTWF administration of the program or determination of the level of benefit provided shall be referred to the UFT for resolution by whatever process the UFT deems appropriate, and is not subject to the grievance or arbitration procedure in the applicable collective bargaining agreements.

It looks like the city, the IBO and the UFT may have all underestimated how many UFT members would use the benefit. It is too soon to tell if there will be a Paid Parental Leave baby boom but early evidence shows that a high number of new parents have figured out how to use this benefit. We shall see if numbers even out as we go forward. The city savings should actually increase if more parents take the leave as they won't have those parents on payroll  and they won't have to pay pension contributions for the time they are on leave or add to their sick banks. In addition, substitutes are cheaper while using ATRs costs them even less.

2) I don't think we mentioned that the DOE would be recalculating and paying lower summer pay for parents who use the Parental Leave benefit, nor did the IBO mention this in their analysis which I am just reading again today. Add that to the city savings.

3) We have mentioned the $14.9 million pension savings for the city and the lack of building time toward completing probation as a drawback.

4) IBO covered the limitations on two parents not being able to extend the leave but having to split it. UFT spin doesn't exactl emphasize this.

I am all for Paid Parental Leave and the more expansive Paid Family Leave. Every worker should have access to these benefits. It would be good for our society. I am also for transparancy and that's what seems to be missing from the UFT throughout this whole process.

It was great to hear from the payroll secretary with real world experience in the new process. Please keep those emails coming. It's good to in contact with new people. We will do our best to respond to all.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well James, then you are a fool. Teacher quality has gone downhill, they will use any excuse to get time off, and the doe gave it to them, even if that doesnt get them that much. But keep paying dues? You are some dumbass. Wait till the next 1% raise in 2019 in the new deal. Whats that after taxes, 4 bucks a week?

Anonymous said...

HAHA. The job fuckin sucks. Of course people are taking any chance to get out. Offer a legit buyout, watch everybody walk out. Any veteran teacher like the job?

@Myghty1 said...

I'm a PE teacher so yes i still like the job. Don't live it like i used to, but i like the per session that comes with coaching

Anonymous said...

I am a PE teacher, I hate it.

Anonymous said...

remember, think of the retro as a bank account, a bank account the was forcefully taken from you that returned 0 percent in 10 years. They sure are lucky teachers are dumb. If you all new that it would have more than doubled in the last 10 years...maybe tripled.

Anonymous said...

UFT Dental plan doesn't cover implants. Yet PSC-CUNY dental plan does cover implants. PSC is a smaller union. How is the UFT spending its money for our welfare fund benfits? Why does a smaller union have better dental and even optical and prescription drugs.

Anonymous said...

I KNEW IT! I was the commenter who wrote back in June that there wiould be a massive amount of teachers getting preggers over the summer just to take the leave. (I also joked about them all having an orgy) Now the truth is out. A lot of people thought I was crazy for mentioning that a ton of teachers would get pregnant just to take a 6 week leave. Well, I win!

Anonymous said...

Must be new biology. Get pregnant in summer and have baby 3 months later. Some of the dumbest people in the world read this blog.

Anonymous said...

I believe the commenter (anno 4:24) was stating that a larger number of teachers would get pregnant over the summer than usual and I believe that the person is correct as I can attest that in the 4 campus school building where I teach, a very large amount of teachers did in fact get pregnant over the summer compared to years past as told by my colleagues at these schools.

Anonymous said...

Another reawson to drop out of this crappy union. Thanks for keeping us informed. How do I opt out?

Anonymous said...

Hey James, Why is Summer Pay diminished when someone takes leave during the year? Why would anyone's full salary after coming back to work be decreased for just the summer?

James Eterno said...

Because your summer pay is based on you working the whole year. A six week leave won't cause that much of a reduction but it will be reduced. The savings to the city are very small but they exist.

Anonymous said...

Really this blog is turning into Joe Manchin.
Stop being so anti-woman.
Stop posting every anti-UFT fantasy you can think of or at least balance it out with some good things.
You are are feeding the anti-union trolls.

With union friends like you, we don’t need enemies.

James Eterno said...

That payroll secretary I do not think is anti-UFT. I am not anti-union.