U.S. workers are seeing the largest nominal wage increase in a decade, the Labor Department reported Wednesday, as companies compete harder for employees than they did in recent years.
Wages rose 2.9 percent from September 2017 to September 2018, according to the Labor Department’s Employment Cost Index for civilian workers, a widely watched measure of pay that does not take inflation into account.
That is the biggest increase — not adjusted for inflation — since the year that ended in September 2008.
Prices have risen significantly in the past year, especially for gas and rent.
The news in the October employment report shows even higher wage growth.
Average hourly earnings rose five cents, or 0.2 percent, in October after advancing 0.3 percent in September. That boosted the annual increase in wages to 3.1 percent, the biggest gain since April 2009, from 2.8 percent in September.
Aren't all of you happy that you have a union that fights so diligently that it settled its contract four months early for average wage increases of around 2% for almost the next four years? 2% would be about 1% under the average national earnings growth.
Did any of the union's negotiators bother to remind the city that Congress passed a tax cut that is now pumping tons of money into the economy? Unemployment is at its lowest level in half a century. I know we are increasing deficits but that bill won't come due until the bubble bursts which might not be for years. As we stated previously, the prosperity of the last decade will almost completely pass city workers by.
The answer is not to kill the union but to fix it. If only more people heard our message.
You keep forgetting to mention that not only wage growth and federal COLA for social security are both higher than the 2% but we are still owed money from 9 years ago without interest that according Mulgrew the city cannot afford it.
ReplyDeleteTWO WORDS: Pattern bargaining. Can't blame the UFT this time around although there is much blame on them for other things.
ReplyDeleteTell me all about pattern bargaining after the uniform unions and sanitation get their contract!
ReplyDeleteIf you have to stick to a crappy pattern then you give us something else. They can change the salary scale. Why not give us top pay after 15 years instead of the ridiculous 22 years? Or add more longevity increases instead of having people sit without any raise for years. Or reduce time at work, etc.
ReplyDeleteWhat needs to be done is 25 and out. Not 25/55 but 25 and done with a fifty percent pension. All the uniform services have 20 and out and I believe that 25 years of working in the hellhole schools of NYC is enough time for a person to deserve a pension.
ReplyDeleteTime to opt out. Thanks for giving us the info. Do you have a link to the opt out site?
ReplyDeleteOut Union is completely useless. They cannot do anything right, just continue with the failing policies.
ReplyDeleteThe UFT is not completely useless but settling early I think is a mistake considering the city's financial strength and our strong bargaining position.
ReplyDeleteIt is very hard to argue that the UFT is useless when even with increases that don't keep up with the expected rate of inflation, the top salary will go to $127,000 by 2021. That is nothing to sneeze at even in high cost NYC.
That said, those senior teachers making that decent salary are going to need more protections as they will cost on a school budget over twice as much as new teachers so there is a real incentive for prinipals to attack senior teachers. Meanwhile, the new people are already being worked to the bone and that will continue as they fight to get tenure with their binders and need to suck up to administration and not be union conscious unless they work in a school with an enlightened principal.
2 years till I am at top salary. Been a long haul!
ReplyDelete7:27
ReplyDeleteIs absolutely correct, the Union has to start the effort to push for a straight up 25-year retirement. It allows veteran teachers who have given a lot of years of dedicated service, appointed and ATRs, a chance to move-on. If not 25 years, maybe 25/50. The city will be able to replace those teachers with much lower salaried teachers who will be in a much less generous pension tier. Right now any NYC teacher with 25 or more years does NOT pay anything into the pension system, yet each year they continue to work they accrue a more generous pension when they do retire a few years later and cost the city at least 120K in salary each year until they do.
Many of the new teachers in my school have told me they are still on their parents' health care since they are under 26. The city could offer them a few thousand dollars more to stay on their parents' coverage which many would jump at since they are on the bottom of the pay scale with a lot of student loan debt. So, the city would be saving on their healthcare premiums too. The Union and the city should really have an actuary look at this.
My suspicion is a 25/50 buyout will end up saving the city money short term and long term... A win-win-win-win for all parties.
What they need to cut is on lawyers, and Field Supervisors.
Delete2:06 has it right. Get rid of the DOE lawyers.
ReplyDeleteThey could get rid of half the staff at the DOE and no one would notice.
ReplyDeleteSame with UFT.
ReplyDelete5:33, you kind of have a point . The UFT is responsible for the 7% TDA, accepting (even touting) the many observations, the ATR situation, and many more... As stated above by the unity hack... pattern bargaining is responsible for our terrible contract. I would go further, the wage increases were set by ' pattern' but the UFT got its hands on the negotiations and f'd it up again. We managed to accept the same increases over a longer period. Thank you Mulgrew.
ReplyDeleteCan have massive savings by buyout for older teachers-of-non color and hiring younger teachers-of-color. Win win! (Delete.)
ReplyDeleteSo I just received an email from the UFT that the contract was ratified. I can't believe that 87% of those who casted their votes voted yes. NOT GOOD!!!!
ReplyDeleteHas to be fixed. Has to.
ReplyDelete25 years and out is a pipe dream. Even the tier 1
ReplyDeletePension, the greatest ever devised by humankind, never allowed for that.
Still waiting for Tier 2 buyout.
ReplyDelete