Friday, October 04, 2019

THE UFT COULD LEARN (BUT PROBABLY WON'T) FROM UAW, TWU LOCAL 100 AND CHICAGO TEACHERS

One of my biggest complaints with UFT leadership is they don't demand much from the city or the Department of Education. When I was on the UFT Executive Board serving on the Contract Negotiating Committee, I told Randi Weingarten that if Joel Klein was demanding an 8 page contract that would take away virtually all of our rights, we had to respond by demanding Great Neck conditions to counter that. Randi said that we have to appear to be reasonable and can't demand more. She told us we would look extreme. The result was the center of gravity for negotiations for the 2005 contract moved toward the city and we ended up accepting the 2005 contract with its horrible givebacks and the extension the following year.

I served again on the Contract Negotiating Committee under Michael Mulgrew starting in 2009, hoping for a change in direction from a different leader. This time it wasn't me rather it was my friend Julie Woodward who rose during negotiations to say that our contract demands were milquetoast. (I remember she used that exact word.) If you want to know why we never get anywhere, a primary cause of our stagnation at best as a union is we demand very little in negotiations.

Ask for very little and you will receive almost nothing. Ask for more and you may just actually get more. This is "Negotiations 101" and the city and DOE use our timid stances against us. The city-DOE were very successful in 2005 and have been trying to finish off the job of completely crippling the UFT ever since. Our "Let's be Reasonable and Responsible" strategy fortunately is not being copied by unions around the country.

The Detroit Free Press offers a behind the scenes look at the General Motors-United Auto Workers negotiations. That strike has gone on for 19 days. Experienced negotiators talk in this piece about what goes on prior to contract talks:

The collective bargaining process starts 12 to 18 months before the two parties square off across a big table. 

“The union negotiations process can be a very daunting task even for the most seasoned labor relations leaders. So it’s never too early to start the bargaining preparation process," said [former Fiat Chrysler director of labor economics Colin] Lightbody in the webinar Bargaining Preparation.

Both sides usually review previous negotiations, study old notes and analyze the personalities of the other sides' bargainers.  

“In negotiations, past behavior is often a good predictor of future behavior. Are there any patterns? For example, does the union initially ask for general wage increases in every year of the contract, but then later settle for a general wage increase in year one and then lump sum payments in subsequent years of the contract?” Lightbody said.

In negotiating with the UFT, the city and DOE do the studying and figure out quickly the UFT will ask for little and settle for even less. Do you think they get hysterical laughing when they know how soft the UFT will be?

The Detroit Free Press piece goes on by quoting Art Schwartz, a former GM labor negotiator, on the days leading up to the actual bargaining:
“We used to call it being in the locker room,” it means you haven’t taken the field yet. You’re trying to figure out the union’s position, get cost and come up with a list of demands. Both sides know they have to move, so the first offer on both sides tends to be extreme and that is when bargaining begins."

As stated already, the UFT does not take any extreme positions, and has not in many years. I know this having served on two Contract Negotiating Committees. We lose before the process starts.

Someone is going to comment that I can't compare the UFT to a private sector negotiation. Well how about comparing the UFT to the Chicago Teachers Union where 94% voted to authorize a strike now set for October 17? CTU teachers were offered 16% pay increases over five years. Why did management make such a substantial offer that has not been accepted? Because the CTU asked for a whole lot more than money in their contract demands.

Here is an excerpt from a January piece on the start of bargaining:
Pay and benefit increases are atop the union’s list of demands, as [CTU President Jesse] Sharkey said CPS’ pay rate has fallen below other districts. But the union is also pushing for more investments inside the classroom, calling for reduced class sizes and new hires to help fill critical staffing shortages.

“We will be told these demands are unrealistic, the price tag is too high, it’d be nice but it’s just too expensive. Bullcrap,” Sharkey told media Tuesday.

“If we can afford a billion dollars for [the] Riverwalk, a billion dollars for Lincoln Yards, then we can afford a billion dollars to invest in the children of the city of Chicago for our future," he said. 

Union leaders have long called for additional counselors, nurses and librarians in their schools and are now demanding improved staffing ratios.  They also want the district to put an end to student-based budgeting and add 100 sustainable community schools on the South and West sides the city.

We are told in NYC that we can't demand lower class sizes because the money would have to come from decreasing teacher raises. The city only has so much money and anything to lower class size or lower guidance ratios would have to come from some of the funds set aside for our salary increases. In Chicago, the Chicago Teachers Union doesn't care about how they will look. They are demanding more than a raise.

Now you will tell me that the CTU doesn't have the Taylor Law to contend with where public sector employees in NYS are fined two days pay for each day out on strike. That doesn't seem to worry Transport Workers Union Local 100. New York City Transit Workers have been without a contract since May. Have you seen their demands? Their demands last contract were seven pages long. Nobody will call their demands milquetoast. Clearly, they did better than the UFT at the bargaining table in the prior round. Now look at their hard hitting television commercials that they have just released.






You don't have to keep taking the punches in the stomach teachers and other UFT members. Demand a whole lot more and don't take no for an answer. 2022 when our contract is up is not that far off. The UFT acted like a real union at one time. It can happen again. It's up to all of us to make it happen.

44 comments:

  1. Let's start by demanding a refund of the dues they are gonna jack us for next week. Flood the concierge with demands for an explanation of why they are taxing us on our "bonus". I have called the union every time they did this and asked for an explanation, never did get a call back...

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  2. How would you like us to demand more? Every time I say I show my displeasure by opting out you say i cant do that.

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  3. I have sent Mulgrew, Sill, etc about million emails, has done nothing. I am powerless. Especially when so many members believe, or are fooled into thinking the uft is doing an amazing job. I still see people, on teacher facebook pages thinking we are getting interest on retro payments. I still see people asking when are we getting retro, how much is it, and how do i calculate it. The teachers are fools. No way to combat that. Its like complaining about the president or governor or mayor, no change happens.

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  4. The uft cant even help me with something already in the contract, like the travel hardship, so what would you like me to do to express displeasure other than not paying dues?

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  5. If we have fewer members, we would be in no position to demand more as I have explained here time and again. We would be even weaker.

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  6. It can't be done alone 8:35. I keep trying to inform UFT members. It has to a collective approach.

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  7. In a state where it is one of the highest taxed, most expensive, with incredible tourism Albany, Dibalsio, Cuomo spend money recklessly all over.

    If we were fiscally conservative and prudent with our money, we could have the funds to help improve life in the city and our schools.

    When you are 15th year and above in the "money game" especially when maxed out. Add per session and could make close to admin money.

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  8. From UAW,

    Dear Union Brothers and Sisters:

    Since the last update, we have made good progress regarding the issues of health care and a path for temporary employees becoming seniority members.

    We still have several of your proposals outstanding and unsettled like wages, job security, skilled trades and pension.

    The staff and your elected Bargaining Committee from both hourly and salary have been working long hours and aggressively addressing your needs. We will continue to work over the weekend in an attempt to reach a Tentative Agreement on behalf of you and your families.

    Thank you for standing strong and making sacrifices for the good of all.

    In solidarity,

    Terry Dittes

    Vice President and Director

    UAW General Motors Department


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  9. Sacrifices? Some NYC teachers would sell their colleagues out in a second for an hour of per session or a coverage.

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  10. 8:37: How about convincing five people to try to change things and tell them to try to talk to five? Start a ball rolling. I haven't given up and I have ample reason to have said that's enough.

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  11. Isn't it nice how the uft, when talking about the upcoming retro payment, starts by saying..."Because you have a union that fights for you...you are getting this money..." wlWhat about 11 years with no interest? The stick market going up 400% since 2009? Them double and triple dipping dues from our retro. 1.3% per year raises over 7.5 years.

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  12. Please just stop paying dues and leave us alone already. Go buy yourself a nice jacket with the money you save.

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  13. I have stopped paying dues. Enjoy the $180 they charge you on 10/15 for absolutely no reason. I dont know why you dont have a problem with that.

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  14. In 2014, with 100% membership...In 2005, with 100% membership, with different mayors and chancellors, look what we got.

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  15. $60,000 to $120,000 a year with benefits. We would get that without a union? Not in a million years. And you still troll a union blog? You must be paid by Eva or some other deformer.

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  16. nah, we should be saying...get 8.25 tda back or we are out.

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  17. I can only speak for myself. I opted out for the complete sham the uft has become. Waiting 20 years for a transfer to Staten Island, and still waiting. Thousands of emails and applications, all good record. Mulgrew has not responded to me, ever. All the time, traffic, tolls, gas I have wasted. Enough is enough. All other complaints are valid too.

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  18. The benefits are eroding. Dentist went from 0 to $15 copy. All other copays are higher. Raises have gotten smaller. That means things are getting worse. Studnets can do whatever they want with no penalty. SO can principals.

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  19. If you are out, we are never getting anything back. You don't seem to grasp the role that the COLLECTIVE rank and file plays in getting what we need. If masses drop out, Mulgrew will not change. He will just have another excuse to get us nothing.

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  20. Ok James, so again I ask...A...What has 100% membership gotten us? B...What, at this point, with things so bad across the city, will staying in get us? Nothing and nothing. The only way to voice displeasure is opt out...Or, give an ultimatum, these changes or we opt out.

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  21. I'm in my 2nd year, I cant even pay bills on tier 6 with my base salary.

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  22. teacher FB page...Anyone know easy ways to earn extra money?? I am in desperate need for extra cash these days...wow, that salary working out great.

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  23. We have had Collective and we have gotten screwed.

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  24. Chicago asks for 5% per year, we get 1.3%. Sounds like a useful union that uft is.

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  25. OK 2:06, I ask the same question over and over: When in labor history have individual workers en masse abandoned a union and subsequently received a bigger salary and benefits? Find me just one example. Teachers in NYC don't fight as a collective. We defer to leadership. Big mistake. I am still an activist hoping that at some point the rank and file will discover their power and use it.

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  26. So it doesnt matter. It isnt going to change. I would rather, at this point, since it has proven to be a waste, and since i have been screwed so often, not pay dues. If they make changes, i will gladly pay. Get 8.25% back, i will pay. Im not saying everybody dropping out will help, i am saying if we stay in, it wont change. If those are the options, and it will be bad anyway, i may as well get abused while saving $1600. I think, since paying hasnt worked, all we can do is threaten to not pay and hope the uft will work harder and make better deals. I cited the 2005 and 2014 deals, with 100% membership, as being worse than awful.

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  27. Sorry james, i agree with the complaints, the uft has been taking my money, and money from everybody for many decades, things only get worse. There are teachers dropping like flies, openly thinking about quitting or suicide, seeing doctors to get medication, getting bullied by studnets and supervisors. You have decades of raises where we have actually had a decrease in salary against inflation. You have had the school year and school day get longer. We have had a worsening in the medical coverage and retirement accounts. While the benefits are certainly better than nothing, they are worsening. We are on a sinking ship. I have worked for almost 30 years. i have tried to reach out. The uft doesnt give a damn. I have been laughed at for long enough by my own union. I cannot stomach paying into it anymore. We went all those years without a contract while dues kept going up. Every year mulgrew says we are off to a good start when we never are. They tout fake grad rates and suspension rates. No thanks. I will keep my money.

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  28. Has the uft done one thing, in the last ten years, unless it was made public in the ny post? They have let the doe run wild. They are quite happy with things as is.

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  29. As a teacher with 18 years, masters plus 30, in a high tax city and state, and a high cost of living city, 104k isn't that good. Take that in addition to the worsening benefits and the absolute torture the job has become, I'm out in 2 years, well before any reasonable pension.

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  30. The responses don't deal with teacher rank and file activism which is the cure as has been seen in Chicago, LA, West Virginia and all over the country. They ousted the entrenched union leaders in both Chicago and LA before they became militant.

    Activism and spreading the word has to come from the schools. If opposition ever won the teacher vote (forget retirees and funtionals), we could change things but it will not happen until people start convincing teachers in their own schools how teachers are getting screwed. I work with people all the time who want a better union. They aren't trying to kill the union which is what dropping out en masse would do.

    Saying it won't get better so I will keep my $1,600 a year is pure selfishness. Reminder, this is a pro-union blog. Read anti-union sites for that viewpoint. Trolls saying the same thing over and over here on just about every post makes me wonder if there is a separate agenda here.

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  31. I'm not anti union, I'm anti the way this union has treated me.

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  32. You say collective, we now can collectively choose if the uft meets our needs. We now arent forced to pay. The uft now must do the job we pay them for. They arent. Based on every measure, they have let us down.

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  33. What separate agenda could there be? Better salary, benefits, student discipline is what I want. I wish dues were worth paying. 8.25 vs 7% costs me a lot more than the dues.

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  34. Its selfish against myself that I support mulgrew making 300k and sill making 165k as I want to kill myself and they dont give an ounce of help.

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  35. I stopped with the dues because of the chacellors anti-white remarks. It shows where uft stands. And it isn't with me. Like the mayor supporting criminals over cops.

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  36. People still asking how much retro is going to be and if we get interest. Did uft do their job if this is going on? Or teachers are idiots.

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  37. Nobody has an answer for when a union has had mass defections and then subsequently those workers got better working conditions because the union got stronger. All I hear is individual gripes. Nobody has an answer. I think it's time to move on.

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  38. It would get better if mass defections led to the uft doing more for us. Absent that, paying doesn't help because things are bad while paying.

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  39. What about how we paid for PPL, for no reason. I guess uft did well for us there too.

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  40. Mass defections would not help a thing. Right to work exists in many states. Defections have occurred.I have asked repeatedly for one, just one, example where people en masse have left their unions and then working conditions improved because the union did more. Not one example has been provided but plenty of anonymous critical remarks about this distant thing called the union. Mass defections will lead to the UFT being able to do less. The evidence is there in what has happened in other states. Nobody has refuted it. What will anonymous commenters do to build a strong rank and file union? Hopefully more than just complain here. Let's move on please.

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  41. How do we make a list of demands for 2022?

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  42. Honestly, weingarten and mulgrew have got to be on the take.

    No way they can be this ignorant

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  43. @5:19 we are in the same boat, next year up to 111,000 and 4 years 128,000 base is not bad in this ridiculously expensive state we live in.

    As much as the Union screws up, I will not leave even with their terrible negotiations and their terrible UFT leave, especially if you are married.

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