The Council of Supervisors and Administrators (NYC Principals and Assistant Principals union) has reached a tentative contract with the Department of Education and New York City. For salary increases it is basically the same as the UFT's except there is an extra increase for middle school and elementary school principals so they can start to catch up with high school principals who make more money. Then, there is Paid Parental Leave.
One of the biggest supposed gains from the UFT in 2018 was "winning" Paid Parental Leave for new parents. A close examination reveals that UFT members pay for this benefit ourselves and the city makes money on the deal as this analysis from the Independent Budget Office explains in detail. We broke those numbers down here and here to show how UFT members got fleeced by NYC by delaying raises for two and a half months in the current contract in exchange for the city giving the UFT Welfare Fund a fixed amount of money to administer Paid Parental Leave.
When a UFT member is on Paid Parental Leave, that member goes OFF DOE payroll so to the DOE they are on an unpaid leave. Therefore, that member does not accrue service time, pension time or sick leave time while on the leave. The IBO says this saves the city $14.5 million annually. How about the CSA?
We have a summary of the new CSA contract from their website.
Here is the Paid Parental Leave part in full:
PAID PARENTAL LEAVE WITH RETROACTIVE BENEFIT
• CSA members are now entitled to receive up to 25 work days of Paid Parental Leave (PPL) at 100% of regular salary without coming off payroll. PPL is defined as leave for the birth of a child to a CSA member or the placement of a child, under the age of 18, with a CSA member for adoption or foster care.
• The start date of an eligible employee’s PPL will be their option. Additionally, CSA secured the right for eligible employees to take the 25 work days on an intermittent basis up to six months after the birth, adoption or foster placement.
• Eligible employees will continue to accrue annual and sick leave during PPL, and they may also use accrued leave, child-care leave and any other applicable leave benefits.
• Eligible employees may use PPL immediately after being hired.
• CSA fought hard to secure a rare retroactive benefit extending PPL to eligible employees who became parents (birth, adoption or foster) on or after October 1, 2019. Those CSA members are entitled to use up to 25 work days of PPL up to six months from the date of the birth, adoption or foster placement.
To be fair, 25 school days in certain times of the year would be less than the UFT's six full weeks. However, supervisors have flexibility to use the days whenever they want to within six months of the birth, adoption or foster placement. They stay on payroll where they accrue summer pay and sick bank time while on Paid Parental Leave. UFT members do not unless they use their sick bank days for the leave.
We paid for our Paid Parental Leave by extending our last contract by two and a half months. How much did the CSA extend theirs to get their extra salary for middle school and elementary school principals as well as the PPL benefit? The Chief Leader reports that it is 2 months and 6 days longer compared to the UFT's contract.
CSA members also have retention rights to old positions if they do not receive tenure in their current jobs. I don't think I have to tell readers of this blog how well CSA members are protected compared to UFT members. It is kind of hard to believe they also actually got a provision in their new contract to hire more assistant principals.
From the CSA summary:
In order to ensure a safe and secure environment in every school building, the DOE has agreed with
CSA that it is best practice to have at least one Assistant Principal per school. Going forward, superintendents will have to justify a plan that ensures a safe and secure environment in the absence of an Assistant Principal.
On healthcare, where are the savings the UFT agreed to?
Again, right from the CSA summary:
All current health care benefits have been fully maintained for in-service members and retirees.
In addition, as a reader pointed out, CSA members along with Professional Staff Congress members (CUNY teachers) still collect 8.25% fixed interest on their Tax Deferred Annuities while UFT members get only 7%. Look at the PSC provisions for adjuncts to see real increases. Oh and by the way PSC members get 8 weeks Paid Parental Leave that counts as service time.
What both the DOE administrators and CUNY professors have in common is they are in unions. I think we can say that the current contracts prove again that these are stronger unions than the extremely weak UFT which continues to live off victories won over a half century ago. CSA and PSC held out and worked without a contract in this round of bargaining while the UFT settled months before our contract even expired. They made some little gains compared to us. I think that is clear and they didn't lower their fixed TDA rate in the process.
It would be cool if our independent Executive Board Representatives would ask about CSA or PSC.
In the end, it is up to the rank and file to come together to say they have had enough of Michael Mulgrew's ruling Unity Caucus. I ask again: when will the sleeping giant that is NYC teachers wake up?
26 comments:
As a teacher that never had kids nor will ever have kids, paternal leave is not something I think about. I do have a question though. Can a teacher go on unpaid leave for a month or do you have to use your sick days? I have severe anxiety that is treated medically. Would a doctors note suffice to be able to get out of my school for a month? I'm sure the DOE would probably make me report to medical for an evaluation. Please let me know how these leaves of absence work.
From UFT website:
https://www.uft.org/your-rights/leaves-and-absences/leaves-absence
Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
Regularly appointed employees and regular substitutes, if eligible, may apply for a leave under the federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The FMLA provides up to 12 weeks of health benefits, beginning on the first day of maternity or childcare leave (even if CAR days have been exhausted). All other FMLA leaves are unpaid, and include care of a child under age 1, adoption, the start of foster care, caring for an ill family member or treating a serious personal health condition, among others. You are eligible if you have worked at least 12 full months prior to the first day of your leave (the months need not be consecutive) or for 1,250 hours (equivalent to one school year under DOE regulations) over the previous 12 months. The leave can be intermittent or can be a reduced work schedule, for example for medical treatments. There is a specialist in each UFT borough office who can answer your questions regarding FMLA leaves.
Leave of absence without pay for restoration of health
Medical circumstances could lead you to apply for a “leave of absence without pay for restoration of health.” Maternity leave is considered a restoration of health leave. However, this type of leave may also be used for treatment of and recuperation from a serious illness. In the case of a serious illness, once you have exhausted your sick bank, your borrowed days (optional) and have been carried on payroll for a calendar month without pay, you must apply for a leave without pay for restoration of health. You must apply on SOLAS and submit medical documentation verifying the information. If your application for a medical leave is denied, medical arbitration may be appropriate. Please call your UFT Borough Office for assistance.
Next time someone comments that they hate the classroom so what should they do, become an administrator! Make the money. Just make sure you don't work for a crazy principal.
Why can't we have option of staying on payroll for five weeks on leave as opposed to six paid for by UFT welfare fund? I agree our executive board reps need to ask.
Wait just a sec....AOC and Greta says we aren't supposed to have babies cuz of climate change and stuff...and now we're getting paid for it. I'm confused.
I hate it when SCA is treated nice. So many of their members treat us like dirt and don't even know what they're doing.
The 'staying on payroll' point here, however, is almost absurd. Weren't you the person who informed me that the UFT Welfare Fund, the fund that pays us our PPL, is funded by the city? It's the same tax money. The only difference is that is our 6 weeks -6 weeks- isn't pensionable. We didn't get ripped off on that issue. We get 6 weeks, 12 if we use our CAR. They get 5 weeks and then they'd better get back to work. That's a lower benefit in my eyes.
Read what CSA says. They can still use other leaves. It is not five weeks and then they better get back to work.
"Eligible employees will continue to accrue annual and sick leave during PPL, and they may also use accrued leave, child-care leave and any other applicable leave benefits."
You guys, no matter what, keep dogging me on this issue. Happy to keep debating. PPL was a subpar deal in 2018 and still is. Staying on payroll has benefits compared to being off (sick bank, seniority time and pension). That is why the city makes a profit from UFT PPL that they don't get from CSA.
25 school days can easily be six weeks if played right DOENuts.
Why are we paying for health savings and CSA is not?
All these babies prove is that when they are gone, and not replaced, they aren’t needed or missed.
I hope my AP’s wife has another kid and he is gone for 25 days.
May she have a child every year until I retire.
May all AP’s have babies and never return.
But there is a clause saying they have to hire more APs. I agree let them all have babies.
Unity Hack here:
UFT's 7% interest is obviously greater than CSA's 8.25% TDA interest. If you can't see that, you are a vile radical who would kill the union. Go Biden.
Can I just "identify as pregnant"?
Their contract is far superior. My colleague just went through the paid leave, lots of Paperwork to come off payroll, she was still getting paid by doe even though off payroll , still got paid by uft, had to call payroll 30 times to have them take the money back , couldn't do it until she was back on. Then they had to deduct a certain amount for 6 months. Had to reapply for direct deposit, because you know, she is a new employee now, had to wait 2 pay periods to go through, online wouldn't work , had to do 5 faxes to get it right , but eventually it worked ... Oh and her Summer checks were smaller cause you know , she didn't work for 6 weeks and your summer checks are based off how much you work during year. So after all that ... Is it really worth it ? It's a disaster... It's unreal that it's this way, just because the uft wanted it to be a uft benefit to keep people from leaving the union and everyone else ends up getting screwed. 25 days compared to us? 30x better . Anyone who has had to come off payroll knows, it has never been properly done right , and it's always a disaster because the doe is incompetent and all their separate departments cannot function together .
That's pretty much the experience we have heard about too.
Since we are teachers, where was Holocaust Remembrance? They have sure mentioned black history enough times this month. More than half of the hate crimes in NYC last year targeted Jewish people, including a wave of attacks in Brooklyn. Orthodox Jews face the greatest risk of violence and harassment on the street. It is untrue to say that clacks are always picked on, when it is actually Jews.
Unlike us, CSA members don't waste energy blogging and bitching about the world, the DOE, or villifying teachers. I always wondered if CSA version of "Eterno" was out there, what would their blog look like.
They (CSA) quietly get the job done! Another reason to opt out of the union.
PARENTAL LEAVE IS A DISGRACE!
If two married DOE teachers are in system they have to spit the 6 weeks, bullshit! You can have 95 days in your CAR cant even do a 2 for 1 with wife. Cannot even use if for yourself. So basically 99% fathers who are married with a DOE spouse barely even have a leave of absence. Even for the women it's a dam shame 6 weeks paid?! In 2020 women should get 3 months paid leave. After 3 months, go back to school and stay on payroll or come off.
CSA had a rally when they didn't have a contract and they wrote that highly public letter to the chancellor about safety. They have the power to make teachers lives miserable so no need to vilify out loud. Your logic on CSA doing their job as a union so opt out does not make much sense. Improve the union, don't abandon union.
James that's like saying students have the power to make their teachers lives horrible but the other way around is not possible.
That's one of your biggest problems James, you see everything as one sided. Hello, there are "bad" teachers just like there are "bad" admin.
You use negativity and conflict as a tool to promote change. All your years of blogging, has it worked? NOPE!!
You tell us everything wrong with our union and in the same breath, you tell us to stay. You are disconnected from our reality.
So read another blog 8:56.
This blog is the place to go for classroom teachers to find out what's really going on in the schools.
So now we are encouraging people to have children when our world is dying and ecosystems are collapsing?!? Greta and AOC have warned about this! And we ostensibly support the Green New Deal? How dare you!
Should CSA members be allowed to procreate?
No
to all of you teachers who are complaining, WAHHHHH!!
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