From the NY Daily News:
First, the pro-UFT side:
“We are preparing for any eventuality to make sure schools reopen safely for students, staff and the entire school community,” UFT spokesman Dick Riley said in a Sunday statement.
The chair of the City Council’s Education Committee said after weeks of protests about alleged lack of readiness to reopen schools, city teachers aren’t fooling around.
“Each chapter leader has been having meetings with their individual school chapters about what a strike entails,” Councilman Mark Treyger (D-Brooklyn) told the Daily News. “The UFT is very serious about this, as they should be.”
The city's response:
Earlier this month, the UFT threatened to go on strike if the city didn’t answer demands including mandatory COVID-19 testing for students and staff. The de Blasio administration has so far balked.
Administration officials were in talks with UFT reps over the weekend, according to de Blasio spokesman Bill Neidhardt.
“They have the right to hold these meetings,” he said Sunday. “We totally respect that.
“We came out with an agreement on curriculum,” Neidhardt said of a recent announcement on teaching protocols for the coming school year. “We’re going to continue that work.”
I have been asking around. From what I am hearing from several different districts is that UFTers understand the ramifications of what a strike means and most won't scab if called by the Union leadership to engage in a job action. My sample includes teachers who think it may be safe enough for them to go into their own school building but they comprehend that this is a citywide concern and many buildings might not be safe.
A few in the comments section here who have an almost knee-jerk reaction against anything Michael Mulgrew says or does, which I understand based on history, may not reflect the overall opinion of the membership. Teachers who only knew about strikes in the abstract have fully educated themselves in a hurry it seems. UFTers get that if the Union is going to be sabre-rattling and loses, then we are in even worse shape than before.
31 comments:
I'm afraid to go on a bus and train and be in building with students and staff...They are discussing curriculum. Makes sense.
Does “curriculum” include instructional lunch without masks? As a UFT-er, I am definitely not in agreement. But who asked me, anyway?
You are spot on, James. Funny how so many of the commenters here who have spent a decade calling for militancy and were enraged that Mulgrew never suggested a job action in March or used the s-word earlier this summer are now enraged that he is calling for a strike. You can't have it both ways.
I agree with those commenters that the leadership has been absent for my entire career. Mulgrew spent years making excuses for letting Bloomberg and De Blasio get away with anything they wanted. Now that he's willing to stand up, we should be rejoicing. Let's be honest: one of the reasons that the mayor is even trying this convoluted dumb-ass plan is because he never expected that teachers would actually be willing to do anything about it.
Your fears should not dictate the rest of the city.
the eyes of the country are on NY.
Millions take the subway and bus daily and our infection rate is lower then ever.
I have taken the train 1 time since april- but i will not let my personal fear/insecurity dictate my life.
$1k per day fine after it doubles.
Putting the political motivations aside, on paper Unity is demanding every teacher and student get a test. The City has agreed to everything else.
Do you want your Union to force you to go to the Doctor to get a stick rammed up your nose?
If you're a parent, would you be happy with your child's teacher after his Union made you take off work to bring your kids to the doctor and have sticks rammed up their noses?
You do realize many will have to use the same buses and trains the first commenter is afraid to step foot on, particularly if one wants to get a "free" test the City sets up?
The Mayor just informed the press that Mulgrew backed down and we are not striking
De Blasio delayed giving out pink slips hoping to secure a loan from the state. Let's put us more in debt and still waste city money.
What would the excuse be for those approved for medical accommodation to work remote? Those approved would be safer than those expected to walk into a school building. In reality, why should they be involved in the job action. I am an ATR status staff and have not been involved in any chapter meetings because I don't have a permanent school. I am not informed as to what is going on other than the town halls. I do understand why there is such concern and not being part of a school is like being in the twilight zone.
I don't believe there is a teaching shortage. I just got my ATR assignment and I'm in a small school with 400 students. WOuldn't I have been put in a big school if there were a teaching shortage?
10:19
"Millions take the subway and bus daily and our infection rate is lower then ever.
I have taken the train 1 time since april- but i will not let my personal fear/insecurity dictate my life."
Millions of people have NOT been taking mass transit since March 15th, not even a fraction of that! Museums are just opening this week. Broadway has been closed, no concerts, no ballgames, no gyms, no movie theaters, no indoor dining, no tourists. Many people working from home. The infection rate has ONLY been very low because the city, especially the indoor venues have been closed for the past 6 months.
Wherever schools have opened, there has been an increase in the rate of infection. It will be much worse in NYC since we are so crowded and so many rely on mass transit to travel.
This is a force of nature, a microbe, that has left a "9/11 death toll" every 3-4 days for the past 6 months. Science knows very little about this virus other than it is highly contagious in indoor environments.
If your frightened of the consequences of striking, just admit it, but don't spread misinformation about the current conditions in NYC or the very likely consequences of opening school for indoor, in-person instruction.
@11:03 AM - I agree. I try to get information from people I know, but it's not the same as being in a chapter meeting with the CL of a permanent school. Information received is hear say. Twilight zone indeed.
@10:49 - Is this a joke, or where did you hear that? I would think that is breaking news and I can't find it anywhere..
Mayor just said mulgrew said no strike vote and no strike.
1049 is correct, mayor said mulgrew promised no strike vote or anything of the kind this week.
Mask up. We're going in.
asked the
@UFT
if the mayor's comments were correct. The response: "The UFT Executive Board meeting will happen on schedule. The agenda is still being finalized."
Quote Tweet
Jillian Jorgensen
@Jill_Jorgensen
· 35m
There was a lot of breathless reporting on preparations for a strike this weekend, but when I asked @NYCMayor about it, he said he was told by @UFT there will not be a strike authorization vote this week.
Mayor said it at presser.
My mom, who is admin, went back in building today. The first text I got this morning was from her thanking me for getting cleaning supplies for her bc her office was not cleaned
So uh. Idk what sanitizing they think is happening
Tom, @10:49 is full of sh** otherwise a link or info as to where they heard this would have been included for verification. Don't believe everything that you read until proof is provided. This is what Trump lives off of and how he survives, misinformation, lies and people believing without checking for the facts.
Does anyone know if the medical accommodations will be done before 9.10.2020? Submitted recently.
Can look it up on Youtube: 'NYC Mayor De Blasio Holds Daily Briefing'
•Streamed live 88 minutes ago - NBC New York
The mayor responded to a reporter's question and his response was that he was in contact with MM where strike vote is not planned and is not in the agenda for the meeting.
What a surprise...
@1108- im not afraid of striking- myself and our school are pretty onboard with striking as a whole to show unity. however individually many disagree with the reasoning calling for a strike. this is not march- in march i wount even dream of wearing a mask- now i never take one off when outside my apartment. this virus will not go away in my lifetime.
It was just on the news that the UFT will vote tonight on the strike. He never said there was no strike, the vote was delayed. Get your facts straight.
@12:06 PM - It was not what De Blasio stated though which could be completely different from what the UFT is doing.
Even if Tom is full of shit, Mulgrew will never allow a bonafide strike. Maybe a vote, maybe a preparation - but never a strike where union dues check off or his authority are put in jeopardy. He’ll pull out at the last second like that porn the kids in school watch on their phones.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the vote today is whether or not the union will be authorized by its membership to strike if it is deemed necessary. It's not the actual declaration of a strike. It's more like asking permission to be allowed to strike.
11:08
https://new.mta.info/coronavirus/ridership
It's certainly not what it used to be but still over 2 and a half million people a day are taking buses and trains to work.
Also, you speak of misinformation and then say wherever schools are open infection rates have gone up. That is false. Almost every state is going down including Florida and Georgia. Also in regard to indoor dining and museums you do realize there's a world outside of NYC? Dining since June on Long Island and the whole state north of the Bronx. Museums, casinos, aquariums etc. a short car ride away all open. I've been doing them all summer with my kids (well, not the casino! That had to wait till the kids went back to school last week.)
TJL
Ridership is down. My brother in law works for MTA. He doesn’t want us to strike becUse he says the trains are still not anywhere near the same level they were pre Covid. They are talking layoffs at mta
@Bronx ATR - Uh, I dont think the poster was saying that Tom (me) was full of shit - I think he was referring to @10:49 who made the claim, which turns out he was right, while adding his own commentary about Mulgrew "backing down". True or not, Deblasio did say there would be no strike vote.
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