Thursday, September 03, 2020

GOTHAMIST COVERS UFT SOLIDARITY LAWSUIT ATTEMPTING TO EXPAND OPTIONS TO DO REMOTE LEARNING (Updated as City Settles With One Plaintiff)

Anyone who thinks that the agreement that Michael Mulgrew and the City-DOE came to that nobody can see was the end of the struggle and that schools will just open as the UFT agreed to is not paying attention. Backed by Teacher Lawyer Bryan Glass, UFT Solidarity has filed a lawsuit looking at the very least to expand the options for DOE employees to work remotely from home. 

I have been involved in helping out with giving information in cases where Bryan and his partner Jordan Harlow were representing teachers. In my opinion, they know what they're doing. Bryan wouldn't file for an injunction if there was no chance of success. 

The story was covered in Gothamist:

Teachers Will Ask Judge To Block In-Person Learning At NYC Public Schools

Several New York City teachers will ask a state judge to keep schools fully remote for the upcoming semester and expand the criteria for instructors to teach from home, arguing that it's still too risky to bring students and teachers back into classrooms while the danger of the pandemic still exists.

"I will not allow them to use me or my children as test subjects," said Francisca Harding, a 12-year D75 science teacher in the Bronx, and one of the petitioners filing an injunctive relief against the City of New York and Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza. "My whole family is in the front line," said Harding, whose three children are in the public school system. Harding added that she was also filing the suit for the "thousands" of educators who "are not tenured, and do not have the safety net that I have within the DOE, and especially home instruction teachers, hospital instruction teachers, paraprofessionals."

Harding argues that the school buildings are not safe for teachers even as city officials have cited measures like electrostatic cleaning of classrooms, hand sanitizer, limited movement among students, a nurse in every school building, and maintaining a 30-day supply of personal protective equipment for everyone.

Currently, students are expected to return to school for in-person learning on September 21st, 11 days from the original date Mayor Bill de Blasio and the city Department of Education proposed, with training for remote learning for teachers occurring September 16th through 18th. The decision was made after the DOE struck a deal to delay school reopening with the United Federation of Teachers, which threatened last week to strike.

Further down:

They're playing what we in the DOE call the 'horse and pony game.' We're trying to create a show for you guys, and tell parents, 'Look we're safe.' But a lot of those parents are also educators," Harding countered. "And we know for a fact that the schools are not safe. The cleaning has not been done correctly. Some teachers find dead animals or dead rodents under their desk. And that's been there for years. And now de Blasio is gonna tell us all of a sudden, there's gonna be a purified cleaning throughout all the schools, in the DOE?"

Harding and other petitioners hope a judge forces the DOE to agree to expanding the Reasonable Accommodation Request criteria—a set of DOE-approved medical conditions that allow impacted teachers to work from home instead of a classroom with the belief their conditions could worse if they return to school.

The filing of an injunctive relief was brought by UFT Solidarity, a subset group within the UFT that's criticized the school reopening plan and the narro

"It excludes certain groups of people, including people who are cancer patients, people who are parents of small children, who may have opted to go remote," said Lydia Howrilka, a teacher and organizer with UFT Solidarity. "People like myself who are caregivers of elderly parents and guardians who unfortunately will be putting our loved ones at great risk if we were to come into work. Educators have been given this Hobson's Choice of choosing between their livelihoods and their health."

What did Yogi Berra famously once say?

It ain't over till it's over.

Update from Lydia's Facebook:

"When the City calls your lawyer before things get filed, you kinda know you are about to throw a grenade."

Update 2

I have been informed that the city is in a state of panic over the lawsuit.  They have already given an accommodation to Ms Harding, the teacher quoted in the Gothamist piece. New plaintiffs added.

40 comments:

  1. Ya know whats amazing? I hear them say...You opted out, now you have no say, you have no vote, now you can't change anything." What vote did the dues payers have, what say? How did they object? If that doesn't prove everything, I don't know what will. It's a great agreement...That they voted on without seeing or reading...In 45 seconds.

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  2. Travel on packed bus and train hasn't been addressed.

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    1. We also have TONS of teachers who bike to work and keep their bike in their classrooms.

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  3. I'm really interested to see how this case will turn out. I believe if it helps more teachers that need to go remote, it will be a big win for Solidarity. Actually, it's a big win for Solidarity just for the effort.

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  4. Walk from Staten Island to Manhattan? Park in Union Square? Where exactly?

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  5. Some teachers travel from NJ, LI, upstate NY...

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  6. Safe for us???

    Success Academy, the city's largest charter network, will stay all remote until December, citing uncertainty about building readiness, and limitations of in-person schooling w/ safety precautions.

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  7. Success academy - these charter schools are considered public schools and if they are all remote until December something smells rotten in Albany. Mulgrew has a side deal we aren’t aware of, with Cuomo ? DeB? Who the heck knows? One thing for certain is that the agreement is pure bullshit and doesn’t met the safety needs of teachers and most parents who don’t want their kids unknowingly killing their teachers or grandparents. Close all the schools, but keep TeachNY’s open just for her and only for her, so no one has to address her constant blathering rationalizations.

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    1. I just don’t understand the anger. When a strike was a real possibility, I never heard anyone demand remote or nothing. All of a sudden it seems that people are demanding remote only.
      And it’s *he, not *she.
      Again, people can take a leave if they don’t want to go in. Those that were ok with striking can probably afford to take a temporary leave.

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    2. You were not paying attention.

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  8. Teachers with the union mind set of TeachNY are the reason that admin, Mulgrew, DOE, mayor, and public give us no respect and try to walk all over us.

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  9. DeB will need a scapegoat when that Solidarity injunction closes schools.
    https://nypost.com/2020/09/02/covid-19-has-exposed-chancellor-richard-carranzas-utter-incompetence/?utm_campaign=iphone_nyp&utm_source=pasteboard_app

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  10. Mulgrew says we have 2 weeks to get it done. We report in 4 days. Do we not matter?

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  11. Mulgrew blaming federal govt.

    de blasio is the one opening schools.

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  12. Walking and biking to work and outdoor learning are contingent on ideal weather conditions. How many times in the fall do we have ideal weather in NYC?

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  13. Good luck to Solidarity and to GH&H.
    This is an excellent strategy and may succeed.

    James, do you know if any of the teachers are opt-outs?
    Perhaps a another lawsuit to expand the options for DOE employees to work remotely from home needs to be filed for teachers who are not represented by MM and UFT.

    We need to explore more avenues like this, ways to use the law to circumvent Unity's backroom agreements with the mayor.

    We need to go hard at the Taylor Law.
    The quick and easy method is to break it but that is unlikely to happen, ever. We had a great opportunity and we didn't take it.

    Our members want bread without butter, service unionism.
    We won't catch the wave of job actions and strikes cresting over the country.
    I mean, even Mike Bloomberg caught that one and came out in favor of strikes.
    But Teach NY is typical of our membership. Gonna ride a bike like Mike when the Transit Union struck.

    Our power is numbers and money only. And Unity has the numbers and money.
    To make any progress we can't copy LA or Detroit or any other union out there. We are NY and we don't go there. Never happen now, so THE LAW is our best option.

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  14. Risk of viral infections has always been there on public transportation. And for those teachers who travel long distances and rely on public transportation what do you do when trains or buses are not in service?

    I think of a graduate class I took with the great Bob Reich. One fellow classmate complained that his administration was giving him a hard time because he was late even though it was the school's own security that was delaying his entrance to the school's complex causing him to be late. Looking for help my classmate asked what he could do. After listening bnb intently Bob looked at him and said "leave earlier. You know are going to be late so leave earlier."

    I agree that we should be remote but we aren't. Until that happens stop complaining. You put your safety in the hands of the union and this is what they agreed to.

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    1. Stop complaining is tantamount to taking whatever they want to give us...a Covid-19 sandwich. Keep complaining, keep protesting, keep finding ways to exercise your right to work in a safe environment. Hell, if the above person was in charge of the Sons of Liberty we might still be part of the British Empire. SMH

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  15. Eva doesn't want to spend the money to keep schools safe. Or pay for more personnel. It's the money, stupid.

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  16. New York City's testing plan is rushed. LA took time to roll theirs out. How many of us tell our students to do things in advance so they don't have to rush out their assignments, yet DeBlasio is doing exactly that. Said by one epidemiologist: “It strikes me as being very ambitious. I’m glad they’re doing it, but I think it would be better if they’d been planning to do this in advance."
    “This is not something that is easy to pull out of a hat,” he added.
    So, in person teachers are supposed to be in the building with students that have not yet been tested when testing is only supposed to begin on 10/1? We should have been remote only at least until testing could begin.
    Things done half-ass backwards, as usual.

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  17. Teachers Union isn’t asking for much. Also, how can the NYPD Union cry about the city banning chokeholds and assult weapons when Schools don’t get supplies or even nurses 😖😖😖 Too many families work jobs that don’t offer a livable wage, let alone health benefits. Sure Medicaid is ok for primary care once a year check ups, but not specialized care to recover from something like COVID.

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  18. @TeachNY,
    You never heard anyone demand remote only? Huh? What did you think, folks just wanted to strike to pay fines? Or to go into filthy, disgusting schools ; or perhaps to teach in local parks to sit in dog shit and watch heroin addicts shoot up? You’re making a lot of overall assumptions concerning what people can and cannot afford to do; as well as how they can and can’t get to work. Your wants and needs do not match the typical teacher. Yeah, anger is there because you show a certain high level of ignorance and a high level of indifference to your colleagues and profession that has put the UFT ,and the teachers it purports to represent, where they are right now, today. Being a he and not a she, or vice versa, is not necessarily a requisite requirement for sensitivity and thoughtfulness, but fits in your case.

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  19. Cissy, Did you listen to Pat Lynch (nypd)? They're not crying. They took a stand. And they just got their overtime money back. I will have all ppe and supplies I need. My administration knows who the squeaky wheels are. We tend to get treated better than those who stay silent when abused. Some of us even tried to organize more staff and get them to stand up for themselves. Nope. Too scared. So those few with the backbone looked out for each other and we're treated just fine. Stand up or bend over. Life's about choices.

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  20. @3:07... and there you have it. Mike dropped. Stay safe

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  21. 2:48 PM You might have thought we would be striking for remote for all, but Mulgrew never said any such thing.

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    1. Thank you! This is what I don’t get. How do people feel we were sold out when teaching fully remote was never a demand? The threat to strike was to make sure buildings are safe. We got that. Schools that are it deemed safe will not open. We have control over this. I’m serious. Can someone explain to me how we were sold out when remote only was never even on the table at all?

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  22. Did Ms Harding have a medical issue?

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  23. Does one have to have their name attached to the case to be able to choose remote if the court rules in that direction? Or is the goal that the ruling would extend to any DOE teacher if they would like to be remote?

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  24. I believe they asked for all others similarly situated to be included.

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  25. TeachNY: Yes, Mulgrew kept saying that we were striking for "safety." The DR said the same - for "safety." Apparently, "safety" is subjective, and maybe teachers thought "safety" meant remote for all, but Mulgrew just meant to delay the start date for students so that de Blasio, Carranza, and the principals have more time to try to get things together. NO WAY that was going to happen by the 10th.

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  26. @TeachNY, Safety means remote. Period. There’s no way the DOE and UFT can get it right. Almost every veteran teacher seems to know that except you TeachNY. I hope you don’t have to learn that the hard way on a ventilator.

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  27. Unfortunately, several teachers will get sick and die before the DOE agrees that everyone should have started remote.

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  28. "“I have spoken with New York State and New York City and they are telling me that disinfection of the MTA, government buildings, and schools will now no longer be eligible expenses [for federal reimbursement], and that PPE for non-medical workers has been strictly limited,” Senator Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement."

    https://nypost.com/2020/09/03/fema-covid-19-funding-change-will-hit-subway-school-cleanings-schumer-says/

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  29. Babylon is falling. At the end of the day, who suffers? Families, children, and educators. Public schools death knell.

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  30. Promises of peace will cost lives. Where is the soul and guts of the NYC community. Is it forever about domination? Why are NOT more speaking out. Power concedes nothing without demand.

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  31. I don't understand why the union could not adocate for "remote only" in their negotiations. In my CL meetings despite that we all wanted remote, there was only advocacy with the approach of safe schools. The end solution is that call to action - "teacher fully remote"
    Where is that call to action in our advocacy???

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  32. @4:30am

    Sometimes you have to stand alone. State your view and hopefully like minded people will join you. Make a sign and join the day time protesters. Lord knows the nighttime folks are doing harm.

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  33. @9:51 AM - I am just pro-union. Agree that this is a big plus for Solidarity which needs to be promoted. Many don't know that Solidarity or MORE exist.

    Staff need to rejoin the union and if you don't forget what just happened between March and now, then you can vote. If you are not a union member, you cannot vote.

    Whichever is strongest between Solidarity and MORE, the other caucus should support the one that is.

    If you want changes, join the union and vote.

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