Friday, October 22, 2021

PROFESSIONAL STAFF CONGRESS WORKING ON NEXT CONTRACT WHEN THE CURRENT ONE DOES NOT EXPIRE UNTIL 2023

While Michael Mulgrew talks about forming a 300 person negotiating committee that will have little, if any, input into next year's contract negotiations, the Professional Staff Congress (CUNY teacher union that I also belong to) is gearing up for a fight for the 2023 Contract. The PSC is attempting to mobilize every PSC member for the contract battle. This is part of an email I received earlier today:

Colleagues,

Our union contract expires in 18 months. By Spring 2023 the PSC aims to have enough power and capacity to win major new public investment in CUNY, pass the New Deal for CUNY, and settle a great new contract.

Be part of the campaign by RSVPing for the PSC’s Hybrid Rally During the CUNY Board Meeting Monday, October 25 at 4:30 PM. Tell us you’ll be there, in person or online, at Baruch College or on Zoom.

The Strategic Action Plan to achieve our goals will require active listening and communications about members’ needs. It will mean organizing structures that reach into every department and office, growing our membership and ranks of activists, and increasing our ability to exert power for members in the workplace and in Albany and City Hall. We’ll try to seize every available opportunity—and create new ones when possible.

What will the UFT be doing to mobilize UFTers for the September 2022 Contract? Probably nothing. We will just get a sales job that it is the greatest thing since sliced bread no matter what.

We need a better UFT, not to abandon it. Vote opposition next year. 

42 comments:

Anonymous said...

Vote opposition? Which one? Communist or Nazi?

Anonymous said...

742.. jfc.

Anonymous said...

I am extremely concerned about our next contract. With all this chatter about a longer school day and changes to our in service insurance. I have 4 more years till I retire and I can not handle that kind of shit. The majority of our current teaching force is not tier 4 and thus they are younger and only care about money. I fear a repeat of 2005 when teachers agreed to a longer day for a "raise". The vets need to school the newbies to reject that idea.

Anonymous said...

Last night Mulgrew sent UFT retirees the same BS nonsense about his precious Medicare (Dis)Advantage Plan that just took a hit in court. He doesn't get it. They don't want it. Nor does he get it how many other NYC Retirees would like to give him a swat, as well...
PSC leadership seems to "hear" their members better than UFT, tho' far from perfect. They change leaders more frequently, and the blame gets spread around.

Anonymous said...

9:43. Hang in! You can make it 4 yrs no matter what contract you get. Stay strong. Recently retired. I was dragging myself to work the last couple years. I know how you feel. One day the weight of the world is gone from your shoulders. You’ll love it and YOU WILL get there.

Anonymous said...

anything on school violence?

https://nypost.com/2021/10/22/wild-brawl-caught-on-video-at-staten-islands-wagner-high-school/

Anonymous said...

Such melodrama on the reporting of the fight at Wagner. Wild scene but it just looked like a girls fight with about 3-4 girls, with most of the chaos coming from the onlookers and teachers and security trying to contain the fighting girls. Girl can get vicious and they will absolutely wreck a place.

Anonymous said...

The reason the contract does not expire until 2023 is because Mulgrew agreed to give a generous break to NY city with an extension of the current contract. There was a 73 days of contract extension without wages was in exchange for Parental Leave

The UFT brain trust under Mulgrew's steadfast incompetence delivered a bi gift to NY city at the expense of UFT members by agreeing to a vastly inferior contract. The contract originally ran from February 2018 until September 2022. The 73 days contract extension pushed the contract out to February 18, 2023.

This years inflation of 5.9% together with the inflation for 2018-2020 has more the eroding the four year cumulative 7.5% wage increase. The UFT's negotiating team was pathetically weak and ineffective.

Also this contract was significantly inferior to the contracts negotiated by the Teachers Unions of Denver, Oakland and Los Angeles.

I DO NOT TRUST MULGREW AND THE UFT TO NEGOTIATE A FAIR CONTRACT. THEIR HEARTS AND MINDS ARE WITH NEW YORK CITY, NOT WITH THEIR MEMBERSHIP. NEW YORK CITY WILL CLAIM (FALSELY) THAT IT DOES NOT HAVE THE MONEY FOR WAGE INCREASES. MULGREW WILL FOLD LIKE THE CHEAP PLASTIC SUITS THAT HE WEARS.

Anonymous said...

Here is MULGREW getting ready to negotiate the next UFT contract. He looks all hot and bothered about the task.

https://www.google.com/search?q=tweedle+dee+and+tweedle+dum&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS924US924&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&pjf=1&ved=2ahUKEwj5ivyP5-HzAhUIsxQKHQprDMMQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=2048&bih=1063&dpr=1.88#imgrc=kc4SrdqmBtpeHM

James Eterno said...

PSC expires in 2023. UFT in 2022.

Anonymous said...

UFT fight for a fair contract? HaHaHa.... They are going to fight like hell to sell a bulls__t contract to their UFT members. They are counting on their collective financial ignorance. They will fight against us. They will fight to save NY city money because NY city will claim it does not have the money for wage increases. Total fraud, collusion and bulls__t from Mugrew. I have zero confidence in the UFT because of its pattern of collusion through willful gullibility.

Anonymous said...

What is the status of the other UFT Caucuses? This is the one election we can vote UNIIY OUT if people play nicely together. Retired teachers will not be lining up to vote for him and current teachers see the writing on the wall.

The other caucuses need to find a slate now and start doing all the round NOW.

I too have a few years left and frankly at least once a week i’m ready to walk now and work any other job.

Sadly, if they want me to work longer for a lot more money in the next terrible contract I will vote no, but it may pass and I will grin and bare it long enough to see my pension be a lot larger than it would have been and then leave the people who voted for it to their misery.

Anonymous said...

Maybe I will get my 25% retro by 2023 since It was supposed to come this month and nobody like usual knows anything.

Where are term limits? Elections are rigged whether it's uft or presidential.

With way inflation gone we need 6% raises minimum. Everyone enjoying 4 a gallon for gas????

Anonymous said...

I don't mind my $4 gall for gas as long as I don't have to hear Trump the windbag bellowing and bloviating morning, noon, and night.

Anonymous said...

I just saw a much better, or I should say clearer, video of the Wagner H.S. fight, and I wish I could delete my comment saying it was "just a couple of girls fighting". There is a clip of one person getting dragged away by security but I can't tell if it was a student or an adult because it looked like they had a radio in their hand. One girl walked up to her and punched her right in her face as both her hands were held by security. That would piss me the hell off more than anything. She was entirely defenseless. Then there were some guys trying to get in on it. It was a mess.

In my old school I used to break up fights all the time but then I realized, this is a rite of passage. They WANT to fight. It's become a thing. So now I just call security and let them handle it. I remember one time I was doing a coverage and my door was open and three girls came looking for one girl. I had to hurry from my desk to the door and as they saw it was me they backed up real quick, but were yelling and screaming right inside the door and I couldn't lock it. A crowd starting gathering as I called for security and school safety, and I thought they were going to pummel the girl. I told her to keep her mouth shut because one wrong word and they were going to charge in there. You think she appreciated that I put myself between her and the girls? She was a rude, little disrespectful snot her entire time at the school.

Do you guys break up fights?

Anonymous said...

Yeah fuck those people who can't afford the gas increase. I make 128k per year and don't give 2 shits about the working class.

Anonymous said...

speaking of those who can't afford these increases. please support a large raise for paras in the next contract!

Anonymous said...

11:53 nice try but if you support Republicans it's clear you don't give two shits about the working class. They're crying and wailing about the extra money given to working families. So get lost.

Anonymous said...

I just literaly said fuck those people. I was agreeing with you. I only care that I can afford the increase. Just like you,right? The Para and the kitchen worker who drives to work and makes less money than teachers may not be able to afford it. But fuck them, I can. Sounds like you're republican too.

Anonymous said...

You are a disgusting human being

JO said...

"I don't mind my $4 gall for gas as long as I don't have to hear Trump the windbag bellowing and bloviating morning, noon, and night."

The person who wrote this, a dem, clearly doesn't care that underpaid paras and teachers are fucked backwards and forwards. So now people can afford less. But you won. So congrats. Spoken like a true union person.

Anonymous said...

8:15 thank you very much. YET as utterly heinous as he was and is, Republican leaders and his supporters are still lining up behind him for 2024, and all of his propaganda lies. Clearly YOU are a Trumptard who doesn't care about his attacks on Democracy, attacks on unions, attacks on American citizens, his continued lies, his daily rage, or anything else. So frankly I don't give a damn what anyone thinks or care about the fake moral high ground you all pretend to be on. Has nothing to do with "winning", as in Gore v Bush, or McCain v Obama, you dope. Get a fucking clue.

Anonymous said...

What you are 6:53 is passive/aggressive. Maybe you little acts works on others but you're more transparent than you think. You sound like a complete idiot.

Anonymous said...

You sound stupid as fuck 6:53. I never said I could afford the increase. I said I don't mind paying it as long as Trump was out of office. You're the type who would support authoritarian tactics as long as you get to save a few bucks. A disgusting point of view as far as I'm concerned.

Anonymous said...

"I don't mind my $4 gallon for gas if it means I don't have to live in an authoritarian country." Fixed it for ya

"Yale history professor Timothy Snyder, an expert on fascism and authoritarianism, on Friday sounded what could be one of the loudest alarms yet on the 2024 election."

Snyder, talking with MSNBC’s Ari Melber, noted how former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 result had relied on “personal charisma and signals to his followers and a few people in the Justice Department and hope.”

"But if Trump does decide to officially enter the 2024 race, Snyder warned this time around he’ll also have “a whole bunch of institutional machinery” with the installation of partisan election officials who back his 2020 lies, which for them legitimizes throwing the vote, “plus a whole lot of time to plan.”

“What we know historically is that a failed coup is a trial run for a successful coup,” said Snyder. “Usually when you fail in a coup, something happens to you— and Mr. Trump, nothing has happened to him.”"

Anonymous said...

Because we don't have authoritarianism now? Lol.

Anonymous said...

If you had to choose between buying gas or paying your phone bill you’d mind. People between that rock and hard place can’t afford it. If you don’t mind then you can afford it. The disgusting person is the person who doesn’t care that others such as many of our paras, school aides, kitchen workers and other working class people can’t afford it. My satirical comments about fuck these people exposed YOU as the one who really thinks fuck these people. We were paying less for gas because Trump tapped American energy. Biden reversed it. Joe Biden is responsible. But hey we don’t have to listen to a blow hard duche so all is well.

ATR 25/55 said...

It's not just the younger teachers who will vote for more money. Too many voted years ago for a HORRIBLE contract that delayed money (and stiffed members who died or left) simply because of a $1,000 "signing bonus." They were like kittens chasing a laser when they heard about the bonus. They got what they deserved in lost interest, unlike other unions. On a side note, I notice the totalitarian loving Dems totally ignore grifters such as Stacy Abrams and Madame Clinton who still call their elections stolen. Morons.

Anonymous said...

hahahahaa and what other "totalitarian" loving people are still calling their election stolen? hmmmm. it's all the same game.

Anonymous said...

8:15 cry me a river. Unfortunately we are facing crisis' on many fronts but that doesn't mean that we all have to settle for an authoritarian who wants to install himself against the will of the people. I DON'T CARE that you think it's disgusting that I would prefer gas prices over a bombastic dangerous narcissist who wanted to overturn the election and didn't care if our elected officials were hung on the public square. Minimizing the danger of Trump and thinking it's as simple as him being a "blow hard douche" is ridiculously naive, short-sighted, and infantile. I think I'll take the word of experts in the field, lifelong conservatives, people familiar with the inner workings, Generals, and PSYCHIATRISTS about the danger he poses to this country. You're the one exposed as a brainwashed supporter of an authoritarian.

Anonymous said...

11:36 what authoritarianism? The majority of the people VOTED for Biden. Unlike Trump who wants to overturn an election and install himself. TOO BAD that you don't like his Executive Orders.

Anonymous said...

1:22 How is Abrams a "grifter"? Because she owed some taxes? Your hypocrisy is nothing short of astounding. You accept Trump's $25 MILLION dollar tax forgiveness while crying about a pittance in comparison. Ha! Trump's claims were looked at through a microscope, and through the courts AND his sycophants are looking to change the LAWS. You compare someone "complaining" to someone actually pressuring and threatening elected officials to change the votes, and putting mechanisms in place so that he can actually be installed the next time he loses. YOU ARE the moron and your thinking is extremely limited.

Anonymous said...

You have Trump Derangement Syndrome. I think Trump is a loud mouthed bore but he still had better policies than Biden. Trump had 4 years. Nothing authoritarian happened unlike what is happening now. Find one of those psychiatrist you speak of. You need one.

Anonymous said...

6:27 pull your head out of your ass, you might be able to read and comprehend what those in the know are saying. You're the dumbasses suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome because you dont see the danger he presents. You dont think it's authoritarian to try and force the Secy of State to make up numbers of votes? Just because he FAILED just as he fails at just about everything doesnt mean he didnt have authoritatian tendencies, with all the firings, and demonizing of the media, and thw harping for his political opponents to be jailed. HE FAILED because they know he is a KOOK, like YOU. Nevermind a psychiatrist, first, find a technician to pull your head out from where its firmly entrenched.

Anonymous said...

627 literally every move he made was against the will of the majority of the people. and that goes for all of our president's. Where's universal health care, child care, a wealth tax, loan forgiveness, tuition free college, gun law reform, the codification of gay marriage... you know, the things the majority of people in this country want. Our politicians, from agent orange to this new lost cause, don't do anything for us. Welcome to America, the most right wing, authoritarian country on the globe. The only place where liberalism (a capitalist ideology) is viewed as the extreme left hahaha. Wake up people, fight the power, not each other.

Anonymous said...

@12:31 LOL @ fight the power, not each other. Fuck 'em. Their sanctimonious, holier than thou bullshit is sickening. I said I don't mind paying $4 for gas (and it is NOT actually $4/gallon, unless you're paying for premium in some places, so that's some bullshit right there), and somehow that translates to some type of higher moral ground pontificating about caring for the poor. These mfer's don't care about muslims, blacks, hispanics, gays, the poor, but they want to lecture about the working class, kitchen workers, school aides. As if the price of gas is the only thing that matters in this country. They can go fuck themselves.

Joey said...

Its very simple. Inflation is running above 5% but is expected by many economists to be transitory. Thus the DOE has likely asked Mulgrew to do them a favor and wait until inflation subsides before starting the negotiation so the city isn't forced to give raises inline with inflation. Mulgeew of course happily obliged. Thus the city is hoping we forget about the current year 5% pay cut via inflation and also hoping that by the time they start negotiating the next contract inflation isn't growing as quickly anymore.
The time is now to renegotiate! Step it up Mulgrew or we will vote you out!

Anonymous said...

Trump did no such thing. I see Trump for exactly who he is. He’s a self centered, narcissistic asshole with really good policies.
Janet Yelin just said inflation will be high through 2022 and possibly into 2023. Not so transitory.

Anonymous said...

@8:46 you say Trump did no such thing. What specific thing that was posted did Trump not do? His policies were horrendous on all front. Interesting how people claim to care about how the poor will afford gas with no regard on how many groups felt about his constant attacks on them and their homelands. He's a degenerate.

Anonymous said...

Border wall. American energy.

Anonymous said...

11:59 who are you replying to? Because saying "border wall, american energy" says nothing related to "Trump did no such thing". Lol.

Joey said...

and to update this, inflation now running at 6%. Mulgrew. Negotiate now while the Iron is hot. Don't do the city's dirty work and negotiate after inflation slows. Labor is standing up strong all over the country. Look at the Deere strike. Employees standing brave and rejecting management's "best and final offer".
Mulgrew, you need to step or for us or we will vote you out.