Wednesday, February 09, 2022

UFT PUSHES FOR DUE PROCESS FOR UNVACCINATED MEMBERS WHO DOE IS TERMINATING

This is in the NY Daily News:

Roughly 700 city educators got pink slips last week from the Education Department over their refusal to comply with the vaccine mandate — and the teachers union is arguing they shouldn’t be canned without disciplinary hearings.

The hundreds of classroom teachers and paraprofessionals who received termination notices are unvaccinated, failed to win an exemption from the mandate on medical or religious grounds and declined to go on unpaid leave until September, according to the United Federation of Teachers.

But the union is arguing that the staffers still have the right to undergo a disciplinary hearing before they’re officially let go.

“While the [ Education Department] appears to believe that such people can be summarily terminated, the UFT believes that these individuals cannot be terminated without due process,” a union spokeswoman said.

The union says the unvaxxed teachers should get a hearing known as a “3020a,” which allows tenured educators to make their case to an arbitrator before getting fired. It’s unclear if such a hearing would result in the educators keeping their jobs.

We have been asked by two of the impacted teachers to help out. Some of you may be surprised to hear that we have assisted. In one case we have spoken at length to one of the lawyers involved to try to help someone keep a job. While we favor the mandate, we believe exemptions were unreasonably narrow. In addition, tenured teacher discipline falls under State Education Law 3020-a and that is how it needs to be carried out here too. Paras can only be terminated if there is just cause. 

I personally would prefer that everyone get vaccinated as with a vaccine and booster the chances of dying from Covid are roughly one in a million in a week according to the NY Times. I am also very disappointed that public health has become so political. Having said that, if a doctor says it is not medically advisable to get the jabs, then that needs to be seriously considered. Deeply held religious views should be respected as well.

47 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why don't they just take the leave until September? The DOE offered it. Maybe things will be lifted by then.

Anonymous said...

Your stance on mandates gave the fascists their ability to unreasonably fire teachers. You’re not the good guys. You weakened workers’ rights. Now live with it.

James Eterno said...

Stop it. Vaccine mandates to protect the public health go back over a century. Most of the workers support them. There should be reasonable exemptions.

Anonymous said...

You stop it!

The shot does not prevent the spread of COVID! Therefore this mandate makes no sense! There are alternatives to shots that you never even looked into!

End mandates now! Teachers are on a forced unpaid leave! Is that the union you want?

Get rid of of the masks! Let parents decide what is best for their children!

People should make their own medical choices without government control!

You let fear take you over without looking at what you are saying now about individual circumstance!

Can we say FLIP/FLOP?

Anonymous said...

Anything going on with "early retirement incentive"?

Anonymous said...

440 you should look into the funders and organizers behind the anti vax movement that has existed for a long time. ("anti mandate" is just the new public face of the anti vax movement. it's a beard for some real ugly stuff)

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Convoy_2022%23Participation_of_extremist_groups&ved=2ahUKEwjfipmGk_X1AhVMjYkEHXqnBdgQ0gIoBHoECAYQBg&usg=AOvVaw2Q7skD0S41K9bH9lUPXYSB

Anonymous said...

Do you have any info on the appeals to the Citywide Panel?

Do you have info about NYPD detective and Judge Nero about natural immunity? I think detective is still working and judge is reviewing.

Do you know the number of UFT members who are placed on forced unpaid leave?

Anonymous said...

I agree that the DOE and UFT put together unfair guidelines for medical and religious exemptions!

Anonymous said...

These teachers are not being disciplined so I do not believe that a 3020a is needed. They are refusing to comply with a NYC job requirement. If cops wore a long beard, they would eventually be terminated for not following the regulation forbidding beards. (Due to gas mask seal) As mentioned above, these teachers can take an unpaid leave with full medical till September. And please note, I am not a Unity stooge and I am not a fan of Mulgrew at all. This is just my opinion.

Anonymous said...

Because the condition of the leave is that you are forbidden to accept other employment!

Anonymous said...

I respect that upholding workers rights is a very important value. I believe that we all need to know what our important values are, so when the tough situations arise, we have direction.

Pete Zucker said...

I have no problem in teachers who are unvaxxed getting due process. Even the Stephanie Edmonds of the world. But. I have a tough time with empathy for those claiming religious exemptions for new found piety.

Anonymous said...

4:40 You are right.

If UFT didn’t bring this new lawsuit with the MLC, I doubt James would have changed his tune so slightly.
Over 95% of teachers who sought medical or religious exemptions were denied. Their own doctors were ignored by the DOE’s “public health experts” aka Pharma-funded bureaucrats. The DOE also completely disregarded First Amendment religious rights.

If workers support mandates, why are mandates being challenged and removed across the country?
Deblasio’s crack pipe dream of mandates Uber Alles has completely failed. The vast majority of Americans are not subjected to mask and COVID mandates.They still live free from medical coercion.

James, by now you should be able to differentiate COVID from other diseases considering its infection fatality rate. Existing COVID vaccines do not stop transmission or provide sterilizing immunity unlike other vaccines we receive in childhood. Immunity from prior infection is now a publicly accepted fact, though you and other mandaters treat it as a conspiracy theory.

As much as we hate Unity’s top-down leadership approach, mandates reflect the same authoritarian, central planning of medicine.

Will boosters be mandated next or flu shots or masks in perpetuity? Any new experimental treatments for worker apathy or incorrect political thought? Where is the line?

James Eterno said...

No flip flop 7:25. My position has been the same all along. Everyone deserves due process.

Anonymous said...

UFT is finally worried now. If the DOE can fire teachers like this, then the contract is useless.
So then what’s the point of a union if it can’t protect its people?

What’s the next excuse they will use to violate our contract?

Anonymous said...

California trying to circumvent parental consent to vaccinate kids.will hochul follow?

Anonymous said...

Why is congress exempt from the shots?

Anonymous said...

I don't trust that all parents know what is best for their children. If they all did you wouldn't see so many failing and cutting students in the system.

Anonymous said...

When kids have side effects or death from the shot, there will be hell to pay by the schools.plus if someone has a reaction and the parent has no idea the kid was jabbed, they are unable to provide info to the doc or hospital.they are so desperate for this jab, u can't help but question their motives even if u don't believe in conspiracy.i guess it's because they love each one of us dearly.isnt it evidenced every day how much they love us? Just like nestle loved the African babies they killed.

Anonymous said...

12:18 there have been plenty of deaths (nearly 1 million now) and long term effects from contracting Covid. are you out there giving people hell to pay for allowing it to happen?

Anonymous said...

7:26
I don't foresee any ERI with a teacher shortage, despite whatever bills languish in assembly.
Would be nice though.
Regards.

Anonymous said...

12:30: but covid affecting kids is very rare. Many kids injured in the trials I'm saying why risk that for something that really doesn't pose a danger.risk:benefit doesn't make sense.i would agree if it did affect them like that. Of course.we don't know long term effects for anyone. Even phizer said data not ready yet, but agencies still pushing it on the babies

Anonymous said...

227. Vaccines having negative effects on anyone is even more rare.

Anonymous said...

Crazy many in our Union caused this. You have championed positions that eroded our rights. There is no other way around it. The unvaccinated should not have been terminated, due process is not something they should have ever needed. You abandoned them a couple of jumps ago.

Anonymous said...

Read the post. James is helping people out.

Anonymous said...

It's not rare.james censors me when I post a legit link.

Anonymous said...

James can't help. Nobody can. That is why we are here, with no chance. But good luck...And keep paying dues. And keep waiting for a good contract, an fair raises, and tell the retirees to not worry about their medical, etc...

Anonymous said...

TRO temporarily denied. Actual TRO hearing set for March 1.

https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=dsxa8Y_PLUS_AYHviZ32ykLjgzA==

Too little, too late from the “labor unions”.

James Eterno said...

5:07, We fact check. We are quite lenient but do the draw the line at certain websites.

Anon2323 said...

James it comes full circle, you are way more on the wrong side than the right, the left have censored and mandated like the commies we all can see. Natural immunity whom your god send Fauci did not know the answer to shows it can defeat the virus very well . Just like I have been saying over year about ivermectin and hydroxy, you do not need a vaccine because you are super paranoid and brainwashed. I would be more afraid of Cancer, immune issues than getting the weak "booster every 6 month" drug. AS free thinking adults we can go to quest and get anti body tests as well.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/lasting-immunity-found-after-recovery-covid-19

James has bot been watching Canada, most of europe all fighting with millions against mandates. Guess what, they are all going away, the people stood up and woke up, its over James! Go see a therapist to speak of your own anxiety.

The kids have been hurt the most do not ever forget that, they are the ones who are depressed and mentally unstable, all you living in a bubble dems here should be ashamed!

Anonymous said...

Don't people get it the big pharma scheming bastards are going hard after the children. If/when they get this shot normalized as a regular vaccination for kids it takes away from any litigation from the hundred of thousands people in future with terrible side effects.

So we should be mandated to take an experimental vaccine and cannot sue when you get serious side effect? That makes perfect sense for a brand new vaccine. Now in 6-8 months all the info will be out it was originally supposed to be 75 years!!!!

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/paramount-importance-judge-orders-fda-hasten-release-pfizer-vaccine-docs-2022-01-07/

James Eterno said...

The Dems are with you now. You have taken to gaslighting me Anon 2323. Showing a pre variant piece that is outdated proves nothing.

We are in the middle of the UFT election campaign. Spare me the dark web posts. I don't have time to review them. We are trying to build a real union.

James Eterno said...

The vaccines are Flly FDA approved for adults.

Anonymous said...

Anon2323 is not gaslight good at all.new union has to not buy into the rhetoric that is censored, peddled, etc by pharma controlled media.

Anonymous said...

6000 cops remain unvaxed. Most waiting for a decision on their medical or religious exemption. They are still working and this mass firing will not effect them. Why is it that no decision on their exemption has been made but every single teacher exemption has been decided? The preferential treatment and double standard is mind blowing! Why is this never addressed. Mulgrew motto should be when the cops do it we will do it. Also why is Mayor Adams allowed to be a blatant racist calling whites crackers?! Finally, through out all of history women are treated far worse than any man of any color. Where is the push for gender equality?! The gender equality push is nothing compared to the racial one. This is wrong and needs to be addressed.

Anonymous said...

I understand why having to get certain vaccines is necessary like
polio or measles because there are no choices, but teachers who chose not to be Covid vaccinated have an alternative, GET TESTED TWICE A WEEK AT THEIR OWN EXPENSE seems less draconian

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know how much longer we will need to complete and show the health screening? Also, the temperature check? It seems rather silly, at this point, to keep doing this.

Former Teacher said...

I don't understand why all these teachers think that you can take a leave from your teaching job, stop time, work another job, and then come back when you want. We have made a mockery of they whole civil service job. Just get rid of all the provisions. Teach, quit, work something else, get rehired. That is how it works in the private sector. You can't have this both ways. Why should we hold your position? There are other people who may want that position and a teacher is not entitled to hold on to it for a matter of convenience.

Former Teacher said...

The Union protects those teachers it wants to protect. It gave unvaxxed teachers leave and health insurance to the tune of 20,000 dollars and right to return to their job in their school. It gave the subs NOTHING except the opportunity to get COVID everyday they worked and no health insurance. All dues paying members. It gives new mothers 8 weeks and then return or get kicked off health insurance. Some members are treated better than others.

Anonymous said...

There is no point of a mandate. It does not prevent you from getting the disease and certainly does not prevent spread. Historical mandates made sense because they created herd immunity but this vaccine does no such thing. The mandate is useless and it's embraassing that you refuse to follow the science and support it.

Anonymous said...

604, perfect summary. Even though James has heard this probably over 100 times since August and yet remains steadfastly demented.

ed notes online said...

You anti-mandaters: Are you really NYC teachers who face unlimited dumb ass mandates regulating what you teach, how you teach, forcing some stupid IEPs on people, loads of work off time, idiot principals with stupid rules, shit you have to sign for. So what a load of bullshit you are so offended and having your freedom taken away over vaccines and mask. You are political tools of a faux movement about some bullshit freedom you think you have. The day you walked into the dOE you lost your freedom.

Anonymous said...

Supreme Court rejected their appeal...they had their due process...time to move on.
Next, I want to see even handed application to all NYC public employees, male or female, uniformed or not, including a freshly minted Council member from North Queens. No hiding behind "religion" when you haven't been there since junior high.

Anonymous said...

7:50 - so James being against the mandate was going to make a difference in the Supreme Court ruling? You're the one who sounds steadfastly demented.

Anonymous said...

Exactly @ 9:41. I don't want the next UFT President to spend a second of their time on the mandate. All the other stuff you wrote about such as "loads of work off time", etc., *that's* is what I would like them to focus on and fix. Pronto.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to be so negative.i think nothing will change no matter who wins.the doe has been a bad failure for decades, maybe longer.they don't care about kids or workers.the city and state are corrupt.you are lucky if you have good admin who care and if you make a few like- minded friends along the way.But colleagues work against each other, as many here can attest to.they will throw you under the bus in a heartbeat, so you really have to be careful.when you have 3020a, you learn who your friends are and are not.sad day of rude awakening.i learned to watch my own back and to never trust anyone, especially the holy rollers who claim to love you!they are the worst!it sounds bad.i came into the field naive and optimistic. There is no shortage of of admins and workers who get off on seeing others suffer.it is a toxic machine.no union people can fix it at this point, especially with randi in power, may she rot.

Anonymous said...

Breaking Points reported the cdc is hiding vaccine data that doesn’t go along with the political narrative. I usually vote for the opposition but this time I’m voting Unity if fighting mandates isn’t in UFC’s agenda. My prediction is Unity with 70% of the vote.