Friday, October 07, 2022

CONTRACT COMMITTEE MEMBER WANTS TO KNOW WHAT YOU WILL BE WILLING TO DO TO FIGHT FOR A GOOD CONTRACT

By Contract committee member 

The UFT contract committee will meet with the city for the first contract negotiations on October 13th. 

Mayor Adam’s would like 1 to 2 percent raises max per year according to our sources at other unions. 

He has shown very little willingness to even sit down with the entire unionized city workforce that has expired contracts. 

According to our brothers and sisters in DC 37 - one of the largest city worker unions, he is asking for high premiums for healthcare- in other words pay into health care which would offset any raise and actually mean a large pay cut for our members. 

The UFT position is clear: premium free, quality  healthcare and substantial raises because of inflation. 

We must have improvements in our working conditions and our students’ learning  conditions - safe schools so our youngest can learn , schools with AC as temperatures rise is way past due, class size compliance with the new legislation and more attention to special education to ensure that the city is actually serving our kids who need the most help.

We have to understand going into contract negotiation 2 major points: 
1. Contract negotiations are built on back and forth- compromise- we get some of what you want, the city has to get some of what they want. 

2. In order  to get even some of what we want, we need leverage- what do we hold over the city’s head that will actually bring them to the table and help us get some or even a majority of what we want?

That is a question the union leadership has to answer, the contract committee has to answer,  and each and everyone of you has to answer. 

What can you do, what can we do, what should we do to get what we want, what our students need? What are you going to do in your chapter that you want all chapters to do?

With inflation gone crazy, can we afford to live in NYC and the surrounding areas without a substantial raise? Can the city keep a work force without one? 

If you look at workers across the country right now; from Amazon, to Starbucks, now Apple, and Trader Joe’s - they have had to make sacrifices, they organized, they spent their free time after work, before work, on lunch breaks- risking their jobs to form unions, to have what we have now- a certified union that can collectively bargain for salary and conditions.

Some workers have been fired, other have had hours cut, many have had to hire lawyers and spend countless hours in court, while you walked into a job with a union already formed, but 50 years ago our brethren made those same same sacrifices- you have what thousands, if not millions of workers want right now- a union- nearly 200,000 strong. 
We can’ttake that for granted.

In Seattle and Ohio this past year teachers had to go on strike, they had to make the ultimate sacrifice of giving up pay, salary, food on their table, healthcare for their children, in order to get what they wanted -and they won. 

I’m not saying a strike is inevitable- what I am saying is that we have to be willing to fight for what we want, we will have to sacrifice, we will have to show the city and public our demands are real and fair. 

So we need to ask you,
the person in the mirror, if we ask you to wear blue will you do it? If we ask you to call local elected officials and the mayor will you do it? If we ask to join a rally before or after school will you do it? If we ask to join a march in the city to the steps of city hall will you do it?


To show this mayor we mean business, what are you willing to do?  And yes, if we ask you to withhold your labor, stop working, go on strike as a last resort, so we can retain our healthcare , get the raises we need and have the schools our children deserve, will you do it?

18 comments:

  1. A major issue with any strike has always been—how much support you have from the public. Most people may be sympathetic to your cause—until a work stoppage has a direct connection to their daily routines or left them with very little alternative. It’s been nearly a year and a half where things have about gotten back to almost normal—so I don’t think NYC public school parents want to have their children stay home due to a strike.In addition, Adams/Banks will vilify Mulgrew, the UFT and then double down on their positive comment rhetoric on the need for the non-unionized charters.

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  2. This came from The Moose but it wouldn't go through so I am posting under my name:

    The Moose said:

    Our contract is going to be pretty good or pretty poor. Inflation and cost of living have hurt a lot of us. Let's hope we DON'T do anything to sacrifice our retirement or our pensions!

    Tier 6 status needs to go. I am Tier 4. Tier 6 has to work until 62 to get their 60 percent pension when they retire. I think having different Tiers can lend to different voting interests in the contract. Let's hope for a good one.

    I am formally known as "The Moose". Thank God you rid of the "Anonymous" comments. I'm sure regulating those phonies has caused you a lot of grief. Keep up the good work James!

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  3. What, no comments about how you all are suckers to pay dues to the UFT while the alternative is to suck on your thumb? No racist comments? I'm suffering withdrawal.

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  4. Literally none of those things will help except for a strike. You think the mayor cares about what any teacher or parent thinks? Our union is close to useless. Hashtag campaigns and wearing a color are not what unions do. They fight for their members. They make demands and then take action. Real action. Union presidents shouldn't be in bed with the employer and should be willing to go to jail. We're screwed until Mulgrew leaves.

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  5. Why bother about dues? James is proving the point by saying we need to beg, we have no leverage and the mayor has no reason to offer us over 1% per year. There, I said it. And it's true. The strongest union in the country getting a hundred million dollars from us should do better.

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  6. Maybe the UFT/MLC should set up a Go Fund Me campaign to get money for the stabilization fund they and the city plundered. They could then secure money for our health benefits!

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  7. What are you doing to pressure the "strongest union in the country" to do its job? They won't miss some disgruntled people dropping dues.

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  8. Adams who everyone hopped on mainly because he was a democrat and my gosh he is black wanted a sanctuary city. Now we need 1 billion to manage this crisis the dems wanted. Sure that will help us for our raises since the illegals are taking it away.

    Getting 1-2% having stupid PD meetings would be an embarrassment to an already shitty union. Per session should be 60 minimum.

    Inflation from this asshole resident and Obama's third term how pathetic all of you are who voted for this pieced of shit.

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  9. We are not having that debate either. We ended it a while back.

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  10. The UFT warned about Adams before the primary and then supported him after he won the primary. That was a terrible move that showed no backbone.

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  11. Anybody on the committee bring up safety or grade fraud?

    NYC school failed to help student who was bullied with taser, assaulted: suit https://trib.al/Tx1sVBE

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  12. Goodness. I just read the story posted by 1:57pm. I think JP's question is excellent.

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  13. I have my own answer.

    No suspensions. Everyone graduates.

    Get threatened with the use of a TASER in school. But restorative justice.

    Not sure how nobody realizes these are daily happenings. Uft silent.

    Keep Soaring. And equity.

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  14. Yes. Soaring and equity says the powers that be. They also say switching our Traditional Medicare to a "soup of the day" coverage is equitable. The UFT knows of this fallacy but it continues to feign ignorance. This leads me to believe that they are in bed with the City. So what would I be willing to do? If I were working and the majority of my colleagues were willing to NOT pass failing students i start there. This public farce of equity and soaring would be braked. If we use our power, we could be in a stronger position to demand a better contract.

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  15. Wanna know another reason we have problems? The top union person in the country, Randi Weingarten, just arrived in Ukraine to "assess the situation." What in the world is wrong with these people?

    Randi Weingarten πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈπŸ’ͺπŸΏπŸ‘©‍πŸŽ“
    @rweingarten
    ·
    23m
    Crossing into #Ukraine

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  16. Maybe she's looking to hire more bodies i mean teachers to fill union coffers. Maybe her assumption is that with this poor medical coverage being rammed down our throats, the union will need more dues payers sooner, rather than later.

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  17. Sounds like a well oiled machine, right w4s?

    A Baltimore public school student passed only 3 classes in 4 years, had a GPA of only 0.13, and yet was ranked near the top half of his class. (Nearly half his classmates had a grade point average of 0.13 or lower.)

    Baltimore spends $21,606 per student.

    https://foxbaltimore.com/news/project-baltimore/city-student-passes-3-classes-in-four-years-ranks-near-top-half-of-class-with-013-gpa

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  18. Absolutely JP. Like all machines, if you remove a part it will stop working. The topic of this post is "...what will you be willing to do to fight for a good contract?" Imo one of the hardest things for an educator to do is to go against the pass all policy of the DOE (nyc gov). The retaliation is horrendous. However I think if ALL of a school's staff agrees to do this, this machine will come to a screeching halt. The power would shift back to the teachers and UFT. It's easier said then done.

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