Monday, April 24, 2023

THE LATEST UFT CONTRACT LEAFLET; GOTHAMIST ARTICLE UPDATES CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS

 The latest UFT contract leaflet. Any thoughts?


Update: There is a piece in Gothamist on the UFT contract negotiations.

Some excerpts:

In addition to economic demands, teachers are also seeking educational policy changes as part of their collective bargaining. They are pushing back on what they say are overly burdensome requirements. Examples the union cited include: excessive testing and data collection, teacher training sessions unrelated to student needs, and having to administer repeated social-emotional assessments throughout the year.

“What we're being mandated to do has nothing to do with what we've been hired to do,” Michael Mulgrew, the president of the union, told Gothamist in an interview.

He said the policies had created a “massive morale problem” among teachers.

Further down:

Mulgrew said that talks with City Hall had picked up momentum in recent days, but declined to provide further details. He said the two parties last met on Wednesday.

And more:

Under Adams, the city’s labor negotiators have so far reached deals with two large unions: District Council 37, the largest municipal union that includes many lower-wage workers, and the Police Benevolent Association, the city’s largest police union.

Both received generous multi-year deals, worth $4 billion and $5.5 billion respectively. The city also agreed to pilot programs for remote work for some city workers and longer shifts that would allow police officers to work fewer days.

For the teachers’ union, the precedent of those two agreements takes some of the pressure off its talks: Under the process known as pattern bargaining, the city is expected to apply the same framework to other unions, depending on whether they are civilian or uniformed.

The expectation is that salary increases for teachers would fall in line with the roughly 3% annual raises received by the members of District Council 37.

Any comments?

5 comments:

John Q. Teacher said...

Part of me is quite concerned that this leaflet seems to be saying that we are doing things that don't benefit the students but wondering if this means that Mulgrew and the City are going to try and implement more time into the school day. (Either outright or by making our extended time be changed to teaching time.) The other part of me is wondering if Mulgrew is actually pushing to get rid of the extended, in school time so we can do lesson planning, parent outreach, grading papers, etc, from home after school. As always, we will have no idea since the UFT leadership negotiates in public, unlike the LA Teachers union who got a great contract by bargaining in public.

Pencilsdown said...

Let's be real. People don't want to teach anymore because you need to do a full time job in order to prepare and do all the duties of your other full time job. It makes no sense. That's what needs to be fixed. Imagine asking cops to write all their reports at home or bus drivers to come in for free in the evenings to clean/fix their own bus.

Jeff said...

I think this all doesn't matter, as proven by every negotiation.

Oh, I have an idea, how about paperwork reduction, which they say every time, somthing tha can never be enforced.

But we need a strong unuin, so keep paying dues to have this union...As the medical coverage of my parents gets destroyed.

OHFORREAL said...

Once again....I will reiterate this point. We had a chance to get Mulgrat OUT! I DID NOT VOTE FOR HIM. We would've had the change in leadership that more transparent and authentic, however people voted for what they were USE TO and all of THIS is happening. Too many things done in secrecy and not a lot of educators have the tenacity of those in the 1970s who really fought hard for some improvements we are experiencing today.

Jeff said...

But we pay dues.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VqDT795tdYs&feature=youtu.be