Congratulations to Patrick Lynch, head of the PBA who stuck to his guns (no pun intended) and refused to give Bloomberg significant givebacks in the last four contracts. In fact, in the last contract, agreed to yesterday, the PBA got back the paid day for their gun training and the newbie police officers will get their full vacation days. The PBA also received larger raises over the contract than the Randi Weingarten-led UFT. Previously, I compared the two in a post Here. Unfortunately, my opinion has not changed.
Patrick Lynch, unlike Randi Weingarten, refused to sell out the existing members and forced the City to try to recruit newbie police officers at an annual salary of $25,100 with reduced vacation days. The result? The Bloomberg administration finally cried uncle and this new contract reflects the City surrender to the PBA. Randi Weingarten, on the other hand caved in to the Bloomberg administration insistence of massive givebacks (you can see them in my post here) for a salary increase of 3.28% annually for the last two contracts while the average rate of inflation for the NYC Region was 4.1%. The PBA annual salary increase averaged 4.5% for a similar time period. Furthermore, Randi has negotiated no takebacks since she has negotiated contracts for the teachers. In fact, Randi's actions has shown that she cares more about recruitment than retention of teachers (you can see some of her actions in my post here). Under her watch the ATR crises has exploded and the "rubber rooms" are bursting at the seems.
Is it any wonder that I believe Patrick Lynch is a Mench and Randi Weingarten is a Wuss?
10 comments:
Chaz- you are so right as always. I am so fed up with our union.
I have a personal bullshit quota, and the union is my next life divestment. This is true from my own chapter on up. What a bunch of white collar hoodlums this "union" has become. My chapter leader betrays our own executive board over issues that concern the school's safety and security. Patrick Lynch and his union's resounding victory gives me new hope for the future of labor in New York City. Unfortunately, he can't restore lost faith in my own union.
Your post hits the nail on the head- although I tend to wonder sometimes if Randi is a wuss, or crazy like a fox.
I truly fear that Bloomberg will find a way to end term limits- because then we are totally screwed. In either case, I still predict another Bloomie contract before the end of his current term.
We need to take our union back!
I am in the rubbber room not so much because of Bloomberg/Klein but because of Randi!
It is our union not Unity's union!
I think I'll quit teaching in NYC if we have another term of Kleinberg.
Justice: I agree with you on the union.
The PBA Leadership and rank and file fought Bloomberg and went years without a contract before reaching their two recent agreements. They followed Bloomberg around the city years back which pissed him off to no end. They deserve congratulations also remember that Lynch was the only labor leader to walk the picket line with the Transit Workers when they went out on strike and challenged the Taylor Law. NYC needs to follow these labor leaders especially if Bloomberg and Quinn (both darlings of the uft)scheme to undo term limits. Well done PBA and Patrick Lynch.
Randi is not just a wuss she is a horsefaced swine. Thats why we lovingly refer to her as Randi Horseface Swinegarten.
QED
Randi is a backstabbing power hungry autocrat; she is no different than Klein or Bloomberg. Unity is run just like a fraternity or a sorority-if they don't like you they don't let you join, whether you're rank and file or not. Our union is closer to the repressive regime of countries like China than a democracy such as the type our own country is purported to be. Justice, I agree with you totally. Somehow we need to take back this union!!!
Why do you compare UFT to China as you know nothing about about China? I am a teacher born and raised in China, and not a fan of the current govt, but I tell you that the leaders of Chinese govt. are a bunch who are much more idealistic than Randi, a power grabber.
I know what I read about China, and I go to alternative news programs like "Democracy Now". Anon, are you saying that I shouldn't compare the governance of our union to the repressive undemocratic government of China? What exactly are China's leaders "idealistic" about? I think the two approaches to governance are both undemocratic and autocratic and benefit the very few. Why have so many Chinese people emigrated here?
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