My New Year's Wish For Our Union To Work On.

We are now starting the 2011 year and it will certainly be a trying year for our union as we now have a new Governor who will be demanding education cuts, a Mayor who refuses to negotiate a contract and is threatening to layoff 6,400 teachers, and a clueless Chancellor who will blindly follow the Mayor's orders, no matter how destructive it will be to the children. This is the time that our union must show they are strong and willing to go to the limit to protect their members. Something the union has failed to do in the last few years. For example, my last year's wishes failed to materialize as we saw the union frequently outmaneuvered by the Bloomberg/Klein Administration and their media outlets. This is the second consecutive year that the union has utterly failed to protect their members against the Bloomberg/Klein onslaught and to improve the teaching profession.

Michael (don't call me Mike) Mulgrew has stated that he is no Randi Weingarten. However, he has kept the same old failed leadership that was around when she was union President and who were responsible for the infamous 2005 contract. Furthermore, the union continues to secretly negotiate with the DOE without asking their members who are affected by the negotiations and in many cases are blindsided when the DOE, time and again reneges or ignores the agreement.

What do I expect the union to do this year? Glad you asked. Here is my New Year's list:

1. A contract that includes the "City pattern" with no givebacks!.
2. No ATR time limit, ever!
3. No changing the "last in, first out" layoff list.
4. No weakening of our "due process" rights.
5. The right to a fair and independent investigation for alleged misconduct.
6. Elimination of the PIP+ termination program.
7. Teacher input into the teacher evaluation program.

Finally, it is time for our union to be proactive and stop being reactive when it comes to its member concerns.