Saturday, July 01, 2017

What Will The Next Contract Contain?




























Sometime in 2019 the City and the UFT will start to negotiate a new contract.  By law the next contract should be for two years, unless the contract is delayed or both sides agree on a longer contract.  Assuming for now the next contract will be a standard two year deal, what can the UFT members expect?

First, here are some assumptions that I used:

  •  Bill de Blasio is still the Mayor.
  • Metropolitan area inflation is 2.5%.
  • The City economics is stable.
  • State and Federal support remains unchanged.
Therefore, here is my educated guess on what the next contract will include:

Minimum raises of 2.5%, based upon the anticipated inflation rate and the baseline 2% raises the State is giving their unions.  I see no reason for the UFT back-loading the raises or extending the contract beyond two years.  Unfortunately,   I also see our union agreeing to "givebacks" in the form of health care.  Hopefully, it will not include larger co-payments or paying a monthly fee.  The real question will there be additional "givebacks" such as time for money which has always worked against the members as the pitiful raises we have seen as the time go up from 6 hours and 20 minutes a day in the 1990's to 7 hours a day, almost a hour more!  Adding time for money is not a raise!  Finally, will the ATR situation finally be resolved by allowing for real "mutual consent" by both teachers and principals?  I'm not holding my breath waiting for that to happen.

There are still  other issues that can affect the next contract negotiations.  Like the upcoming teacher shortage, potential class size reductions,  and City, union relations.  All three can positively or negatively affect contract negotiations as well.

 Most importantly, the union negotiators must be more aggressive and rather than scare the membership by falsely claiming that if they don't take the City offer, the next offer will be worse.  However., i strongly suspect that our union leadership rather roll over and play dead rather then force-the City to agree to a fair contract for their members.

The bottom line, I will not be holding my breath waiting for our union to negotiate a fair and generous contract with our present leadership in charge of the negotiations.


37 comments:

Anonymous said...

Should be in 2018, if on time. Contract ends 11-30-18.

Anonymous said...

The ATR Volunteer Severance package was mentioned in the BACK of the UFT newspaper mailed out it its members. It only mentioned the severance, not all the updates to the agreement. It's a very small article, don't miss it.

Anonymous said...

Hope that students genuinely do well and that all the components outside of the school environment follow through so that may occur. All educators want to see students do well, but it needs to be earned. School is only one part of a student's life.

Anonymous said...

Has anybody checked the open market hiring system today? My current status changed from excessed to not excessed. If it is not an error, it appears to be "forced placement" in September.

Shad C. said...

Not sure what the new contract will entail. One thing I would like to see again is being able to grieve file letters. When our boy, Randy, gave up our rights to file grievance against BS file letters - we lost. I still remember when Bloomberg and Klein patted our boy Randy Weingarten on the head during that famous press conference.

Anonymous said...

Same here. Are you currently excessed states: No and to check back later for placement. Hope I get sent somewhere that the administration are supportive and not cynical, sarcastic, evil and unprofessional.

Anonymous said...

New contract will contain givebacks and more givebacks, observations and more observations, more time wotprking on test preparation and more school days. It will scrape the skies according to Mulgrew.

Anonymous said...

Hope, guess, wait, disappointment, complain and REPEAT! NYC/DOE and UFT are the definition of crazy.

Anonymous said...

Shad C,
Patting her on the derrière would have be inappropriate on so many levels. She wasn't speaking to Bloomberg, then had a secret lunch with him, came back with the 2005 contract, then got on her broom to AFT headquarters and was enthroned. Trump should pat her on the head, as well.

Anonymous said...

keep their pathetic raises!!
1) Danielson is not going anywhere but they need to revise that assinine rubric.
2) Get rid of drive by observations - offer an option with no drive by!!!!
- anyone who picks the 4 drivebys is a moron! you are just making Admin jobs easier - demand your pre op and post ob and deliver your lesson. keep these DOE pawns busy!
3) Get rid of Fair student funding!
4) Keep the time as it is - no extended day.
5) No health care give back!

Anonymous said...

By the time the negotiations start DeBlasio will say the city is broke because of all the train trouble even though NY State is responsible for it and Mulgrew will roll over and play dead like a good lap dog.

Anonymous said...

1. I want to see excessing rules change!
2. Put an end to the ATR pool!
3. I want to see seniority transfer back (open market is a sham)!
4. Give us rights to grieve letters to file!
5. Put in place guidelines that admins must show proof they tried to give help and professional development to staff before giving ineffective ratings.

Shad C. said...

@9:48 I am not sure any more if grades have to be earned. After speaking to a principal I had 3 years ago I began to change the thought that students should earn their grades.

This principal was confronting teachers about changing their grades and passing 90 percent of students. Similar to Clinton's principal now. He'd scream and shout "not under my watch" and "pass'em all". It even became very contentious.

Me always being the voice of reason and not having anything to lose confronted him. After speaking to him and having a heart to heart conversation I left feeling a changed man. He described to me how he failed 3rd grade twice, 5th grade once and barely earned his GED. He told me how he promised himself that never again will these teachers do this to students and how he was going to make changes. Carmen also feels the same way.

Well, now I understand what is happening. We have principals who themselves were not passed along and now are making sure their little collegues get pushed along and graduate. How can I argue with that argument?

Shad C. said...

@9:49 My understanding is every ATR will be place in a school for the year. This placement is not permanent however ATRs will not change from school to school. However, ATRs will still have to find jobs and interview if something is available. Now, comes the question of whether we will be assigned to teach classes or not have our own classes. It would be silly for a principal to place an ATR in a class only to have the ATR interview and leave. That would leave that principal with classes uncovered unless the principal gets another ATR in the same subject. On the other hand I have seen principals that do not believe in subject area teachers teaching their own subjects.

Now, what I do when I arrive at a school is immediately set up an interview with the principal. Unless, I find out the AP is running the school then I meet with the AP. No reason to speak to a lame duck. I explain to the leader my history and experience in 4 minutes or less. Anything more than 4 minutes will be over their attention span. Also, most of them are to busy to listen for more than 4 minutes.

I tell them about my rubber room days, my u-ratings, 3020A (twice) and my survival rate (100 percent). I tell them we can do this the hard way and drag this out for months or we can do this man to man (even woman principals like to be considered a man and they do not get offended). Usually, we come an agreement. They provide me with all the keys I need. I go into the classroom and teach "my way". At the end of the year if I do not have results then I will take a u-rating and a couple of fake file letters which I will sign. IF and when I do have results then the principal is happy and gives me my S rating.

So far this has worked in my favor every time.

Anonymous said...

My current status on open market also says I am not in excess too!

Anonymous said...

Shad @ 1:33PM (You broke my heart. Okay, let's pass them all.) & 1:44PM (What can be said. Bravo.)

Anonymous said...

shad spoke with deputy superintendent and they told where you will be next year. all I can say is good luck!

Anonymous said...

Shad, ATRs will be rotated; at least the guys with unwanted licenses and 3020a parolees. Even the guys that are placed will for the most part just be covering classes. They'll up the buyout money next June. It's got to be at least a 100 k to even consider it. Shad I wish you weren't full of shit and showed up in a cage on Labor Day, because we'll all be in one the next day.

Anonymous said...

Isnt the day 6:50 not 7:20?

Shad C. said...

Look, I am willing to show up in a cage with a sign saying "equal treatment to all ATRs" or "ATRs are humans too" or "ATRs are UFT too". Whatever you guys feel is the right sign is okay by me. However, I will never show up in a cage or go anywhere near a UFT event unless I have support and numbers.

All these bitter ATRs cry, scream and talk nonsense. However, when it comes time to really voice their opinion, show up in numbers and be heard - they all disappear. We are simply not united. We make fun of each other. We put each other down and we expect respect???

Only way to get respect is be united. If we can get 350 to 450 ATRs at the labor day parade then we will see serious changes. We would almost out outnumber the whole UFT showing up at the parade. Once we embarrass Mike in front of other labor unions then we will see change.

Who is with me? Let's spread the word and meet up at a park somewhere.

Anonymous said...

For teachers and paras it's 6:50 but for secretaries it's 7:20.

There will probably be a measily 1% raise per year, but it won't start until 2021 because they will be giving us our retro in 2019 and 2020. The city won't have enough money to give 25% of the retro and a raise. There will be a load of givebacks and a lot of concessions on health insurance.

Anonymous said...

Shad
Apparently the 'mom's basement' trolll has returned.

Anonymous said...

It changes to that status for everyone during the summer.

Anonymous said...

I'm looking at the email we received about our fees. Am I correct in saying that people with ghi who pay nothing currently will be paying almost $200 a month for family prescription drugs? That's almost $2400 a year. That's way more than the last raise. Is this true? I haven't seen any blogs mention it so I'm thinking it must be wrong.

DOEvet said...

This website is often a useful resource for teachers but it devolves into being a general ATR board. Wasn't this post about speculation about the upcoming 2019 contract?

Anonymous said...

How about the TDA back to 8.25% since the state is no longer in financial peril...

Anonymous said...

Too far away to make any speculations. It's mid-2017. Let's get through the constitutional convention,cuts in programs in NYC,etc first.

Anonymous said...

Shad,
Organize through James, Chaz, Francesco, Arthur or MORE and you'll have plenty of people if you're serious.

Anonymous said...

Current ATR status changed back to excessed from non-excessed.

Anonymous said...

Years ago, when I was day to day subbing, the UFT held a meeting for us (there must have been a contract they wanted our vote on). Anyway, it was at a hotel, I think, in Manhattan. Standing room only. Hundreds of us. Surprised the heck out of the union speakers. Not sure how you could draw people in- but the power of the workers is there.

Anonymous said...

The UFT will be a union that worries about it's members once Mulgrew is gone. He's nothing but a lap dog for the city. DeBlasio tells him to sit and he listens like a dog waiting for a bone. The UFT/Mulgrew expects us to accept whatever they say and it seems that we its members do accept the scraps that we get that's why we voted for the last contract. It seems that any contract that is negotiated by the UFT gets voted on because most UFT members are brainwashed when the UFT uses the line "This is the best that we can get. The City is broke. If we don't accept it we will go to the back of the line. It's the members fault that the contract was voted for and that Mulgrew is still president of the UFT. We are to blame. No one else and until we wake up and organize the same thing is will happen for the next contract. The City will be broke because they offered the buyout to the ATRs.

Unknown said...

Any way the next contract can be voted on before Diblasio exits? Think we have a better shot at an increase in an election year than post election. Or do they have to look at budget numbers?

Anonymous said...

The "4 drive bys" can be either announced or unannouced. So, if your AP is a decent and cool, theyll tell you when they want to come or ask you when is good. Then its 15 mins each time, nice and quick. Best option if you have a proper admin.

luvsummer said...

Agree

mkrstic said...

Because we are living in hell. Until you are an ATR ( and all it takes is one disgruntled kid!) you will not understand hie bad our quality of life is. How unfair.

Unknown said...

We as teachers are UNDERPAID!!! That's a fact! For the amount of education we all are REQUIRED to have and professional development we are REQUIRED to continue to maintain up to date, further validates our argument that we are UNDERPAID! Union workers without a college education are making comparable salaries, and most if not all, labor unions are making more! The fact we have to teach 15++ years to break $100,000 is RIDICULOUS!! Bottom line its not the NYC DOE that is doing anything wrong, the government is at fault. There are failing schools, but it's not the teachers, this has to do with the communities that these schools are located in. Charter schools come in neighborhoods and only take the BEST kids. The charter schools don't have ESL teachers and Spec Ed teachers. Their students don't have IEPS. There is a screening process and application process for charter schools. I share a building with a charter school. The amount of resources they have in comparison to us is comical. Not one ESL student. There is a SIGNIFICANT UNFAIR playing field. Of course these schools will be performing at higher levels. Their teachers' couldn't handle any of the kids in my school!! This should be part of our argument, when defending our importance as educators. The NYC DOE will never go away bc there will always be a need to place the underperforming and underachieving misbehaving students, with the minimal resources. I'm referring more to the very low socioeconomical neighborhoods. There are some very credible public schools in the doe, but generally they're in better neighborhoods or if in a struggling neighborhood, it's a screened school. Also charter school salaries are higher for teachers. The charter schools are able to fundraise money on top of receiving tax payer money and have more private donors. I'm just stating facts, the NYC DOE has professional teachers who deal with a lot and remain underpaid especially for living in NYC.

Yesenialopez@tutanota.com said...

Proof of Orientation...…
Conflicts of Interests...


Is it the joint burden of the NYC DOE and UFT to prove Orientation? How is this done?
Years ago I taught in a SURR school.
Both the union and the N YC DOE failed to address issues of Orientation.

In a school in a state of extreme educational emergency...facing closure....
Is not an appropriate Orientation mandatory?

Also, seek information/blogs addressing conflicts of interests between the NYC DOE and NYSUT..