The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) is not a homogeneous group, there are various factions, known as caucuses, that represent different viewpoints on how the union should represent its members. These caucuses are "Unity", "New Action", "Independent Council of Educators", and "Teachers For A Just Contract". At times the different groups will disagree with the controlling caucus which is "Unity" and this dissent can be very vocal. However, when outside forces start to attack our profession, the different caucuses put aside their differences and act as one to support the union. This is apparent in the present where Mayor Bloomberg and his poodle Chancellor Walcott has made the elimination of seniority-based layoffs known as "last in' first out" or LIFO as the top priority. In fact the Chancellor was quoted as saying his full time job is to eliminate LIFO. I thought it was to run the New York City Public Schools and ensure they are adequately funded? Silly me for being so naive.
That brings me to a new organization that has shown up as claiming to represent teachers. It is called Education 4 Excellence (E4E) and was founded by two former teachers who had a combined five years of teaching experienced before they fled the classroom. They are Evan Stone and Sydney Morris who are now paid a salary by organizations run by Bill Gate, Joel Klein, and other education deformers whose main purpose is to destroy the union and teacher "due process rights" in their quest to privatize the school system. E4E is called a cult by some in the education community and bloggers South Bronx School and Accountable Talk have commented extensively on E4E and are must reads if you are to understand the real goals of E4E.
Personally. I consider E4E a group of fifth columnists who's sole purpose is to destroy the union from the inside. Their "white paper" was very similar to Mayor Bloomberg's bill to eliminate LIFO and it is obvious to me that E4E coordinated their "white paper" with Tweed and the Bloomberg Administration. E4E has blitzed the schools where inexperienced teachers are numerous with their philosophy and are doing their best to pit younger teachers against their more experienced counterparts and hope to break the union apart. They tried to get the union to agree to a survey on LIFO knowing full well that the union would never allow such a survey since LIFO is the law of the land and a "collective bargaining rights" issue. This was simply a public relations ploy to embarrass the union and bring more ammunition to the Bloomberg Administration's attempts to end LIFO. It is bad enough that the four columns from the outside, the Bloomberg Administration, Tweed, Education Deformers, and Politicians are attacking the union from the outside, now they have E4E, the fifth column that wants to attack the union from the inside.
I would like to know where their funding stream comes from? Who are paying E4E's bills? Finally, I would like to know why E4E did not fight for more school funding in Albany or with their friends at Tweed and the Bloomberg Administration? I know if I was to start a new caucus at the UFT, my top priority is to demand no layoffs, increase school funding, and reduce class size, yet when you look at the E4E "white paper" they are very silent about how to do any of them. Instead they harp on LIFO.
On May Day, the day we are supposed to celebrate unionized labor, we now have a privately funded group who's main purpose is to remove the union protections on behalf of anti-union forces from the inside. That is why E4E is in my opinion a fifth column.
Here's what I think of E$E. As the fifth column, they should hit the third rail! Zap!
ReplyDeleteLying (to themselves also, perhaps, but certainly to everyone else) suck-up-to-the-boss scabs, and nothing more.
ReplyDeleteThey are not a caucus but a lobby group. At this time at least. They claim they are not running in the 2013 UFT elections -as of now. But their survey ploy might we their wedge to say they will run as a referendum on LIFO. Note how they couch their stuff in a demand for higher teacher salaries but they are out and out merit pay people who want higher salaries for the people who get test scores. In my conversations with them they put on the table that maybe teaching is not a career - so pay high salaries for a few years and get them out. Like that Twilite Zone where you were killed on your 30thy birthday.
ReplyDeleteI think they should fire all you old cranky teachers.
ReplyDeleteOne more thing Chaz. You sort of put the opposition caucuses in a funny position. Say E4E does run - do you suggest ICE and TJC does what New Action did - support the leadership because of the external threat? What a gift E4E has given Unity. If I didn't know any better I might think I found a source for their funding.
ReplyDeleteNorm:
ReplyDeleteI know that E4E is not a caucus, yet! However, I was just pointing out where my priorities would be if I started one.
I believe opposition is good for the union and I am not proposing what New Action did. However, when attacked by the outside, it is important to close ranks and keep our differences within the union.
If E4E runs I think they will win positions.
ReplyDeleteI hope they run. I will vote for them!
T4E equals Teachers For Excrement!
ReplyDeleteThe troll needs to leave and go back under its A4E bridge. I love that last comment, Anon!! A referendum on LIFO has NO PLACE in any union discussion. All jobs, including private industry, work on LIFO. It's an attack on seniority, plain and simple.
ReplyDeleteWhat non-union private jobs work on LIFO? Please share because I don't know of any.
ReplyDeleteLIFO was created, and is still necessary to protect municipal workers from corruption, and the whims of powerful crooks like Bloomberg. Look at all of the thievery going on with DOE funds just in the last month. Ultimate power corrupts ultimately, and this holds true for dictators like Bloomberg. As for the E4E posters here, I can unerstand why you are against LIFO-you could lose your job becuase of it. But THAT'S the sole reason why you're against it. If you put had many years under LIFO, you would support it. You're simply clinging to your teaching jobs, in an impossible economy. By the way...not to worry, since Blunderberg isn't going to lay you off, as you will shortly see. IF the economy ever recovers, most of you will pursue greener pastures. You're much more valuable to him fighting for his cause-IN school buildings.
ReplyDeleteYou said: "I can unerstand why you are against LIFO-you could lose your job becuase of it. But THAT'S the sole reason why you're against it."
ReplyDeleteThe sole reason you are for it is because otherwise you (& other teachers like you) could lose your job.
Of course....it's a fight for survival. Such is life. Actually, I can easily lose my current job under its license, although I have 15 years. BUT, I still support LIFO. Without it, there is nothing left of union protections.
ReplyDeleteA nice anti-E4E Facebook page.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Non-Educators-4-Excellence/193986560632587
My husband, who works in private industry, was once laid off and it was LIFO, whoever was questioning that. Maybe the troll doesn't know this, but that's usually how it goes. I also know a friend's son in the computer industry was recently laid off. He was the most recently hired. Sounds like LIFO to everyone, including him. His ending is happy...a better job, more money within a week or so.
ReplyDeleteThe issue here is how E4E is doing the bidding of the Mayor and Tweed.
ReplyDeleteEmma,
ReplyDeleteI have been working in the private industry for 20 years and LIFO is not the policy for most companies & definitely is not a law.
As a manager I have had to do layoffs three times and I have laid off both young and old. I was once very fortunate to have a small but great staff. Due to everyone being good at what they did, I laid off the newest person to be fair. The other two times I was forced to do layoffs I laid off more senior people. The reason I laid off more senior people was because they were not any better than my junior staff and they had bad attitudes.
After layoffs my staff was a mix of both senior and junior employees, and truthfully we did more work and were more efficient than the larger staff I had before layoffs. I kept the most skilled employees and the employees with the best attitudes. The senior people I laid off had the skills but also had poor attitudes. The moral in my group was much higher when I was able to lay them off.
Some companies use LIFO to be fair when all else is equal but it is not the only tool they use.
For teachers, all else being equal they should let go of the junior staff first. If things are equal and there are poorly skilled teachers or teachers with negative attitudes they should be let go first. You would be amazed how much more productive a school or company can be if there is high empolyee moral.
Morale is also commensurate with respect. I beg to differ with you; this is a civil service job, not an executive boardroom job. No one has a signing bonus, and everyone pays their own way for their credentials. Of course LIFO is not a codified means of laying off people in private industry. In civil service, however, it is. If LIFO goes, there won't be any job protections whatsoever other than youth; teaching will become a very unattractive profession. Why isnt' this done with bad cops or bad sanitation people who always get doctor's notes? There may very well be other reasons for laying off people. "Attitude" is a very subjective reason for laying off people. LIFO protects civil servants such as teachers from such subjective measures. Civil service is just not private industry, and the LIFO controversy is a ruse for disposing of "expensive" senior teachers.
ReplyDeleteI believe working with skilled coworkers, who want to come to work and have a good attitude about work is a form of respect. Unfortunately, one bad/negative teacher can have a major effect on the entire population of teachers. Think about your classroom; one trouble maker can cause major issues. I bet out of 25 students if you were able to remove the worst 2 students it would have a major effect on the overall classroom performance, attitude and moral.
ReplyDeleteI agree that LIFO should end for bad cops, bad sanitation, or any other underperforming public or private employee. You claimed your husband worked for a private company. Civil Service is not private, they are public employees and Civil Service acts as a form of a union.
Attitude may be subjective but bad attitudes are also a reality. I hate how all you teachers ignore that these issues exist. I am not saying LIFO should end today but everyone should work towards a better system. Unfortunately, the union and teachers like you refuse to admit that there are major issues. Continue to bury your head in the sand and pretend that everything is perfect.
non:
ReplyDeleteYou do not understand. LIFO came about because of Tammany Hall and Civil Service protections were put in to protect public workers from these politicians.
Now Bloomberg wants to do what Boss Tweed did, get rid of highly-paid senior teachers and replace them with lower paid, inexperienced teachers. That is why LIFO needs to stay.
To the "you teachers" person. Once again, THE FACT IS that schools, when given the chance, over the last two, three years, are hiring untenured, newbie teachers AT LEAST 90% of the time. Therefore, tenured, veteran teachers have lost complete faith that they will ever be judged objectively based on teaching skills. Due to these current hiring practices, and DOE treatment, LIFO is our only protection for survival.
ReplyDeleteTo THE FACT IS person. Please provide your 'facts' and statistics. How many job openings were there? How many tenured or experienced teachers applied? How many newbies applied? How many of each were hired? What is your source of this data?
ReplyDeleteIt is great to talk about the 'facts' but without the statistics to back the 'facts' up they are just assumptions. And you know what happens when you assume.
When I say applied for the jobs I mean qualified people. A high school teacher applying for an elementary job or a science teacher applying for a special ed jobs do not count as qualified applications. Tenured or not.
ReplyDeleteA principal not being a pathological liar and not lying to a senior teacher's face is also a form of respect, non-teacher naysayer. Not being marginalized and screamed at by a 30 something year old AP for no reason is also a form of respect. You have zero idea of what it's like for anyone at the top of the $100,000-after-22-years salary scale. That feature of reality can really suck, non-teacher-private-industry naysayer.
ReplyDelete$100,000 salary. Most private industry people would kill for that. Most of us private industry people never reach that salary.
ReplyDeleteI know you all think we make millions of dollars a year but that is the select few. We also get scream at by a 20 something kid that the CEO just hired as your boss. You have 20 years they have 3 years and they think they know more than you ever will. We get all the same abuse but not the salary and pension to match it. We are even lucky to have because most have been outsourced.
Don't think you have to that much worse than anyone else because you don't. Get over yourself and be thankful for a high salary, good health benefits, a good pension and a job that can't be sent to China or India. Most of us would kill to be in your situation.
You could have been a teacher too, whoever you are. This profession requires a masters' degree plus 30 college credits to reach this obscene top salary. You sound jealous of such a salary after over 20 years with those credentials. You are part of the problem. You bitch and moan but never attempted what experienced teachers already have. You get over it.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct. I wish 25 years ago I decided to become a teacher rather than go into business. My point is that compared to the rest of the working world teachers do not have it any worse and they actually have it better. Many of you teachers do not appreciate what you have. I am not saying there aren’t abuses but these abuses are not any worse than the rest of the working world.
ReplyDeleteI do have a master degree in business from UCONN (please note a real 66 credit master degree). I earn approximately what a teacher does but work many more days a year and for much longer hours (in and outside of the office) and I do not have a pension. Teachers have it much better than they think they do.
Let’s clear up one thing about your “masters’ degree plus 30 college credits”. You do not have a standard masters degree. An standard masters degree in everything but education is approximately 60 credits. A masters degree in teacher is only 30 credits. So you have a half masters plus 30 credits. I intentionally let out college for the plus 30 credits because they aren’t all college level course. I have numerous friends that have taken and actually teacher some of these classes. They are classes but a majority of them are not at the same level as graduate level course.
To "you teachers":
ReplyDeleteI'm not privy to actual paperwork of who applied for these positions, etc. But my friend works in a school that has six mini schools in it. 95 % of the teachers are untenured, and/or under five years experience. So, to the eye, the admins in this one building didn't hire ANY higher paid teachers. Observing "data" such as this is called "quantitative" research, and is valid. VERY fishy to say the least, especially when you have many ATRs in the mix.
ALSO, once again, I don't feel teachers are complaining here about their work, other than fighting for their professional survival, just as YOU would do if necessary. The bag of dirty tricks, either on the school, press, or mayoral level imposed in this school deform movement has been appalling, and only those who are subjected to it know really what's going on. One suspects that, if an administration (mayoralty) has to lie, cheat,and steal to prove it has a better method of education, it is scamming. Bloomberg, with his total control hasn't achieved diddly in REAL results, AND has used a Tweed sized bag of dirty tricks to attempt to brainwash the public. For all of these reasons, teachers feel that they aren't going to be assessed objectively when the time comes.
Please read Chaz's next post about what's going on in some school buildings.
Made up FACTS teacher:
ReplyDeleteYou can use observational "data" all you want but until you have actual data they are not facts.
You friend working in a school with 95% of teachers with less than 5 years of experience is most likely working in a rough area of the city. It is probably an area were most senior teacher do not want to teach and don't apply because they can get jobs in the better neighborhoods.
This observational data is useless until you can say how many openings there were and how many qualified senior teachers applied for these openings. If there were 20 openings and only one qualified senior teacher applied than the 95% number makes sense. If the school had 20 openings and they received 50 qualified resumes from senior teachers and 50 qualified resumes from junior teachers, and they hired 19 junior teachers I would agree with you. But you don't have the data so they are loose observations not facts.
You can't make judgments and call these facts until you have hard data.
Anon 8:16
ReplyDeleteI do notice you give the DOE a pass on their fuzzy math where a Tweed headcount of 2,027 is listed as 1,600? Or their lack of accountability.
As for the 95% figure? I cannot quantify the percentage but it appears in the ballpark in these new small schools.
To "you teachers":
ReplyDeleteThe DOE would NEVER make this information accesible, simply to hide the glaring truth. If this information was public, the DOE could probably be sued for ageism. For that reason, I can't give you hard data.
But it's the truth. They are hiring great numbers of newbies. Dificult to give you an exact figure, because Bloomberg is inherently dishonest and treacherous when it comes to getting his way. One school, 95%. I can tell you this is going on all over the city. Anyway, as a private sector person, you can understand why this is so-CHEAPER! Cheaper now, and MUCH cheaper into the future, considering pensions, etc. Therefore, vet teachers are fighting for their lives, since there isn't fair assessment out there. They are regarded by Bloomberg as WAY overpriced. So tell me UCONN, if, as bad as you have it, new bosses came in and wanted to replace you with a newbie making half your salary, AND a heck of a lot better looking,you wouldn't stand up for yourself?
No answer on the half master???
ReplyDeleteOne last question for "You teachers."
ReplyDeleteIf this IS a fact, the predominant hiring of newbies, to an extreme degree,what is your opinion of that? What does that indicate to you?
Unable to provide any facts teacher:
ReplyDeleteIF it is a fact, there needs to be polices put in place to prevent education on the cheap.
If all else is equal including skills, education, attitudes, etc. the teacher with more experience should be hired.
Education on the cheap is NOT an option but neither is hiring or keeping teachers strictly based off of years in the system.
To "you teachers":
ReplyDeleteWell at least you're somewhat fair. I'm telling you that "teaching on the cheap" is happening, and is happening across the board. I can't get you hard ata, because we're dealing with a dictator in Bloomberg. Just read the next Chaz article to see what he's doing in that area. Look at Reality Based's blog as well, to begin to discover what mayoral control REALLY means. What it means is dictatorial control, and a type of scorched earth winning by any means necessary. But again, until one is in a certain job, one cannot know what's REALLY going on. Bloomberg would never release hiring information. Also, individual principlas would never release this information. All we have is observation...but I swear to you that this is the case from everywhere I hear from. Due to this , teachers are fighting to maintain LIFO, to dodge the woodchipper known as "school reform" just as you would...to survive. In this economy, there is nowhere else to go, so we have no choice anyway.
Still no answer on the half master???
ReplyDelete