It is very obvious that Mayor Bloomberg hates the UFT and time and again goes out of his way to slam the union and the protections of tenure and "due process" that the teachers enjoy. His hatred of the union has manifested in his many actions against the teacher union. First, it was the failure to give the teachers union the same "City pattern" he gave all the other unions. Second, it was the his attack on seniority-based job protections known as "last in, first out" or LIFO which ended in his bill to end LIFO for NYC teachers only. Third, it was the massive teacher layoffs he proposed with teachers making up an incredible 80% of the total City layoffs. Finally, his attack on teacher tenure has resulted in an astonishing 42% not receiving tenure this school year and the Mayor's poodle, Chancellor Dennis Walcott, has stated that it will be even higher next year. How would he know this unless Tweed has already decided on a quota system for tenure.
Negotiating with the anti-teacher union Mayor is only a lose-lose proposition. There is no doubt that the Mayor will ask for massive givebacks from the teachers union, similar to to infamous 2005 giveback laden contract that has resulted in the ATR crises and teachers suspended for three months based upon a mere accusation of sexual misconduct. Furthermore, it is highly unlikely that the union can achieve the previous two year "City pattern" without a more comprehensive multi-year contract that will include miniscule or no raises and massive "givebacks". With that in mind, it is in the union's advantage to wait out the Mayor.
Remember, without the union's willingness to work out a teacher evaluation system with the City, there is no teacher evaluation system this year. The union would be nuts to negotiate a teacher evaluation system with the City based upon the DOE rubric that in a pilot program showed 18% of the teachers were rated "ineffective". This would eventually allow the DOE to replace all the teachers in the system in a seven year period allowing the City to meet its objectives to have a cheap and replaceable teaching staff. No pension, no retiree health benefits, no nothing.
Negotiating with this Mayor would be a serious mistake that will hurt the teaching profession for many years to come. It is best to simply wait the Mayor out and negotiate with the next Mayor.
I agree that the UFT should wait until this mayor is out of office. Hopefully the next mayor will be a democrat that will negotiate from a position that is good for the city, students, and labor and not from a political right wing agenda. But,let us not forget that while extracting too much from the members in the past contract, salaries have gone up considerably during the Bloomberg administration.
ReplyDeleteI know that Bloomberg is no friend of the teachers and their union, but he is also a much weakened and discredited mayor who needs every bit of help he can get. Believe me, Bloomberg and Walcott consider themselves as very reasonable people, just maybe they are under the current circumstances. Who knows we may have a better chance with him than his successor.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the economical condition we are in, it is hard to imagine that teachers will eventually get a better contract out of a new mayor, as anyone who gets elected will squeeze hard on public employees and their unions.
Is there any person you would endorse for mayor? If you were the mayor, how would you reform a broken public education system? Remember you can't break union contracts or negotiated contracts.
ReplyDeleteIf people are willing to work for 44 cents an hour overseas doing the same work her in America for minimium wage, we will never have an improved economy.
Eventually a worker anywhere in the world will only gets paid no more than the value of what he or she produces, no employer can afford or is willing to lose money forever.
ReplyDeleteIt is highly possible the union movement in this country is in a downward spiral, and teachers will not get raises or benefit enhancemant for years to come.
A lion needs to grow big enough for him to have any decent chance to take over a pride, but his supersize only works for him when he has a pride to feed him, his supersize itself turns into a fatal liability when he loses his pride.
Easy life more often than not renders most people fat and soft, and unfit for most manufacturing jobs. US not only sees outsourcing of jobs, and at the same time sees the large number of insourcing of foreign skilled workers/professionals to fill the job openings that the natives are not equipped to.
Every other city union was able to negotiate some worker-favorable contract. The UFT is impotent, plain and simple. Its leaders earn two salaries and two pensions, so why work for the rank and file when you're royalty? I don't think the UFT would bargain favorably with anyone at this point, least of all that whore Quinn, the one who appears to be the "anointed one". The rank and file has to demand more from the union getting enriched by $100 per month dues paid by its members who get worsening working conditions in return. Should I also mention the burgeoning age discrimination that the union knows about and allows to go on unchecked? And for a lousy $100,000 after so many years of service. I hope the union grows a pair to negotiate something without ridiculous givebacks with the next mayor.
ReplyDeleteDiva:
ReplyDeleteI cannot agree with you more. The first thing the union must do is get the "City pattern" that all other unions received.
Then and only then should the union start to negotiate with the DOE on teacher evaluation and requiring principals to fill their vacancies.
I urged that before the '05 contract. My advice was o stick, and not give Heir Bloomberg anything. Eventually, we would have garnered public support for not having a contract or raise for years, and would have probably received a COLA decision for cost of living increases. We received a raise, but handed over the keys to Heir Bloomberg for The Final Decision (of the public school system)...
ReplyDelete"My advice was to stick."
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