Thursday, August 28, 2014

Finally, We Will Be Getting Our 2% Raise And Retro In Our Second Check.




The union, in their press release, has informed the members that our 2% raise for the yeas 2013 and 2014 will be in our second check of the fall (September 30th).  Included in the raises will be the retro payments for the same time period, or so the union claims.  The per session retro payments for the 2013 and 2014 period will be sent out on October 3rd.  Just to remind you, we get 1% for each of the two years, starting from May 1, 2013 and May 1, 2014 so the retro payments will be low, probably averaging about $750 for the average teacher salary.

Interestingly, "newbie teachers" will be getting a more significant raise of 4.3% ($2,000) as both the UFT and DOE encourage the hiring of new teachers at the expense of retaining experienced teachers who are stuck with the measly 2% increase in their salary in the DOE's "education on the cheap" policy.

Finally, most of the teachers will be getting their final ratings the day they return to school, September 2nd and there may be some very unhappy educators as a result.  Hopefully, the number of "ineffective or developing" educators are small but for the ones that get that designation, remember, you need two "ineffectives" so make sure it doesn't happen this school year.

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello Chaz. There are 6 teachers at my school who were up for tenure who have not heard back yet if they were granted it or not. Can they assume that they will know on Sept 3rd, or might it be Sept 4th until they find out? (All of them started their career with the DOE on the very first day of school 3 years ago) They have been asking me this question and I am not 100% sure what to tell them. Big thanks!

Anonymous said...

What about the retro and pension recalculation for those who retired during an expired contract?

I called the UFT and this guy, forgot his name, said that it is still in the works. I asked why is it still in the works when the contract was ratified in May and should those who retired first waiting on the contract get their retro first? He continued to say "it's still in the works and eventually it will be distributed".

Chaz, I feel that you can give me an explanation to this. I retired in 2013.

Bronx ATR said...

I noticed in their email the UFT used the word "retro". They used it when selling this crappy contract, then said it wasn't because of lawsuits and are now using the term again. There's no interest on this money, so it's really not retroactive- its money owed to everyone who worked during those time periods. This contract reminds me of the current commercial that shows the progress of a family's silver dollar through wars and violent strikes. As the grandfather (Mulgrew) is about to pass it on to the next generation, he sees the dollar menu, says never mind and runs to it. The UFT has sold out our rights, history and union.

Chaz said...

Anon 9:09

The reason is that they don't know when. However, I did hear from a City finance person that sometime in November the pensions will be adjusted to account for the increases.

Anon 8:45

I assume they will get tenure unless the Principal had them sign an extension of probation at the end of the school year.

Jeff said...

Its almost not worth discussing. Its such a joke, so ridiculous that we must accept this. And the job has become so bad on top of the money aspects of this deal.

Anonymous said...

The memo from UFT says Retro for Per Session oct 3rd. ????????
Hugh??? What's that mean? Can this be a GREAT thing? How far they going back? If you did 1000 hours per session since contract was up, and they boost per session $3 per hour, do you get $3000 in retro?

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:09 -- maybe your friend can help here. Will all if the retro raises be figured in current pensions - or will they be phased in until 2020. The union keeps saying they will be put in right away - but I haven't seen anything in writing. Thanks.

tbs said...

I hope our NYC numbers are better than those in Syracuse. Last year 40% of Syracuse teachers were rated below effective. Can you imagine the DOE dealing with 32,000 improvement plans this year? Thanks for the update on the raise and retro pay.

Anonymous said...

Did anyone get their assignments for next week? We were supposed to get them today.

Anonymous said...

No atr assignment. Per session retro is only from May 2013.

Anonymous said...

The per session raise was not 3 dollars, it was 40 cents. Good luck with that.

Anonymous said...

Nope...so incompetent

Unknown said...

Chaz how is the retro payment only 750? I read top salary was 30,000 in retro?}

Chaz said...

The retro is only from May 1, 2013.

JR said...

This is why contract passed, teachers totally uninformed and clueless. You are getting 1% from may 13 and 2% from may 14.

Bronx ATR said...

Pitiful. Teachers don't even know what they voted for and now complain! All you had to do was read and use common sense. Its one thing to screw yourself- its another thing entirely to sell out your fellow members (ATRs) for a pack of undisguised lies.

Anonymous said...

We deserve what we get. Take abuse, go without a contact for so long and settle for garbage. Good luck. Too bad im only in my mid 30s.

Anonymous said...

Over time teachers will regret this contract. You know teachers will be complaining about the four parent teacher conferences (now three hours each meeting for a total of 24 hours) by the end of the school year. Some teachers who voted yes will become ATR's and be subject to those rules. Some teachers will not be inservice for the lump sum payments even though they worked all of these years and paid dues. Mulgrew gave up the leverage we had in negotiations.

Chaz said...

We are supposed to be the "brightest" but voting for this contract just proves how much a dim bulb we really are.

Anonymous said...

Every time there was an election I told teachers do not vote for unity. Nobody listened to me. Now I am retired. I knew unity was screwing the members. But know that I am I am going to vote for unity. Why. Because the active members deserved to be screwed. And nobody will do it better that Michael Mulgrew.

Chaz said...

If I was a retiree, I would vote for Unity to. They are the only group that wasn't screwed by the union.

Joe said...

As a teacher, I am totally sick of every aspect, the contract, the other teachers, the disgusting students and the mostly disgusting "Supervisors," many off whom don't even speak proper English. This is what this wonderful job gets you.

Unknown said...

Who you calling clueless? I'll have you know I was named ATR of the Year. BTW, I wouldn't have voted yes even if we got all the retro up front. Mildew is a sellout. For me, my soul is intact.

Anonymous said...

To Joe 712:

It is your comment which makes me thank the lord everyday that I am out of the classroom for the last 5 years. I taught for my first 8.

After year 4 of teaching, something clicked. An inner voice told me..."are you nuts? you want to do this for the next 26 years"??

So back to grad school I went.

What normal human expects to survive classroom teaching for 30 straight years-- without a mental breakdown, depression, anxiety, etc...

Impossible.

Anonymous said...

Stupid is as stupid does...most teachers are not ATRs which is why they voted for the contract..many think it could never happen to them Now they are the ones who will be crying the most...I have never worked with so many people with college degrees and no common sense...I dont feel sorry for those teachers who sold us out...cry into your coffee cups but I dont want to hear it

JR said...

I am entering year # 13. Gets more disgusting every year. The one thing I thought I could hang my hat on is the fact that we had all that back pay coming plus an immediately higher salary. As I did 350 hours per year per session I said to myself, not doing this for $41.98, this will be worth $47 or so per hour. As students during the day were telling me to suck their dic-, I said Im not doing this for the lousy $80K, I will soon have at least 12% more, plus 30K in retro. Even all of that was lost I hate waking up every day. Just waiting for something to "click" so I am able to resign. Of course would then have to sue for the "lump sum payments."

Joe said...

Supervisors who don't know the difference between is, was and were. Also don't know the difference between "a" and "an." Soon you will be a expert in Danielson, amazing.

ReadyToRetireNow said...

Agreed. I kept harping about voting NO in my school, but to no avail. Stupid fools and the pennies they will receive.

ReadyToRetireNow said...

Yep. I will too. Thats for every snot~nosed newbie who thinks they are "special" and not want associate with "tired/worn out/poisoned" like me.

ReadyToRetireNow said...

The details of the contract were nebulous throughout the whole process. There is no way in hell you can vote "yes" without reading and understanding a contract in its entirety.
All we ever received were bullet points of possible areas of agreement and a lot of uncertainty to other contract questions.

bronx northeast throgg native said...

In the email I received, it states:




For teachers, both the salary adjustments and the corresponding retroactive payments will be in your Sept. 30 paycheck. This paycheck will also include the additional $2,000 increase to the 1A and 1B steps of the teacher salary schedule effective Sept. 1, 2014.

Salary adjustments and corresponding retroactive payments for per session and per diem work will be processed on Oct. 3, 2014.

Another 3 percent rate increase will take effect on May 1, 2015.


Does this mean that all members will be receiving a $2000 increase on step 1

Chaz said...

Anon 4:37

No. It means that the union failed to inform us that a side deal was agreed upon between the UFT and DOE to give "newbie teachers" an extra $2,000 raise above the raises for all other members.

Therefore, the people at steps 1A and 1B will be getting a 6.3% raise while the rest of us will get a 2% raise.

george said...

If I quit, would I be able to sue and get the retro from 2009 thru now?

Chaz said...

George:

There is already a lawsuit filed by ex-members who resigned. However, at present, you will not get your retro payments.

george said...

Understood, I know if I'm not in service I dont get the money is what contract states, but if I resign, say a year from now...i guess I would have to sue on my own?

Anonymous said...

I just saw my 9/26 paycheck. looks like they did a 1% retro from may 2013 to may 2014 and 2% retro from may 2014 till now. NO RETRO FOR SUMMER SESSIONS! Does that mean that we will not get any retro at all for the 6 weeks each summer? My pay for summer is about an additional 10k. How to does the retro raise not apply to that?

Chaz said...

You will get it on October 3rd. Or so they claim.

Anonymous said...

Do we know if any schools were announced as hard to staff yet?