The unions, lead by the UFT, is sounding the alarm about what the Janus decision will do to public unions. Granted, the unions will lose the right for mandatory dues checkoff and data from Michigan shows that approximately 20% of members refused to pay union dues when the State banned mandatory dues to the unions. These members who refuse to pay their fair share of union dues but still must be represented by the union are known as "free riders". How will it affect New York State public unions? Here is my best guess.
In a post Janus New York, unions will still have Civil Service protections in the form of the Taylor Law. The Taylor Law requires that Municipalities must bargain in "good faith" with unions. That includes arbitration, meditation, and hearing of grievances. It also penalizes unions who participates in work stoppages or strikes.
One of the most important amendments is called the Triborough amendment. The Tribourough amendment requires that all municipalities cannot change work rules or alter the last contract. until a new contract is negotiated with the union. That means that once a contract lapsed, all the provisions of that contract stays in force until a new contract is agreed upon by the union. You can read my take Here.
As for the UFT? They have a political action wing that relies on voluntary contributions called COPE Therefore, if you believe our union leadership that no union dues pay for political or social causes, then the reduction in union dues colected will have little or no effect on union contributions to politicians since COPE funds are unaffected by Janus. Therefore, any future contract negotiations with the City should not be significantly affected by the UFT receiving less union dues, despite the scare tactics the union leadership will employ on their members.
When the UFT comes knocking at your door and tells you what Janus can do to the union's power and our benefits, TAKE WHAT THEY SAY WITH A GRAIN OF SALT.
Great post Chaz. For the first time in history, the rank and file will be able to hold the UFT responsible for it's actions. I know for a fact that the teachers at my school are going to base their decision to either pay or withhold dues based on how the new contract looks. If we get shafted in the next contract in the area of our working conditions such as the evaluation system, teachers are going to stop paying dues in droves. We are not expecting a fat raise as we know the city is being cheap. However, we want to once again be able to teach in peace without fear of Danielson drive by's and excessive observations. These changes will not cost the city a single dollar. We demand that our union works for us if they want our dues post Janus.
ReplyDeleteHow would it affect 3020a hearings in regards to representation - would NYSUT still represent a non-union member facing charges?
ReplyDeleteChaz--I am a retired Tier 1 teacher who will still pay my union dues. I hop a Unity person comes a knocking at my door. I will invite him/her in and tell them why if they don't wake up they will lose members
ReplyDelete1. There has not been a class size reduction in 50 years and NYC has the largest class sizes in the state.
2. The ATR's are treated as trash by the union.
3. NYC Teachers get 7% on their TDA's while all other city employees get 8 1/4 percent.
4. NYC Teachers are observed 4 times per year minimum while the rest of the state has a
minimum of 2 per year.
I am sure other people can add to this.
Thanks for your great work. it is surely appreciated.
If we have the option to opt out of union dues, how would we do that opt-out process?
ReplyDeleteThe UFT is staying silence about the abuse of veteran teachers around the city. It is shameful that is collaborating with the DOE in the purge of experienced teachers.
ReplyDeleteNo matter how flawed the UFT is, it is better than nothing. If you don’t believe me, look at charter school staff. (No, I’m not Unity, or one of their apologists).
ReplyDeleteAt this point, I could understand if most ATR’s don’t want to pay, but pretty much everyone else should.
Also, many legal people have said that unions may not have to represent non-payers. I have no problem with that.
Have a great weekend. You know unions (relax, I’m not saying the UFT did) gave us weekends, but many charter schools expect their staff to show up on weekends (unpaid) to work with students.
The UFT is looking the other way while veteran teachers are being targeted, and discriminated against.
DeleteThe UFT is so useless that they are denying all grievances.
DeleteI'm in the process of filing a PERB complaint against them for denying my right to take a grievance to Step 3 by lying. And for not enforcing that a principal has to respond to a step 1 Grievance in writing.
DeleteWhy shouldn't I do it? I have a contract that's supposed to protect me and they're shitting on me.
Is there a reason for denying grievances?
DeleteYes they do not work for the teachers anymore.
DeleteThe UFT is not getting a dime from me. They owe all of us money.
ReplyDeleteI hope this Janus decision spells the end of the worthless, decrepit UFT once and for all! They've been stealing our money and giving us jack squat in return. At the rate they're going, so many teachers are quitting, retiring, being discontinued or terminated through charges that soon there won't be any teachers left to pay dues at all!
ReplyDeleteI would like in theory to stay in the union- however in reality I do not believe in supporting the uft as they do not support us.
ReplyDeleteI would maybe contribute if we were allowed to give an amount that we deem reasonable- $25 a check,
The union does not represent me. I will be the first person to pull my union dues
ReplyDeleteI don't think the UFT will be destroyed, but I think it will be one of the unions which suffer the most. No one has anything good to say about the UFT.
ReplyDeleteI personally will not pay.
Once Janus kicks in and unions are gone - good luck making 100k as a teacher. Good luck being an ATR. The money Wisconsin teachers saved by not contributing to unions was 76 dollars a month. Two years later they paid 500 a month for healthcare. I am not a math teacher but I think that resulted in a loss. Do the math???
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, if you are frustrated with the unions then get involved and make changes. Protest the union. Boo Mulgrew. Show up to their meetings but not paying union dues is only going to hurt every teacher.
All depends on how Janus comes down. In NY City - we have COPE. Janus is saying they do not want union dues to be involved in political union stuff. In NY that is already separated. We will wait and see what happens. Once corporate America kills our unions we will be more fucked than ever. The 100 dollars you idiots will save will cost you 10k and more in the future. The young teachers will be screwed the most.
ReplyDeleteDoes everyone really think we would be better off without the union??? I cannot believe that people think they haven't done anything good for us. Yes, there Danielson, ATRs are treated poorly, and Tier 6 degrades chance for retirement. However, WITHOUT the union, we would be treated FAR FAR worse. Is everyone going to take the gamble, and not pay dues and let our union sink? This is what the Koch Brothers want. They want the infighting. They want to eventually privatize education. This is not an opportunity to hold Mulgrew accountable, speak your voice during elections. By not paying our due, and thus have a weaker union, we will lose collective bargaining (look at Wisconsin and West Virginia). Public education always gets the short end of the stick. Even though you may think the UFT is corrupt and abusive towards our teachers, think about how we will be treated without such bargaining power. The union, despite its flaws, is our last line of defense.
ReplyDeleteOrigins of the duty of fair representation goes back to the Railway Labor Act of 1944.
ReplyDelete“The duty of fair representation is an obligation imposed on a union which results from its right of exclusive representation. While neither the Railway Labor Act nor the Labor Management Relations Act specifically define a duty of fair representation, the Supreme Court has ruled that such a duty exists.
The duty of fair representation was first announced in a 1944 Supreme Court case decided under the Railway Labor Act, Steele v. Louisville & Nashville R.R.1 In the Steele case, the Brotherhood of Railroad Firemen was the exclusive bargaining agent for firemen employed by the railroad company, under the procedures of the Railway Labor Act. The railroad employed both African-American and white firemen, but the constitution of the Brotherhood prevented African-Americans from joining the union.”
(http://labored.missouri.edu/documents/2005-36.pdf)
So, the duty of fair representation was not about not wanting to join a union because you don’t want to pay your dues, it was about not being allowed to join a union because you are African American, yet still be protected by the union. The union busting billionaires in back of Friedrichs and Janus have really twisted the duty of fair representation in a very perverse way.
Anon 2pm and 6:07
ReplyDeleteScrewing the ATRs by agreeing to a time limit since NYS Civil Service law would be violated and a lawsuit would result.
Moreover, the other unions will join the lawsuit since it would establish a slippery slope and affect all unions.
Finally, where excessed teachers were given a time limit Washington D.C. and Chicago, the union leadership was voted out of office.
I think that the record should reflect the reality of the situation. I would say most teachers make far less than a 100,000 dollars and under current conditions, most teachers will not be given a chance to make a 100,000 dollars. This 100,000 dollar statement was made by a tier 4 person. Our union has been silent during this slaughter of all teachers. Whether you are a new teacher or an older teacher, you do not stand a chance to make this job into a sustainable career
ReplyDeleteExperienced teachers are treated like shit in NYC.
ReplyDelete@Shady, Janus's whole argument is that all public sector union contract negotiations constitute political activity, so a ruling in his favor would not be helped by the COPE separation.
ReplyDeleteIf you folks haven't heard, check out ICEUFT's latest blog on Mulgrew's psychotic garbage - pushing the NYC eval system as a 'statewide model.' This guy is DARING people to pull dues.
Danielson isn't going anywhere....neither are the number of observations....get used to it.
ReplyDeleteHopefully this court case decision will finally end the teachers union. I hope most districts become charters where kids will have an opportunity to actually learn. I hope that schools will finally be able to quickly fire bad teachers. Make teachers sign a yearly contract and see how fast teachers improve when their contract is not renewed. When a school closes because it’s failing, let all the teachers go. Why should they continue to get paid. Make teachers pay for health care just like everywhere else. Make teachers pay more into their own pension or make them switch to a 401k just like everyone else. This country is going to hell because teachers have been able to do whst they want. Hopefully this stops soon. Then teachers will know what it’s like to have a real job.
ReplyDeleteThe private sector should fight for many benefits. Many years ago, the American worker had many benefits and were appreciated. You have it all wrong. Raise the level of workers you fool.
DeletePeople are controlled by the media and people are trained to hate unions thinking we take all the money.
ReplyDeleteThe rich wants The status quo and the corporations too. Which means it will be bad for unions and poor and middle-class .
The contract coming up is very important to teachers. I think they will offer us something because one we’re having the highest raise increase 3% and senior teacher be making from 113,500 to 119,500 which is a big increase for the city.city doesn’t want to pay for it. Which is a positive three they’re closing schools they want to close more but there be too many ATR‘s so the probably be an extra 1200 added to 1300 which is 2500. this is not good for the mayor publicity and for the city budget. so I hope they come up with a decent proposal to retire, which is one month for every year that’s fair, this what they gave in the passed. But still it doesn’t look good for teaches and ATR’s.
We have a little power.
Hopefully the teachers union is finished after Janus. They are a disgrace to democracy. They are thieves and and the deep secret they wont tell you is that if we pull our dues post janus...we still are represented. They just will have to go on less trips on our dime. 75% OF UNION REPS in schools are corrupt. All the cronies you see sitting at UFT general assembly meeting are all brainwashed or paid off minions. If you look close they all look the same too with the same corrupt look. I cant wait to pull my dues and convince all my colleagues to do the same. Working conditions are unbearable in NYC and the UFT play stupid like everything is great. If you call the UFT office with a problem they will mislead you. They are scum and have no sympathy for these worms!
ReplyDelete@ 7:08, not sure if this post is sarcasm or not. If its not, go ahead and take away whatever little incentive there is to teach and you'll see who's left; inexperienced Teach for America types who don't know what they're doing who will leave in 2 years. There would literally be no good teachers in "failing" schools, since even the best teacher in the world only has control over the students they teach, and can be fired due to the poor performance of everyone else, including the students who choose not to do anything. Also, I think the city owes me some money, since I've been paying into my pension since I started teaching, but according to you teachers don't pay anything!
ReplyDeleteThe DOE and the UFT want cheap teachers.
DeleteAgreed with Anon 3:01PM and a response to 7:08:
ReplyDeleteIf you get rid of pensions and the other benefits that the union has fought for us, you will not have people go into this profession. If we do not have a union, we will be paid a lot less and education in this country will be dramatically impacted. It's hard enough to get smart people to become teachers these days because there are more financially lucrative careers elsewhere. If you start saying you have to start paying for your health care you won't get a pension anymore, no one is going to spend money to get a masters degree or want a career in education. We get paid way less than any professionals (as most public service jobs), and the only reason smart people would stay is teachers is because we get a pension. Start paying us on the same scale as private sector jobs and I'll consider not getting a pension.
And even if you think the teachers are getting unreasonable benefits and "have it all," don't you want the people who are educating your children to be treated really well financially?
Chaz,
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think will happen with the new contract? I firmly believe if the UFT doesn't push hard in negotiations many people will stop paying their dues. Makes sense because what are we paying them for.
The UFT is in bed with the DOE, they are tolerating age discrimination and harassment against veteran teachers.
DeleteAnon, 12:44.
ReplyDeleteDo you think without the UFT we would be treated better and paid more? Why does the UFT want cheap teachers?
UFT told me they can't wait until "Post Janus" when anyone not paying union dues will see what real representation will look like. They already have 80 year-olds waiting to represent anyone not in the union. At least the non paying members will have some union representation until they reach a 3020a. They just won't be covered at 3020a.
ReplyDelete