Unity Caucus "City is Broke" Lie During Contract Battle Exposed

I know a Unityista who's a chapter rep at an elementary school in the Bronx. Last summer, he told me how the city is "broke". I laughed at him and asked him if the union thinks we are all that uninformed and stupid. He also told me what terrible teachers the ATRs are. I asked him if his school closed and he wasn't rehired, how he'd feel after a couple of years of changing schools every week. Such callous scum, these so-called Unity representatives.... Ms. Tsouris, comment on ICE blog,

ANOTHER BILLION DOLLARS FOUND IN CITYBUDGET

Comptroller Scott Stringer has found an extra billion dollars over what Mayor Bill de Blasio projected in the city budget.  Are the Unity supporters still saying the cupboard was empty when we settled for 10% over 7 years and we will have our retroactive payments for 2009-2011 deferred so we won't be made whole for those years until 2020?  How much more money has to be found before Unity will admit that Michael Mulgrew did not get us the best deal possible?

The ICE and NYC Educator (Look What Bill de B. Found in the Sofa Cushions) blogs have stories today exposing the sham selling points for the contract ratification battle last May where the contract was passed with 75% of the vote where over 90% of the 108 thousand UFT members voted. I looked at the fact that despite the lies, 16,000 classroom teachers and 4000 non teachers voted NO. If only they would come out of the woodwork and become active in a struggle to take back the union. Even a few hundred who were willing to distribute literature to their colleagues in their schools would make a difference in battling the Unity machine (email me at normsco@gmail.com).

The fact is that lie is allowed to fester because most teachers don't read the blogs and I bet if you share the news about how much money there really was people would be surprised. I'm not even just talking about more money in salary -- but all the other lack of resources you don't get ________ (fill in the blank, starting with the impact a billion bucks can have on class size).

NYC Educator says:

Man, when I read things like this I just don't know what to say. Just a few short months ago I was at the New York Hilton with my school's delegates and Punchy Mike Mulgrew was regaling us with tales of how the cupboard was bare and we'd have to wait an extra ten years for the money most city employees had received by 2010. It was the best they could do. Retro pay was not a God-given right.
You see, until that point, I'd thought the city pattern was sacrosanct. After all, when we wanted to get a little more than the pattern, we were told we had to give back, and boy did we give back. We gave up seniority rights and sentenced thousands of experienced teachers to be wandering ATRs. We made sure thousands of teachers would be patrolling lunchrooms, halls and bathrooms. Because perish forbid anyone should have more than 40 minutes to prepare the classes that Charlotte Danielson demands these days. But every time I turn around, there's more money.