Why Retirees Vote Unity - The UFT Retro Pay Story Still Resonating as Retirees Get Theirs

The UFT message to pregnant moms: if you are pregnant and not working when the next retro is due - screw you - or rather, you should have waited to screw until you got your retro.

 

Michael Fiorillo has left a new comment on your post "Comments on UFT Sellout of Teachers on Leave 

Our faux Tough Guy President's pathetic excuse is further belied by the fact that he made sure that retirees were made whole before anyone.

Not to suggest they were undeserving - we all deserved that money back in '09, and should have been made whole immediately, with interest - but where was their "continuous employment?"

Then again, what does he care? Like the so-called reformers he often shills for - witness his continuing support for Common Core, test-based evaluations and expedited firings - or passively allows to loot and pillage, it's obvious to me this man thinks teachers are chumps.

If you read Ed Notes you know my position is for the opposition to totally ignore the retiree issue related to their voting in UFT elections - at least until an opposition can show it can win enough votes from working UFT members in an election. Unity Caucus takes care of its retirees.

And so it did so once again - retirees did get their retro, teachers in leave did not. We are hearing about the Queens borough office maternity liason for the UFT - no one seems to be naming - and shaming her - publicly. (Someone leave a comment with her name.)

Arthur is on the case at NYC Educator

Callousness or Compassion?: Retro On Leave

 The Queens maternity liason for the U.F.T. rose to oppose the resolution.  First, she objected to the printing of the resolution on a page containing advertisements for an oppostion caucus, free of the "union bug."   Even the parliamentarian, himself, could not say whether it was permissible or not.

Wait - let me get this straight. She is objecting to a caucus for putting forth a resolution, something that has been done for the entire 45 years I have been involved? And no union bug - given that opposition caucuses have to cobble together their own printers and copy machines to be able to afford printing materials - or go to copy centers to print? I printed almost 400 copies of a double-sided leaflet at the last chapter leader meeting on my own copy machine - which left it wheezing and coughing and demanding to form its own union.

I get it - let's try to make the opposition spend a fortune on printing as a way to shut them down.

Arthur continues:

Then, she proceeded to oppose the motion on the grounds that people on leave must know what they're getting themselves into.  I would guess, however, if one is fighting off a deadly disease or surviving brain surgery, one doesn't have much of a choice.  If one is about to give birth, although the situation is usually infinitely more joyous, one may also lack much choice.

The Queens liason further stated that the resolution seemed vague and that all persons on leave would be made "whole again" when the next retro check rolls around, provided he or she has returned to work.  It is my understanding, however, that if one dies, not only will one never be made "whole again," but one's spouse, children or family will never be made "whole again" in more ways than one.  The money once earned will be gone.  Perhaps, retro is not a "God-given right," but the Union might have taken further pains to fight for it as a contractual right for those who might need it most.

The arguments used by the maternity liason struck me as callous, particulary to our colleagues fending off life-threatening illnesses and those who are the parents of children, much like the ones we have dedicated our lives to teach.  So many members of our profession are women and so many are mothers.  The system is stacked against them and the Union seems unphased--even the Queens Maternity Liason.  Given that all members were asked to create a sea of pink shirts at the October Delegate Assembly in recognition of breast cancer, the callousness was magnified many times over.  It felt like a flood.

One of our new MORE moms missed the retro by returning to work a day or 2 later.

And check out this Queens Maternity workshop for April 2016 - Join us and get answers to all your maternity and leave questions.

We know the answer to the retro question already -- hey, if you are pregnant and not working when the next retro is due - screw you - or rather, you should have waited to screw until you got your retro.

Maternity Workshop (Queens)
Date:April 14, 2016
Time:4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Location:
UFT Queens borough office
97-77 Queens Blvd.
Rego Park, NY
US

Preregistration is required. Walk-ins will not be admitted. RSVP by emailing kjordan@uft.org.

Try this common core math question - if you are pregnant in April when do you have to deliver and be back in time to get your retro?