Messner [who was not given a leave to continue working for NYSUT].... has gone back to the teaching job. He is deducting the teaching salary from his NYSUT salary and working nights and weekends for NYSUT. So his district pays him 60K and we get him for the bargain basement one-time-only price of 180K. (That's a lot better than some of the gigs UFT doles out. I've met people who'd pretty much sell their souls for 30 bucks an hour.) My sources tell me that Messner will continue with this work until August, 2018. Let me be the first to say, as someone with no voice or vote in NYSUT, that it's a great honor to pay not only his salary, but also those of his colleagues (none of whom the majority of rank and file New York City high school teachers had any say about). Here's the thing, though--my source tells me that by waiting until August 2018, Messner will be vested in the NYSUT pension system. So if Messner worked for four years, he's made almost a million dollars. Pension on that could be payable years from now, but must be worth pursuing. I imagine NYSUT officers provide well for themselves.
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| Teacher Union leaders relax in their hot tub |
Today Mike Antonucci reports that Messner has resigned as Treasurer but will continue to work for NYSUT in some capacity while still doing his teaching job. Mike reports Messner's severence package is not too shabby:
His severance package, however, is generous: 3.5 months of salary, a two-year pension credit, and $25,000 for a 529 benefit plan or a tax-deferred annuity. He will also be paid $5,000 a month as a consultant by the AFT and NYSUT from March through August in 2018.The 2 year pension credit is tied to the fact that Messner will be vested in the NYSUT pension system in August 2018. That is in addition to his teacher pension when he retires from there.
Part of our UFT dues goes to NYSUT -- with shenanigans like these the argument to stay in the union without massive changes in the way they operate will be a tough sell. I guess Messner is trying to get nailed onto the gravy train while he can.
Now don't get me wrong. Antonucci is part of the anti-union animus and these reports help accomplish the ends of these people -- the demise of teacher unions -- though that might put Mike out of business when he has no dirt to report. But our union leaders are so tone deaf they are the boiling frog.
Isn't it wonderful to watch overpaid union bureaucrats landing on their feet? In the meantime, rank and file teachers are being screwed left and right.
ReplyDeleteAbigail Shure
Quite extraordinary.
ReplyDeleteWho will stand up now to sell us accidental-death insurance policies and discounted kitchen laminate?
Kidding aside, this is a hair-raising example of self-dealing, double-dipping and straight up theft.
As to vesting his NYSUT pension--you and I both know that he's got about a 50-50 chance of pulling that pension five or ten years from now if the Ponzi scheme that is the NYSUT pension plan doesn't entirely collapse when Janus causes a 20-30% drop in dues-paying membership.