UFT Contract: Comments on Contract/SBO's - Is There a UFT/DOE Conspiracy?

Many teachers are concerned that SBO's are not being approved for anything that does not keep teachers at school until 3:45 on Monday and 3:35 on Tuesday, effectively eliminating any after school programs for kids (and per session pay for teachers) two days a week.

The only thing the UFT and City will say is "all SBO's will be considered" but that does not mean approved... Ms Farina is adamant that "the teachers want the pd"..

No they don't, they are burnt out at 3:00PM and many want to go home, God forbid.

This is not coming from a teacher.

UFT Contract - What's Missing - How About Discipline?

The amount of short-sighted "trust" the UFT/Unity crowd is giving this administration is astounding. We have learned from almost 50 years in the UFT - if it's not in the contract, there are no guarantees -- even if it's in the contract, many have learned that the loose language and loopholes allows the DOE to drive truck bigger than Godzilla through.

Fariña said that she wanted to see schools reform their discipline policies to focus on restorative justice, not suspension.--NY Daily News, NY Post ....Chalkbeat

I cheer Farina for this initiative. BUT.....The contract with a golden chance to encode some permanent solutions on the discipline issue failed to address any recourse that would protect teachers and children for the day Carmen is not there anymore. Or de Blasio either.

Or even while they are there we have so many principals that blame the teachers for everything and provide no support, there is a need in the contract to protect teachers.

Read Laurel Sturt's "Davonte's Inferno" for a horror story of 4 principals over 8 years not lifting a finger. Here was the opportunity to give teachers some control over the piece of crap principal -- how about a contract item that if a certain percentage of the staff signs a petition on discipline issues in a school the DOE will send in people to monitor?

I'm not talking about harsh discipline but a system to manage discipline. [I was saved in my early days by an amazing AP named Norman Jehrenberg -- a hard ass guy who once he thought you were really trying provides support by removing any child I needed removed for a cooling off period - and it worked - for me. He would show up within 10 minutes - and once he did a few times I didn't have to use him again.]

The amount of short-sighted "trust" the UFT/Unity crowd is giving this administration is astounding. We have learned from almost 50 years in the UFT - if it's not in the contract, there are no guarantees -- even if it's in the contract, many have learned that the loose language and loopholes allows the DOE to drive truck bigger than Godzilla through.

One of the biggest complaints you hear from teachers is around the discipline issue - a lot of it about lack of support from administrators. On the other end we hear about the other end of the stick - harsh no excuses from the charter schools.

I have always opposed suspending students and never once asked a supervisor to do so. I felt that was a defeat. Since the kid always was coming back I knew I had to have a permanent solution - and I usually found one. But let's leave that for another time.

The articles in the Post and News doesn't give Restorative Justice its due. I instinctually used some of the concepts in my classes to resolve things. I taught in a high poverty area and I was lucky - discipline was easy for me. But the administrations I had were supportive - except in my 3rd year of teaching when we had a fairly new principal who didn't have a clue -- and I left that school partially because I didn't feel he supported teachers on discipline.

I hope that Farina works with the Teachers Unite crew on this initiative. Sally Lee and the gang have been doing fabulous work on restorative justice and the DOE should consider funding them to expand their work. [I am very proud to have been one of the first 5 people to join TU].

UFT Contract: Firemen/Sanitation/Cops Trash UFT - "We want UFT off MLC"

We'll never take the deal the teachers got.
They got less pension then us, look we didn't take that.
We'll go to PERB before we ever sign up for shit like this.
If you have to pay for healthcare, or GHI goes shitty you can thank the UFT.
Uft and mulgrew are trying to sell us all out, he may do it your wives (reference to the fact many guys have teachers as wives) but he won't do it to us.
We told the UFT we not going to stand with them on pattern bargaining.
We have our money, they'll get it in 2020.
Our raises will be the same as transit
We want UFT off MLC (supposedly sanitation said this).

From two firemen who had meetings with the UFA reps and one cop. All 3 reports are the same in 3 different places, 2 firehouses, 1 precinct.

UFT Contract: An Attack on Women

The contract proposal is an attack on feminism. 75% of UFT members are woman. The leadership expects the contract to pass because they anticipate that woman are willing and deserve to accept much lower pay in creases than they deserve.... Comment on Ed Notes
 
After the UFT Brooklyn borough contract meeting, a pregnant teacher came up to ask [Borough Rep] Howie Schoor if anything was added to the contract to help pregnant members and members needing to stay home to take care of their newborns.  Howie had nothing to say...besides trying to make it sound as if the current contract was good enough... report from a teacher present

Is Unity saying "screw you?"

I am not up on how a woman taking time off to take care of her baby will be affected but feel free to enlighten me. 

In the 1995 contract rejection, the raising of maximum salary from 20 to 25 years caused a firestorm, especially from women who had lost years staying home to take care of children. When the contract was rejected, the new number was down to 22 years. Funny, but many looked at that as a gain - down from 25, but in reality it was a loss - up from 20 in the  old contract.

And so it goes with the Unity Caucus shysters running the UFT for the past 64 years -- for those of you who think somehow WeinGrew have led the union astray, believe me it was no different in 1970 when I first became active in the union.

UFT Contract: A Play in One Act

Special Rep: I should probably schedule some time to come to your school and talk to your members

CL: na, that's alright

Special Rep: well. What's the general feeling over there?

CL: yeah, we're pretty much against it

Special Rep: oh then I really should come down and speak to members

CL: na, that's alright. Thanks though.

--the borough rep is now coming with the Spec rep and is staying here for four hours. They dropped the notice on our mailboxes. Looks like they're hitting 'no' schools.
----------Report from the field

UFT Contract: Harsh Greetings at Some Schools for UFT/Unity Crew Selling Contract

Hey Norm - check out how desperate UFT leaders getting telling CL's to send out to staff.....an ed notes contact -- see Unity spin below the fold

I have a bunch of anecdotals about UFT reps getting a not so nice greeting. Or turning off what was not at first a hostile crowd. I heard at the MORE happy hour this afternoon -- that attracted over 40 people from many different schools to talk about the contract -- about a District Rep who went to a large high school to lay down the crap. The teachers did not start out negative but the refusal to answer questions honestly and the disparaging of certain issues raised turned the crowd. Many more people left the meeting thinking NO than walked in. That is why they moved up the vote I believe - some schools got the ballots today - because what they viewed as a slam dunk which would be enforced by their own people is not going so well.

One thing I believe -- pieces of the contract that start falling off - like health care - won't happen until AFTER the March 2016 UFT elections to protect Mulgrew. In fact take a look at the contract in the context of time frame of those elections.

MORE In the Media: Lupkin, Wainer and Cavanagh in The Chief

“While there were clear efforts made in this contract about improving communication and collaboration, too much has been left on the table,” Ms. Cavanagh said. “I stand up with my chapter as we continue to urge the UFT and the city to go back to that table.”

By DAN ROSENBLUM

A couple of days before about 2,000 delegates voted May 7 to recommend for ratification the United Federation of Teachers’s proposed labor contract, the specifics hadn’t yet filtered to a stretch of Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.

Claims Teachers 'Let Down'

On Carroll Street, Dan Lupkin, a fourth- and fifth-grade special-education Teacher, was watching as kids streamed out of P.S. 58. He expected, correctly, that the UFT delegate assembly would approve the contract, but he wasn’t happy about it. He said Teachers were “let down” by their leaders and contested many parts of the deal as a step backwards, including delayed retroactive pay and few plans for creating smaller classrooms. As a UFT delegate, he said, he would vote against the tentative contract announced May 1.The package offers an 18-percent pay raise over nine years, dating back to 2009, with the two 4-percent raises for 2009-2011 to be implemented retroactively in installments from 2015 through 2020. The top-earning Teacher now making $100,049 would be earning $119,565 as of May 2018, according to the UFT.
“The money part of it is not great, but if we gave up the money for some real improvements in working conditions and improvements for the students, I would be willing to make that trade-off,” the nine-year Teacher said.Some rank-and-file members interviewed last week were still uncertain about various aspects of the bargain.

Dissidents Call UFT Terms Inadequate

MORE Caucus: Pact is Less of Same

1 imageThe Chief-Leader/Michel Friang

‘TALKING BEYOND THE DELEGATES’: Social studies Teacher Kit Wainer was one of several Movement of Rank and File Educators members protesting the May 7 vote by United Federation of Teachers delegates to recommend that members ratify a proposed contract. Ballots will be counted early next month.

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By DAN ROSENBLUM | Posted 3 days ago
It was a far smaller crowd than inside the New York Hilton ballroom, where thousands of United Federation of Teachers delegates voted to recommend that its members ratify a tentative Teachers’ contract, but a collection of disaffected members of an opposition caucus hoped their voices resonated with their colleagues.

After the May 7 vote, about 20 representatives of the Movement of Rank and File Educators caucus lined the Avenue of the Americas outside the hotel to list their objections to the deal.

Kit Wainer, a former UFT presidential candidate, objected to the proposed 18-percent raise spread over nine years, saying an average 2-percent annual pay increase would not keep up with the cost of living.

‘Disaffected, Disconnected’

“We’ve already got a membership that’s disaffected and disconnected, and now we have a union leadership that’s telling people that they should be thankful because by 2018, they will have raises that will almost catch up to inflation,” said Mr. Wainer, a UFT Chapter Leader at Leon M. Goldstein High School.

MORE, which bills itself as the social-justice caucus within the union, opposes an emphasis on standardized testing, teacher evaluations and the Common Core.

It wasn’t immediately clear when ballots would be mailed to the UFT’s membership, but the union projected it would have the results by early next month. MORE members said they had scheduled emergency meetings through that period.

‘A Missed Opportunity’

Julie Cavanagh, a Teacher at P.S. 15 in Brooklyn and also a former UFT presidential candidate, called the contract a “missed opportunity.” She listed a series of irritations with the accord that included extending retroactive payments two years beyond its lifespan and creating a two-tier teaching system by adding “Teacher Leadership Positions.” She said voting delegates had little time to read the full Memorandum of Agreement.

“While there were clear efforts made in this contract about improving communication and collaboration, too much has been left on the table,” Ms. Cavanagh said. “I stand up with my chapter as we continue to urge the UFT and the city to go back to that table.”

http://thechiefleader.com/news/news_of_the_week/more-caucus-pact-is-less-of-same/article_ea49f618-d9ee-11e3-a0c9-001a4bcf6878.html?TNNoMobile 
 

UFT Contract: When the Unity Spin Doesn't Play

My District Rep spun her shit at a school with surrounding schools attending – big crowd – listened to her avoid health issues and baited retro pay – lots of very mad people leaving the building bewildered – all voting NO – DR was like watching FOX News.... An Ed Notes Reader

Maybe the UFT is rushing to get the vote done before their hordes of people racing to the schools turn off even more people.

 

UFT Contract: Send these alleged negotiators back to the table to get a real contract without give-backs or illusory promises!

the example used by our anti-tenure president even if true would probably not lead to disciplinary action for teachers working and maintaining personal relationships with their supervisors. .. Jeff Kaufman

I love that Jeff pinned the anti-tenure label on our union leaders because that is exactly what they are. If they thought there wouldn't be a political price to pay they would agree to dump tenure in a minute -- oh, wait a minute -- they pretty much have agreed to dump a load of it.

Jeff blogged about the same issue I did earlier (UFT Contract: Mulgrew Says It's OK to Fire ATR for "Screaming in the Hallway") over at the ICE blog but in more depth. Jeff assumes when Mulgrew mentioned screaming he was talking about a mentally ill teacher - who of course Mulgrew seems to think should be fired even though ill. What next, you have a heart attack in school and are brought up on charges of disturbing the karma of the kids?

Mulgrew Admits He'll Leave Critical Issues to Others in Proposed Contract

In an amazing admission our UFT president was quoted in a Wall Street Journal article yesterday that a critical issue, the definition of "problematic behavior" will be left to arbitrators to discern. Illusory promises and predictions for our precious health benefits, the future of the proposed"no-contract" PROSE schools, merit pay for a new class of teachers and the impact of inflation on 9 years of earned pay all demonstrate that this proposal must be defeated.

Mulgrew told the Wall Street Journal, "[that] a panel of hearing officers would "solidify the definition" of problematic behavior. "If someone says a teacher is screaming in the hallway, that's a problem," he said. "If you do that once, you should be written up. If you do that again you should go through an expedited hearing process."

This quote clearly shows how disconnected the proposers are. 

First, the statement assumes the truth of the allegations. A fundamental part of due process and 3020-a hearings is that charged teachers have the absolute right to cross-examine witnesses against them and present a defense if they wish. Our due process system has, until now, withstood the test of time and while some ed deformers might argue it does not work the bottom line is that based on the number of teachers charged and teachers returned to teaching and the settlements entered into by all sides it is clear that this right is taken seriously and mere allegations must be clearly proven before they become the basis for disciplinary action.

Secondly, the example used by our anti-tenure president even if true would probably not lead to disciplinary action for teachers working and maintaining personal relationships with their supervisors. If the teacher displayed psychotic behavior (I assume Mulgrew did not mean the teacher was trying to stop a fight or call attention to serious problem) we would hope that the teacher would be referred for proper medical attention. Instead Mulgrew further maintains and supports the ed deformer myth that ATRs are mentally ill people who should be terminated.

Progressive discipline is the hallmark to good labor relations. With 80,000 teachers we would expect some problems (including whatever "problematic behavior" turns out to be) but to strip away some of our most basic protections it outrageous and must be stopped.

Send these alleged negotiators back to the table to get a real contract without give-backs or illusory promises!

UFT Contract: Mulgrew Says It's OK to Fire ATR for "Screaming in the Hallway"

UFT logo for ATRs

Don't you think we should have the definitions of "problematic" behavior BEFORE voting on the contract?

Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said a panel of hearing officers would "solidify the definition" of problematic behavior. "If someone says a teacher is screaming in the hallway, that's a problem," he said. "If you do that once, you should be written up. If you do that again you should go through an expedited hearing process."

What else? Peeing without picking up the toilet seat? (Hmmmm -- I can go with that -- cameras in the bathrooms.)

How many times do you hear teachers screaming in the halls at a kid? Or even at each other? I once had a screaming match with my principal.

And remember the argument Portelos had with a teacher where part of the charges were that he cursed her in the hall. But DOE legal left out the part where she cursed him multiple times before he responded. That teacher was never charged and in fact testified against Portelos - there was a tape of her screaming match, she openly lied during the testimony - a chargeable offense.

Don't you think we should have the definitions of "problematic" behavior BEFORE voting on the contract?

The WSJ reports:

Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday he trusted principals to judge whether to keep teachers assigned from a pool of rotating substitutes or send them back. His comments followed critics' claims that the tentative city teachers' contract wouldn't ensure that the pool's poor performers would be kept out of classrooms.

Mr. de Blasio referred to teachers in the so-called Absent Teacher Reserve, who have lost permanent jobs because of budget cuts or disciplinary problems but continue to get full pay as substitutes, often for years. The contract offers them severance of up to 10 weeks' pay for 20 years of service.

The tentative contract says that in certain cases, the Department of Education can assign these teachers to full-time jobs in schools with vacancies even if they have been penalized with 30-day suspensions or fines of $2,000 or more. The pact says principals can return teachers to the pool if they aren't good matches. Further, if two principals formally write one up for "problematic behavior" within consecutive years, the teacher would face an expedited hearing that could lead to dismissal.

That would mean that there is some flexibility over cases like Portelos - who was fined 10 grand and not returned to his school despite the hearing officer mandating that. But I think this is de Blasio smoke and mirrors designed to fuzzy things up given there has been some reaction to this situation over the past few days.

Note to Unity slugs humping the contract: Should you be in this situation one day don't come crying - I know of a Unity person who pushed for the 2005 contract and has seen some light: (ICEUFT Blog: LONG TIME UNITY CHAPTER LEADER OPPOSES CONTRACT - WHY I OPPOSE THIS CONTRACT PROPOSAL).

Read it at the WSJ where you can read how poor Jenny Sedlis from Students Ignored plays parrot. Note how Jenny, that paragon of children support, doesn't mention how kids are ignored in the contract which fosters high class sizes.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304081804579558473061202320?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304081804579558473061202320.html

Union Internal Revolts: Activist Barbara Madeloni elected president MA teachers association

Another sign the union winds they are a-changin'.
 - As Leonie points out:

Between this and the CTU rejection of the Common Core, the local teacher unions are getting more aggressive. 

This is an unreported story - the growth of opposition movements inside many teacher unions in reaction to the waffling leadership playing footsie, if not outright backing, ed deform. Of course Leonie can't be talking about the UFT/Unity being more aggressive -- unless it is beating down opposition to their half-century undemocratic rule.

And by the way, what a joke - that recording of Mulgrew saying he will fight ed reform - at the Exec Bd meeting last week he actually used my creation - ed deform. The contract is a model of ed deform. Just think of it - lots of PD, nothing about class size, talk of longer days and years in 200 schools, supporting giving principals total power, killing tenure from above - the ATRs - and underneath - ridiculous extensions of tenure and outright Discontinues. The current contract is violated probably every 10 seconds.

Barbara Madeloni is a hero to many for her battles - read all about it:

http://www.massteacher.org/news/archive/2014/annual_meeting_day_two.aspx

She pledges “to roll back corporate assault and reclaim education” http://go.shr.lc/SQYLnU

See Winerip in NYT re her work vs EdTPA http://go.shr.lc/1l96wMa

UFT Contract: MORE Talks Business While Unity Goes Into Hiding

Since the Unity slugs aren't willing to hold a conversation about the contract, MORE is going to do so. Which would you rather attend? A one-way filibuster at a Unity/UFT sponsored borough meeting - while your school is getting a visitor from the UFT who will also filibuster in your school while leaving a few minutes for you to ask questions - or a MORE event?

Really, you should check out some of the Unity troll comments sprinkled throughout this blog about how we should be democratic and let the members decide - I laughed so hard I fell off my stool - yes, like the UFT, I have a stool at the table - but it's my table.

By the way, I too had to sign a loyalty oath - to my wife - that I won't spill the beer again when falling off a stool while laughing at Unity slug comments.

MORE Update: MORE - Get Informed on the Contract / Get Connected at a Happy Hour Event Near You!

... and come out for the Take Back Our Schools rally on May 17! View this email in your browser

Weekly Update #97 May 12, 2014 Share Tweet Forward to Friend

Get informed! Get connected!  Come to a MORE Happy Hour this week to discuss the contract proposal, get your questions answered, and pick up Vote NO flyers. Don't forget to download and print the flyer from the website and distribute to your coworkers and other schools. Queens (Districts 30, 24) Thursday, May 15th 4:30pm Studio Square 35-33 36th St. (QNS) RSVP on Facebook South Bronx Friday, May 16 4:15-6:30pm Wish 37 37 Bruckner Blvd. (BX) Inwood/West Bronx Friday, May 16 4:00-6:00pm Inwood Local 4957 Broadway (b/w 207th St. and Isham) Bay Ridge (Districts 20, 21, 22) Friday, May 16 3:30-6:30pm Harp Bar 7710 3rd Ave. (BK) RSVP on Facebook Park Slope and Sunset Park (District 15) Friday, May 23 4:00-6:00pm Freddys Bar and Backroom 627 5th Ave. (BK) RSVP on Facebook Lower Manhattan (Districts 1, 2) *Book reading, signing, and discussion of Dante's Inferno: Ten Years in the New York Public School Gulag Wednesday, May 14 6:30-8:30pm Nuyorican Poets Cafe 236 E. 3rd St. (Man) RSVP on Facebook   Join us on May 17, 2014 to Take Back our Schools 2:00pm, City Hall Park Click here to RSVP Today! View event page - Watch the video! On Saturday, May 17th at 2:00 pm, thousands will join Diane Ravitch, Carol Burris, Leonie Haimson, Brian Jones to fight to preserve and protect public education. Save Our Schools is proud to partner with MORE, NYSAPE, BATs, CTS, and other advocacy groups in calling for community activists, parents, educators, and lawmakers to join together and march in support of a developmentally appropriate and equitably funded public education free from the influence of corporate reform and high stakes testing. PRE- AND POST-RALLY ACTIVITIES: Pre-Rally Brunch and Sign-Making Party Saturday, May 17 10:00am-12:00pm Megan Moskop's house in Upper Manhattan (near City College) Email megan.moskop@gmail.com to RSVP and get address Post-Rally Happy Hour Saturday, May 17 4:00-7:00pm (near City Hall Park) Educators and concerned citizens! Come relax after the big rally, meet and chat with other activists, and check out Jacobin Magazine's new Class Action: An Activist Teacher's Handbook.  RSVP on Facebook Copies of the handbook will be available- we recommend using them as an organizing tool. SchoolBook: Here's Why NYC Teachers Should Reject Labor Contract (Julie Cavanaugh) The Nation: Should New York Teachers Reject De Blasio's Proposed Contract? (Michelle Chen) MORE Caucus: The Contract We Do Not Deserve DA Report: Why Vote No Like us - MORE info Follow us - Find out what's happening Reading & Book Signing! Davonte's Inferno Thank you to author Laurel Sturt for donating proceeds to MORE... Wednesday, May 14 - 6:30 - 8:30 PM Nuyorican Poets Cafe - 236 e. 3rd Invite here - $10 Door Charge The MORE steering committee elections are coming up soon, in June! Reply if you have nominations for who you think should lead MORE... The steering committee met last week and on Sunday night - read the minutes here - and look for a summary on the MORE-Discussion list.   Join MORE Today!

Copyright © 2014 MORE Caucus, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you are excited about changing the UFT and signed up at a MORE meeting or our website, MORECaucusNYC.org. Our mailing address is: MORE Caucus New York New York, NY 10001 Add us to your address book

UFT Contract: MORE Sponsors Discussion (Unlike Unity) - Long Island City - Thurs May 15, 4:30PM

Open and honest debate. While Unity hides behind official visits to schools, MORE will hold open discussions. Come whether you are for or against the contract and talk about it. Download and print copies for your school if you are teaching in the area - or even if you're not.

UFT Contract Information Session
Come hear a detailed breakdown of the proposed contract by John Giambalvo followed by discussion and Q&A facilitated by Kevin Prosen. 

Where: Studio Square 35-33 36th Street,
LIC, NY 11106
N Train to 36th street R Train to Steinway
When: May 15, 2014 4:30

UFT Contract: NYC Educator Puts Out Challenge to Unity on Contract

If it's such a great deal, why wouldn't they jump at the opportunity? If we bloggers and opponents are spouting myths, as UFT President Mike Mulgrew repeatedly told the DA last Wednesday, why doesn't he grab this, a golden opportunity to demonstrate it? ... Arthur Goldstein at NYC Educator blog.

I'm ready to tape this one but as I said in previous posts, I'm predicting the Unity people will never go face to face on the contract, especially with Julie Cavanagh, whom they seem to especially fear (Mulgrew shut down debate at the DA with Julie standing at the mic to speak next.) During the UFT election campaign the FDR chapter asked for a debate and at first the UFT said YES but then pulled out.

Me--Free and Fair Contract Discussion, UFT Leadership--Crickets

On Friday I decided it would be a good idea to have a forum in which both sides of the contract proposal are examined. I asked my friend Julie Cavanagh if she would be interested in presenting the con side, and she agreed. I went to my principal and asked if we could use the school auditorium. He said if we got a permit and did so after school hours it was fine.

I then happened to be speaking to Geoff Decker from Chalkbeat NY, and he offered to moderate if we could find a time to fit his schedule. We envisioned either that a panel of him, me and someone pro-contract to select questions from the audience. We wanted to do something balanced. I asked my district rep, who said this would have to go before a UFT officer. So I wrote the following email to Janella Hinds, UFT VP for Academic High Schools:

Hi Janella,

We are trying to organize a forum on the contract, and are thinking about doing it next Thursday afternoon at FLHS. My committee would get a permit, and anyone who wished to co-sponsor could help pay. We think it will be between 100-300, depending on how large a room we use, with auditorium at 300.

We envision a pro and con speaker, equal opening and closing statements, and questions from the crowd taken by a committee consisting of one pro, one con, and one non-partisan, perhaps Geoff Decker of Chalkbeat NY. We envision giving each speaker equal time to answer each question.

Do you think UFT would be interested in participating in such a forum?

Arthur

Thus far, we've gotten no response. It doesn't appear UFT leadership is jumping up and down for a fair discussion of the agreement they brokered. That's too bad. If they have such great faith they've made a good decision, it behooves them to subject it to the sunlight of reasonable scrutiny.

Hey Arthur, maybe it will happen due this public scrutiny. Good luck if it does.

UFT Contract: Secretaries Ask MORE for Help After Mulgrew Ignores Pleas

Mulgrew being handed requests

Dear Mr. Scott,

The secretaries of the UFT have been working under a 1979 contract. Some of the secretaries put together an outline of requests to up date our duties, title and protections against out of license employees being put in our positions. They have not opened up the test or upgraded it for yes ads. We handed these outlined requests to Mr. Mulgrew personally. We are not even mentioned in the new contract. We have had no reply from mulgrew or Mona Gonzales the chapter leader. We pay dues and work hard to keep things afloat while dealing with students, parents and administrators. Can you help us?

Secretaries are one of the forgotten segments of the UFT. When one of them challenged MORE for not taking up their cause I challenged the secretary to get involved and lobby for their case. They seem to have tried using the UFT mechanisms and got nowhere. Their chapter has long been a Unity controlled sellout chapter.

Our correspondent continues:

Most of them are so depressed.

The negotiating committee never sends us update, no test for the secretaries was even suggested in the contract, no secretaries have been hired in years, secretaries that leave are never replaced with secretaries, the workload is always dumped on them or when we complain, they put school aides in our spot. Aides have access to DOE programs that detail information about students, they work in payroll, attendance and admitting students, programing, etc. The DOE knows that they are aides and still OK's requests for access to these programs on the request for access forms OK'd by the Principals, Assistant Principal in charge of running the school and/or a DOE hired administrative assistant.

We are asked to do work for programs that are run after school during our regular working hours. They stopped giving us per session to work after school in these programs and hired aids to do this work.

There are aides in the college offices, handing transcripts to colleges and SAT information to send to the colleges and the students.

No one listens. Not Mulgrew, Gonzales, Principals, AP's, no one.

------

These are the requests that were handed to Mr. Mulgrew in a folder last May. We know all of the requests won't be met, but no one even mentioned updates to the secretarial area. 

Last May? A year has gone by with Mulgrew ignoring them. My message to secretaries is to start organizing. Get emails of every secretary you know and help MORE create a secretary committee run by secretaries.

REQUESTS FOR NEW SECRETARIAL CONTRACT

1. Chapter leaders, having knowledge of secretarial infringements by aides doing secretarial jobs and as UFT contractual agreement, should put through a grievance without individual request. The arbitration won by the UFT with regard to out of license pedagogues doing secretarial work is not being upheld. The Department of Education is giving Aides access to DOE software programs that only secretaries and administrators should have access to. The DOE is not hiring secretaries to fill areas of need. They are using Aides. More per session for secretaries (administrative assistants)
   
2. More per session for secretaries (administrative assistants) should be included in the budget. Money must be made available, not comp time.
   
3. When there is per session for teachers/administrators for special programs, secretarial hours must be included to do all the paperwork/payroll involved in the programs. (Often we are forced to do this work during the day in addition to our already heavy workloads).
   
4. During higher work volume through the year and upon absence of a secretary, peak load and per diem secretaries should be used to lessen the work load burden of a secretary.
   
5. The DOE must ENFORCE not giving Aides access to programs only secretaries (administrative assistants) and supervisors may access to.
   
6. DOE should implement updated and job appropriate secretarial (administrative assistants) exams to enter field. The test should include MS Office experience, Excel, PowerPoint and Publisher.
   
7. Applications for secretarial (Administrative assistants) positions should be accepted this year 2013-2014 and onward.
   
8. The date of the Secretarial (Administrative Assistant) exams should be on a date in 2013-14 onward and advertised.
   
9. The number of secretaries should be based on the number of students. i.e. H.S .SETTING: Minimum 12 secretaries for 2500 students. There should be a formula for the minimum number of secretarial positions for each school. We are understaffed and our workloads continue to increase.
   

10. Postings for secretarial positions should be posted after a secretary retires from a position held by them. Aides are not licensed to do secretarial work and must not take the secretary’s place. (This is included in our current contract but not always followed).
11. Salary steps should also be given to secretaries (administrative assistants) who took outside classes to improve their skills (i.e. MS Office classes, Administrative Assistant Seminars, etc.)
12. DOE should hire new secretaries (administrative assistants) to handle burden of workload where and when necessary. (Formula)
13. More secretaries (administrative assistants) should be hired to process data and clerical duties in each school.
14. There should be a Network and/or liaisons for secretaries. Name and phone numbers should be supplied directly to the secretary for contact.
15. Differential 2 should be increased monetarily.
16. Air conditioning or fans should be supplied by the school, as needed, to provide an
environmentally safe and reasonable temperature for the secretary (administrative assistant) 1

working condition.
17. A monthly meeting with the Principal, lasting at least 20 minutes, to discuss secretarial issues and
updates of what is being discussed with the rest of the staff and administration. So that we are
all on the same page, copies of faculty minutes should be provided to all secretaries.
18. All secretaries must be supplied with the appropriate professional development and classes so
that they are proficient in all aspects of their duties.
19. On Professional Development day, secretaries must be required and allowed to have
professional development. Professional development for secretaries should be provided in each borough of the City of New York. Network leaders or the power that be, cannot cancel professional development for secretaries and require them to work on that day.
20. Reimbursement should be provided to secretaries for required classes in order to maintain their license and/or increase their applied skills.