What are you willing to do- For The Contract We Deserve? - Guest Column from Contract Committee Member

What are you willing to do?

 

Friday, October 7, 2022

 

The UFT contract committee will meet with the city for the first contract negotiations on October 13th. 

Mayor Adam’s would like 1 to 2 percent raises max per year according to our sources at other unions. 

He has shown very little willingness to even sit down with the entire unionized city workforce that has expired contracts.

According to our brothers and sisters in DC 37 - one of the largest city worker unions, he is asking for high premiums for healthcare- in other words pay into health care which would offset any raise and actually mean a large pay cut for our members. 

The UFT position is clear : premium free, quality  healthcare and substantial raises because of inflation. 

We must have improvements in our working conditions and our students’ learning  conditions - safe schools so our youngest can learn , schools with AC as temperatures rise is way past due, class size compliance with the new legislation and more attention to special education to ensure that the city is actually serving our kids who need the most help.

We have to understand going into contract negotiation 2 major points: 

1. Contract negotiations are built on back and forth- compromise- we get some of what you want, the city has to get some of what they want. 

2. In order  to get even some of what we want, we need leverage- what do we hold over the city’s head that will actually bring them to the table and help us get some or even a majority of what we want?

That is a question the union leadership has to answer, the contract committee has to answer,  and each and everyone of you has to answer. 

What can you do, what can we do, what should we do to get what we want, what our students need? What are you going to do in your chapter that you want all chapters to do?

With inflation gone crazy, can we afford to live in NYC and the surrounding areas without a substantial raise? Can the city keep a work force without one? 

If you look at workers across the country right now; from Amazon, to Starbucks, now Apple, and Trader Joe’s - they have had to make sacrifices, they organized, they spent their free time after work, before work, on lunch breaks- risking their jobs to form unions, to have what we have now- a certified union that can collectively bargain for salary and conditions.

Some workers have been fired, other have had hours cut, many have had to hire lawyers and spend countless hours in court, while you walked into a job with a union already formed, but 50 years ago our brethren made those same same sacrifices- you have what thousands, if not millions of workers want right now- a union- nearly 200,000 strong. 

We can’ttake that for granted.

In Seattle and Ohio this past year teachers had to go on strike, they had to make the ultimate sacrifice of giving up pay, salary, food on their table, healthcare for their children, in order to get what they wanted -and they won. 

I’m not saying a strike is inevitable- what I am saying is that we have to be willing to fight for what we want, we will have to sacrifice, we will have to show the city and public our demands are real and fair. 

So we need to ask you, the person in the mirror, if we ask you to wear blue will you do it? If we ask you to call local elected officials and the mayor will you do it? If we ask to join a rally before or after school will you do it? If we ask to join a march in the city to the steps of city hall will you do it?

To show this mayor we mean business, what are you willing to do?  And yes, if we ask you to withhold your labor, stop working, go on strike as a last resort, so we can retain our healthcare , get the raises we need and have the schools our children deserve, will you do it?

 

Commentary from Norm:

 

I found the above under my car windshield wiper. The author clearly doesn't want to be accused of lifting the tarp put over the negotiating committee. I and others believe in reasonable open negotiating so the members and interested areas of the public can be moved in our direction. If there are some areas we want to keep secret - like what we would take on salary - I can live with that. But here's something that costs nothing -- redress the balance of power between the union at the school level and the administration. Strengthen the grievance procedure and protect the non-tenured. The author asks what are the members willing to do? I don't know what would work short of a strike if Adams just echos Bloomberg and flat out refuses to give us a contract for years if we don't offer givebacks to pay for it. Is the UFT leadership even capable of preparing the membership for a strike?  I will touch on that in a follow-up piece.

Healthcare givebacks are coming based on incoming info from the New Action blog and my recent exec bd meetings reports.

 

New Action – UFT

UFT Members Take Note – It’s Not Looking Good for Healthcare - At the October 3rd, 2022 session of the UFT Executive Board, buried mostly at the end of an unusually long session with 5+ pages of unofficial minutes, we ...

 

UFT Ex Bd - Oct. 3 - Healthcare Mumble Jumble

 

Breaking - Contract Passes - OT/PT Voting Report - They Get 90 Minutes Off - Big Whoopie!

UPDATE from UFT: Final DOE-UFT contract ratified: Occupational and physical therapists, school nurses and supervisors of nurses and therapists voted on Jan. 31 to ratify their new contract. Nearly 60 percent of the 2,176 UFT members who cast ballots voted “yes.” The contract passed by a majority of each of the three UFT chapters in the bargaining unit. Thank you for helping to spread the word to school nurses and therapists in your building about the importance of voting.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "OT/PT contract vote with less than 48 hours notice...":

We were informed of the contract the night before (!) and given permission to leave 90 minutes early the next day to vote.
The message from the UFT stressed that we would need our UFT membership cards to enter the UFT building, which is not and never has been true (you just need picture ID). The guard on the first floor stalled people asking if they had received their UFT cards, when they said no, he insisted they must have gotten them, when I showed him that I had downloaded the UFT app, but not added my personal information, he wanted me to fill that out then and there---I finally just asked if I could please do it later and he reluctantly let me and the others go up. Why would they pick this one day to enforce that? I can only think they must have been hoping people wouldn't vote. Besides it being a polar vortex, so it was literally dangerous to be outside, but they said the rush was so we could get our 2% raise by Valentine's Day. So sentimental!!!

Unity Caucus apologists jumped down my back over my not reporting that OT/PTs got 90 minutes off to go vote. Jeez! Happy now that I reported on your largess?

July 12: Hard-Core UFT Contract Discussions

Do you feel you'd like to set your UFT contrato on fire? Don't do it yet.

Mike Schirtzer and I will be hosting a discussion on strategies for defending the contract even if your UFT rep tells you it is a waste of time. Now we don't have all the answers but we do think that having brainstorming sessions with other rank and filers who may be in the same or similar positions is a worthwhile way to develop strategies.

If you are a chapter leader, there will be others there. If you have a collaborationist chapter leader, is there a path to getting around that?

Can the chapter leader be toppled in the May 2018 chapter elections? MORE will be assisting those who want to run. And if you are planning to do so, this summer session is a good start.

The MORE announcement on facebook:

Hardcore Contract Training

Is your chapter facing abusive administrators? Are there contract violations? Do you want to engage your members in the fight back? Bring challenges that you and your colleagues have at your school, we will share suggestions based on our experiences. Veteran chapter leaders and UFT Executive Board members that have led successful actions and grievances will be joining us.

2017 MORE-UFT Summer Series Event #1

Dark Horse

17 Murray St, New York, New York 10007

 

Retro About Retro Pay and UFT Election Implications Plus Kevin Prossen on UFT 2014 Contract - Why VOTE NO?

.... our union president has said “the cupboard was bare” — that retroactive pay is not a “God-given right,” and that we should be satisfied with this money being further delayed. If workers have not won the right to be paid for the labor they have already done, then the labor movement has fallen very far indeed...
Kevin Prossen, Jacobin magazine on May 12, 2014. 

Jia Lee: A must read for NYC Educators! Kevin Prosen published this piece before the contract was voted in, and at this time, it gives us cause for reflection. 

I agree with Jia. Kevin, one of our most dynamic organizers and chapter leaders, wrote the piece for Jacobin magazine on May 12, 2014.

More from Kevin:

This is money that we are owed, and that those of us who are those mid-career teachers that will have to leave the system in the next few years — who can’t continue working for these wages — will never see. The proposed pay increases fall below the rate of inflation, our rents continue to spiral upward, and every year the conditions of life for working New Yorkers gets worse. We’ve been told by our union that if we vote this down we will go “to the back of the line” — that we could be waiting for years for a contract. We were told that if we could just wait out Bloomberg, we would be richly rewarded. Yet here we are, still waiting.

Before we get back to Kevin's must read piece, a few points.

MORE took a strong stand against the contract. Unity has been ridiculing MORE for its stance in the puny little handout they give out at DAs.

The current retro pay snafu, as reported by James Eterno at the ICE blog, is, you'll excuse the expression, a tip of the iceberg. James emailed:

...please check out the ICEUFT blog where a simple post about the 12.5% retro pay stub being online is getting a significant number of comments.  We haven't seen comments in these numbers since the contract came out in 2014.

• PAY STUB WITH RETRO IS ONLINE (Updated Three Times)

There has been lots of internal buzz inside MORE about this issue. I've been out of town and can't follow that closely but there is talk of the UFT dues increase in the midst to a retro snafu and other stuff - so go check it out at ICE.

James continues to point out that Unity battered people to vote YES on the contract in order to keep the city from going broke when there is in fact billions of surplus - after we signed the contract. Our union leaders are not stupid - they know where the money is but sold us a lie.

Yes, when I was leafleting at the contract vote DA I actually had Unity people tell me I was crazy to push the city into bankruptcy.

Mike Schirtzer left this rant:

This week 80,000 are going to be looking at some BS money- while the city withholds about 90% of what's due us. This week my friend who worked the last 9 years like I did, is sitting home taking care of her sick child, without a paycheck and without retro payment to help her-pay her free healthcare (copay after copay).

Roseanne McCosh informed us that "BX UFT is taking our grievances over Oct first retro delay.  Taking them and stuffing them in a drawer is my guess but who knows maybe they'll surprise us."

I replied that I think they will take this grievance for show and PR. Watch Mulgrew announce this at the DA to demonstrate they are "fighting" - I would call it whimpering. You know, they negotiated and signed and shilled for the contract. If it is grieveable then make a big deal about that. But that they would have to grieve it makes them look oh so stupid.

Wait until the health care shit kicks in - but that won't happen until after this year's UFT election - intentionally on the part of the DOE/UFT alliance - which I believe I pointed out at the time (just too lazy to find a link). You all will find out the REAL BAD NEWS sometime after Mulgrew gets re-elected.

The contract was voted on by about 92% of the 108,000 UFT members eligible to vote. (Retirees and non-DOE employees do not vote). I was at the vote count to observe. About 25% of the classroom teachers - roughly 16,000 - voted NO. 47,000 voted Yes. About 20% of the non-teaching staff voted no.

These are interesting numbers vis a vis the upcoming UFT elections. Can these 16,000 classroom NO Votes translate into general election votes for MORE/New Action?

James broke the numbers down after the vote: THOUGHTS ON NEW CONTRACT AND THE RATIFICATION VOTE...

Look at the difference in NO vote numbers between the teaching staff (25%) and the other divisions which mostly topped 80% and indicates the significant control Unity exercises over these divisions. The battle inside the UFT can only be won in the schools, not the general election. I believe the contract vote totals for classroom teachers and non-teachers justifies my theories of concentrating resources on this biggest branch of the UFT and not on retirees or the other divisions - sorry if you are a secretary or para - you guys have to get into your UFT chapter and break Unity total control.

More on election implications of the contract vote in the future.

Back to Kevin's piece in Jacobin where he closes with:

If we vote “no” on this proposed deal, we will, of course, be attacked in the press as greedy labor aristocrats. But this isn’t only about the UFT, and we can’t talk as though it is. We must challenge the idea that we are somehow not deserving of a professional wage. But we also need to point out that this deal will set the pattern for hundreds of thousands of other city workers.
Saying no to this deal is about drawing a line for the entire working class of New York City — about saying there is a limit to what we will suffer and how little we will accept. Many of our students’ parents are city workers: they drop their kids off before making their way to operate buses and subways, to pick up our trash, to direct our traffic and clean the offices of City Hall. This is not only about us, it’s about solidarity with the rest of working New York. It is about making our city a more humane place for the people who love it enough to keep it running. That is the language we need to speak in.
A contract is a negotiated settlement on the conditions of exploitation under which you will spend most of your waking life. Don’t accept arguments that this offer is “the best we can get” from anybody who won’t have to work under its terms. Not from liberal mayors, not from union leaders making generous salaries on your dues money, not from newspaper editors; it’s your life under discussion, not theirs.
I hope you will join me and the majority of teachers in my school in voting no on this contract. By all means, do it for the money. But also, do it for love.

Kevin goes into the details of how the contract supports ed deform, as the UFT has all along. Read it all at:

A Letter to New York City’s School Teachers

New York teachers should vote no on the proposed union contract — for love and for money.

by Kevin Prosen

May 12, 2014

NYSAPE Parents Outraged at Cuomo/NYSUT Eval Deal, NYC Parents Anger at UFT on Contract Schedule Changes

Look at the 2-year moratorium and when it expires. Right after the 2016 UFT elections. So Mulgrew has some cover before the shit hits the fan. Does anyone think the UFT played NO ROLE in this deal? NYSAPE appears to think so. Or is playing politics by trying not to offend the elephant in the room.

The deal reached today by Governor Cuomo and the New York State Legislature regarding minimizing the impact of Common Core test scores on teacher evaluations is a slap in the face to parents across the state who have implored them to reduce the amount of testing that children are subjected to and to improve the quality of these exams and the learning standards.  ... NYSAPE Press Release

No mention of the UFT/NYSUT. I know there will be some blow back on this post as I get "Norm, the UFT is NOT the enemy." Sure. Just like Vichy.

I am getting weary of parent groups that give cover to the UFT, or make excuses for them -- in essence, they are enabling the UFT to make these backroom deals and not be held accountable. I can't tell you how many emails I get from parents who want ME to expose the UFT hierarchy but don't want to go public because they have dealings with them. In essence they are playing the same "seat at the table" game the UFT plays. It will get them nowhere - as you can tell about these deals the UFT made on evals and in the contract that screw parents. Did the UFT consult ANY of their so-called parent partners on this? Hey -- where is CEJ (Coalition for Educational Justice)/Annenberg which goes silent when convenient?

The UFT uses the same tactics Bloomberg used to buy silence. [I remember when the so-called parent advocate, Moaning Mona Davids, was silent for a time when she was "working" with the UFT. I actually felt sorry for the UFT for even putting their foot in that cesspool. Someone should check LM-2 from c. 2010-12 to see if any money changed hands. Hey, Mona, how much would it cost to get you to support tenure? Well, we can't compete with the hedge funders - are they smart enough to not go there, given they have so many other places to go to kill tenure than Moaning with Mona?]

Isn't it funny how NYSAPE, a great group of parents, put the sole blame on Cuomo and the State Legislature but don't mention the responsibility of the UFT controlled NYSUT? Mulgrew was crowing about this deal. Just last week at the DA he was talking about how the Vergara decision makes it clear how much we have to work with parents and how proud he is of the work the UFT does with parents.

And gee, the AFT/UFT/NYSUT tandem has made whiny statements about how they are opposed to the testing regimen.

But you know the drill -- watch what do, not what they say.

By the way - look at the 2-year moratorium and when it expires. Right after the 2016 UFT elections. So Mulgrew has some cover before the shit hits the fan. Does anyone think the UFT played NO ROLE in this deal? NYSAPE appears to think so. Or is playing politics by trying not to offend the elephant in the room.

This follows on the outrage of parents in schools around the city over the contract that forces changes in school schedules, as I reported the other day: UFT Contract Toxic PD Spillover: Parents Unhappy -...

That post triggered this email from a parent.

6/19/14

Hi Norm,

    Just want to confirm what you said that the parents did not really understand what the new contract means for their school in terms of school hours.  NESTM had a 8:20-3:10 day.  Next year they are going to default 8:00-2:20 day.  The parents are enraged because this is a commuter school so the commutes need to get earlier and then the other problem is the very early dismissal.  The PTA is  calling all parents to go to the Parent Teacher meeting this morning and they sent out a survey about how many parents what this earlier schedule. I will keep you posted.  I am sure that this is not only happening at at our school.

The NY Times touched on this today: New Contract for Teachers Is Altering Schools’ Hours

There is a lot of commentary on the eval deal from teacher bloggers:

Eterno at ICE: COMMON CORE TESTS ALONE FOR GRADES 3-8 WON'T KILL TEACHERS FOR TWO YEARS -

RBE: New York State's Teacher Evaluation System - And Its Governor - Continue To Lose Credibility

Here is the complete NYSAPE Press Release:

Parents Outraged by APPR Albany Deal that Ignores the Children

UFT Contract Toxic PD Spillover: Parents Unhappy - at DOE and UFT

The calls have been coming in from parents and their reps who are beginning to realize how the new contract will change their lives as the school day gets readjusted in many schools. "WTF," is the basic message.

Can Mulgrew clean up the toxic spillover?

They tell me there is growing outrage as word spreads. And since parents are being told that teachers are supposed to vote on SBOs in the schools, some parents are placing the blame squarely on the teachers and the UFT - even more so than on the DOE and the principals, who often just plain lie to the parents, saying that teachers voted that way.

In one case, the UFT district rep told parents the entire district was using the default model of 8AM start time and 2:20 end time so the teachers can get their PD in by 4PM. WTF. Do parents give a shit about PD? Do teachers?


Let me say this as I have been and will continue to do: When the UFT goes along with the Farina (and most ed deformer) mantra that the key to improving education is Professional Development, they accept the "teacher blame" argument. Of course everyone can improve -- and the best PD is watching others teach -- but blanket PD is like expecting a gourmet meal at a UFT retiree function at The Hilton.

Then there are stories where the chapter leader didn't even offer teachers the option of an SBO and just did what the principal wanted. So the teachers feel screwed too -- but it is really their fault -- maybe a lesson for those who have their heads in the sand.

At the June 11, 2014 Delegate Assembly, Mulgrew spoke about the Vergara decision. How important it was to work with parents and how proud he was of the work the UFT was doing with parents. If the Unity/UFT leadership didn't have a tin ear they would have figured out a way to get some parent leaders, at the very least, involved in proposed negotiations. But they didn't even get regular teachers involved, so this is the spillover of closed door contract negotiations.

OK. Maybe it is a relatively small group of parents who feel they have been totally shut out of the process. I wonder where they'll stand when we see Vergara, coming soon, to New York?

UFT Contract: Will OT/PT Chapter Turn it Down?

UFT  leaders seem worried this will happen. What are the implications if the UFT has to go back to the bargaining table?

I scheduled this to go up around 10AM when I will be on the subway.

I mentioned this in this morning's first post (UFT Contract: A Day At the Count - What I Learned - Updated) but didn't  want to see this get lost in that sea of words: That it is likely that the Occupational/Physical Therapists would vote NO. (They are paid at a much lower salary step and they are PISSED). The nurses are voting with them in that unit and will probably vote YES but they are a minority.

Repeating what I wrote earlier:

I learned that there are a number of color coded ballots - I think they said 16 or 17, each voted on by its own group - like Secretaries, paras, etch. What if one of them turned the contract down? The UFT would have to go back to the bargaining table and the leadership seems to have some concern they will turn this down.

There are 17 different ballots and the only one they are concerned about is the OT/PT/Nurses. OT/PT have around 1200 and nurses (who are expected to vote YES) around 500 -  so they seem worried that the vote won't go their way and they will have to go back to the table on that one.

Which makes for an interesting angle for future ref -- in 2035 when the next contract is negotiated -- what position to take if one goes down? Here is a perfect example - possibly - of them going back to the table - will they be put at the back of all the other unions to make an example of them?

 

UFT Contract: A Day At the Count - What I Learned - Updated

Before heading over for today's vote count, which I hear will be released at around 3PM, let me give a report of what happened at yesterday's count.

(I will be sending updates based on rough batch counts to the MORE and ICE listserves but probably won't be able to post on ed notes unless I find wi-fi access.)

Yesterday, Ellen Fox and I spent a few hours at the AAA a few blocks north of UFT HQ in a chilly below ground room "observing" the vote count for MORE -  through a glass window. I observed people opening envelopes and putting ballots in piles. (See photo for my view).

Our view of the vote count -

As of Monday morning, 72,000 ballots had been received with more school packages coming in all day - Tuesday morning would be the last pickup -- ballots had to be postmarked as of 4PM last Friday. 106,000 ballots had been sent out, representing the total number of UFT members employed in the public schools.

Leroy Barr (who left at noon to go to the UFT retiree dinner at the NY Hilton to eat the rubber chicken) and Chief Financial Officer David Hickey were also present - not as observers for Unity Caucus but as UFT officials. I know, they are basically one and the same thing. AAA is hired by the UFT and are issued instructions by the UFT. You'll see why I make this distinction.

We had some fruitful conversations out of the line of caucus politics --

Here is the way the process works. Sunday and Monday the envelopes from the schools were opened. The names on the ballots inside were matched to the names on the enclosed printout that teachers signed when they voted in the schools. The instruction sheet to CLs noted: The printout is essential for the American Arbitration Association to verify the ballots. Note this was in bold.

An AAA official came into the room and asked Leroy what to do about the packages that did not include the printout. Up to that point, the process was like watching paint dry. Hearing this news, my ears perked up. I asked "How many schools, which ones are they, how can those votes be valid if not verified through this process?"

I asked for the list of those schools. Leroy said "No." He mentioned the blogs (UFT Leaders seem obsessed with the blogs as NYC Educator has been pointing out -

Dear Mr. Mulgrew--If I Traffic in Myth, Please Tell Me Why). 

I said I was not there as a blogger but CLs who didn't follow directions -- even if in MORE -- should be held accountable. I also said that those votes should be embargoed.

The official said up to that point it was about 30 schools without printouts but since some large schools had sent in more than one package the printout could be in one of the other packages. Plus the UFT had provided duplicate (unsigned) printouts for them to check. "Not good enough," I said. "What if a CL didn't hold a vote at all and just filled out all the ballots on their own?" Shouldn't the ballots be put aside while an effort was made to contact the CL and try to get those printouts?

"Too late," the AAA official said. "We didn't get any instructions from the UFT to do that." Meaning: those ballots had already been dumped into the general tool.

UFT Contract - Dissecting MORE Contract Discussion Happy Hours: Should Unity be Worried?

I spoke and asked if there were any next steps since after Tuesday, when the contract will most likely pass, it will all be over. She turned to me with a defiant stare, shook her head and said, "No! It isn't."

One of the "benefits" of the recent contract struggles is how the consciousness of so many rank and file teachers has been raised. Not only about the contract itself, but about how the UFT/Unity Caucus leadership and their core of full-time employees and chapter leaders are willing to mislead the people who elected them for the interests of their masters at 52 Broadway. Here is one such story.

I attended MORE happy hour contract discussions each of the last 3 Fridays. Each one was very different in character and attendees. The Bay Ridge and Park Slope events attracted over 40 people in the back room of bars. Some people who showed up had never heard of MORE. Some were leaning toward voting YES but felt they were not getting the full story from the UFT/Unity leadership - the visits to the schools were often a turn-off. Some had Unity chapter leaders pushing the contract with vehemence, while shrugging off legitimate questions.

MORE people familiar with the details and the various "gaps" in the UFT's "What Me Worry?" approach shared their knowledge and answered questions. Afterwards people gathered engaged in the happy hour portion with small group conversation. While exciting to see so many people turn out, there were too many people to drill deep.

This past Friday, the lower east side event on Ludlow Street was very different. A small group of people, with 7 newcomers joining 4 MOREistas in a wide-ranging discussion of issues - so much more intimate than the large groups. How important is it for the activists to listen to these new voices?

Jia Lee, our super dynamo who helped organize the event,

Jia and teachers at her school support Intl HS Teachers Who Opted Out

pointed to the fact that 2 years ago she was new to this kind of activism - after about 12 years teaching. And that struck me -- you can't build an alternative to Unity Caucus with the usual suspects - like me and others who have been doing this for a long time.

A 2-year ATR (whose school closed) - a science teacher - who found out about the event on Ed Notes - and bought me a beer for doing this work) was quite impressive, making so many interesting points. She felt the experience has not been all negative - by being in so many schools she actually felt she learned lots of things on many levels -- and feels more equipped to teach than ever. I hope her salary is not too high for her to get hired. She also pointed out how in her travels she absolutely saw instances of administrators  just making stuff up against teachers to get rid of them.

Three teachers came from an elementary school with a Unity Chapter Leader who had been force feeding the pro-contract point of view --until they just plain got fed up and began to search the web for alternatives - which is how they found MORE - and also Jia Lee, who they contacted.

One of them made one of the most impressive statements I've heard - I only wish I had recorded it. I took a few notes. "We were sacrificed so the UFT could get along with the DOE. I feel so disempowered. I don't want to sit by helplessly and watch my profession being destroyed. It is time for a change." I don't think she meant only a change in the UFT leadership, but a change in her own behavior.

That gave me a chill - because she was so impressive. I was reminded of the first time I met Julie Cavanagh only 5 years ago.  I almost feel sorry for Unity. Think of her joining with the growing core of the newly active "not the usual suspects."

I spoke and asked if there were any next steps since after Tuesday, when the contract will most likely pass, it will all be over. She turned to me with a defiant stare, shook her head and said, "No! It isn't."

MORE Weekly Update: 3 Happy Hours Today, Info on Observing Contract Vote Count

The busy bees at MORE - important info on observing the contract vote count on Monday and Tuesday -- Ellen Fox and I will be there both days -- Monday they open the school packages and envelopes and Tuesday they count.

At first Leroy Barr told us only each caucus could have one observer. MORE objected - we felt all teachers should have the right to observe- though with the caveat - DO NOT TAKE A SICK DAY FOR THIS - AS YOU CAN BE BROUGHT UP ON CHARGES.

Leroy came back with: AAA has room for 15 observers and if there are more they will rotate people in for 10 minute periods.   See the MORE website for details. 

I'm told that the major way there could be chicanery would be at the school level by Unity CLs who might play around. I heard from one experienced CL:

"We need to see the ballots pulled out of each school's big envelope and make sure each envelope has the same amount of ballot envelopes as signatures on the staff sheet.  These numbers can easily be off but the instructions were clear." The implication is that a few sure-bet NO Votes could be disappeared. I imagine that not enough people would do this to make a major difference. But if it should be 60-40 or more, then questions would be raised.

Come to a MORE Happy Hour to discuss the upcoming contract vote and next steps for building a rank-and-file opposition in your local area... 

 

Join MORE Today! IMPORTANT EVENTS

UFT Contract: Discrimination Against Women on Child Care Leave

Woman (and some men) on maternity leave -  unfairness and bias against mothers taking care of their children in this contract. No "signing bonus" and will not get retro, not only on leave, but will only get it in payments after return.... Comment from a MOREista with a young child

Yes, some men, but mostly women. From the early days of ed deform I was pointing to how the entire concept of making teachers work 12 hour days was anti-women with families. Their ideal teachers were childless without having to take days off to care for a sick child or race home for childcare.

The same charges came up in the 1995 contract rejection when the Unity Caucus leadership, in Randi's first contract negotiation screw-up, pushed maximum salary from 20 to 25 years - pretty outrageous. Women who took time off for childcare were a major factor in the rejection. When Randi (who was not president at that time) came back with 22 years 6 months later, people (even those in the opposition) took that as a win when in actuality it was a loss --- 2 more years to reach max than before. But so is the way of the Unity -- give ice water in winter and claim it's hot tea.

I have written before on this issue: UFT Contract: An Attack on Women.

UFT Contract Exit Polls Contradict NY Times Article on Contract

At my school, the xxxxxx, the chapter elected to conduct an "exit poll" to assess how we as a chapter voted on the contract proposal.

These are the unofficial results of the xxxx vote.

Total UFT members: ....45 

Total voting "YES" - ......16

Total voting "NO" - ........26

Abstentions: .....................3

---A MORE Chapter Leader

Interesting, given today's NY Times article by Al Baker (As Ballot Count Nears, City’s Teachers Debate Whether to Ratify Contract) indicating passing the contract would be pretty much a given. It is one of the better and more balanced pieces Baker has written -- Baker did seem to go out of his way to talk to people at some schools with MORE people in them - PS 261 (though he didn't seem to realize that) and Megan Moskop, our awesome dynamo:

Leaders of one caucus within the union, the Movement of Rank and File Educators, have decided to vote no on the contract and are hosting informal discussions to urge members to think critically before voting. “It seems misleading to me that our union is saying, ‘Don’t worry, don’t worry, your health care costs won’t go up,’ when that isn’t something they can promise,” said Megan Moskop, 27, a teacher at Middle School 324 in Washington Heights who is a caucus member.

PS 261 and MS 324 will both probably a number of NO votes against the contract. We reported the exit poll from Bertraum (UFT Contract: Murry Bergtraum Exit Poll - 71 No, ...).

What does this mean? Where there are MORE people and where independent voices like Roseanne McCosh.. are discussing the contract in an open and democratic manner, people by big numbers are voting NO. In places with Unity chapter leaders selling the contract -- which is different from presenting a fair view -- with the help of the union publicity machine and staffers -- the schools will vote overwhelmingly YES. The reason the contract will pass are that there are a lot of more schools in the latter category.

Unity has targeted schools with MORE people for extra leafleting and visits -- using our dues on the union dime.

We already voted, but somebody who said they were "from the UFT" came in and distributed these today... No identification as to who put them out.  If they are sending staffers around on union time to do this in my opinion that's a serious problem.  People in my school were really offended by how our DR and her flunky talked to them the other day and they are not happy about how their dues money is being used for this kind of campaigning... MORE Chapter Leader

Another MORE member responded:

I'll bet his name is Dermont Smyth. He is a special rep for Queens Borough Office. He came -uninvited- to my school today around 8 to specifically flier mailboxes. He treated my CL with... disdain. He also failed to follow the building security procedures of going to the main office after sign in and of wearing the guest name tag.  Instead,  he placed fliers in mailboxes and was at some point  seen roaming around the first floor by another teacher.

Why did I block out the name of the school? Since Unity targets schools with MOREistas or other critics for "special re-education" campaigns, why give them a helping hand?

UFT Contract: Roseanne McCosh Responds to Unity Caucus Criticism

I am not going away and I am most certainly not alone in the fight....

So what do you call a union leadership that uses scare tactics, mischaracterizes people’s reasons and motives for disagreeing with them and who allows reps to lie to its members at workshops?  Norm calls them slugs.  I call them much worse.  I’ve also labeled Mulgrew as a coward because I believe that the only reason that there was no open debate on the contract was because Mulgrew was afraid to debate....

Roseanne McCosh, PS 8X

Roseanne addresses the comments made by Unity Caucus supporter Paula Washington on May 23^rd (UFT Contract: Roseanne McCosh, PS 8X, Urges Colleagues to Vote NO).

There were other head-scratching comments from Unity, their supporters or their spouses. Check them out - Roseanne also responded there with a comment of her own.

Here is her response to Paula Washington:

Having a large number of members enrolled in the UFT does not automatically equal strength. We are not the strongest local of the strongest union in the country, we are simply the largest. A union that tries to scare its members into accepting the unacceptable is not a strong union. 

I also think that, like all people, Norm has the right to qualify what having dignity means to him. 

Those of us who have opposed this contract have been labeled as political MORE people whose only interest is in disparaging UNITY, as people who have recently drank “courage juice” but were timid under the “Billionaire Bully”, as ill-informed or as lunatics.  I find no dignity in that behavior.  And the fact is none of those labels fit my character at all.

When I told my colleagues that the UFT lies to its members, I provided evidence.  I directed them to speak with the SBST member in our school who was told at a UFT workshop that we were getting 5% interest on the money owed to us when the fact is we are getting 0%.  When I told my colleagues that I don’t believe the UFT when they say there will be no health care givebacks I provided facts.  The fact is that our contract calls for billions in savings but no written plan for how those billions will be saved. 

So what do you call a union leadership that uses scare tactics, mischaracterizes people’s reasons and motives for disagreeing with them and who allows reps to lie to its members at workshops?  Norm calls them slugs.  I call them much worse.  I’ve also labeled Mulgrew as a coward because I believe that the only reason that there was no open debate on the contract was because Mulgrew was afraid to debate.

As I have said before I am NOT the chapter leader of my school.  But I once was, and who knows…I may be again before I retire.  I resigned about 4 years ago and was replaced by someone I respect.   But even if I was still chapter leader, I still have the right to voice my opinion--- as I always have and will.  And the bottom line is if the membership in my school didn’t like how I had conducted myself, they could have voted me out each time I ran for re-election.  No one ever ran against me because the majority of teachers know that although I have strongly held beliefs---some of which not all may agree with---I will have their backs when the shit hits the fan.  When UNITY convinced two of my members to “take a plea” and pay a fine on a bullshit charge, I took up a collection to help them pay for some of the fine.  I handed over the amount of my UFT chapter leader check that year to help pay the fine of the teacher with the higher fine and threw in some more of my personal money for good measure. 

I guess it’s hard for people to believe that someone like me exists or that someone like Norm is perfectly sane and honorable.  And that’s a sad state of affairs, isn’t it? 

I am not the only strong NYC teacher out there.  We definitely exist! BloomKlein didn’t scare me and my own damn union doesn’t scare me either. My elderly father who is riddled with every illness imaginable still tells me, “Fight the bastards.  You fight them with your last dying breath.”    My dignity is grounded in the fact that I have no hidden agenda or aspirations to do anything other than always speak my mind and fight for what I believe in, and to teach for a few more years and retire.  And I think that’s what some people find so frustrating---how do you silence someone with nothing to gain and nothing to lose? How do you silence someone who can’t be bought off or scared off?   You can’t.  Accept it and move on because I am not going away and I am most certainly not alone in the fight.  

....Roseanne McCosh, PS 8x.

Let me say that I as far as I know I have never met Roseanne. We did have a phone conversation about a month ago. She has never been to a MORE event. She is one of the many people in the union who are non-affiliated with any caucus though I'm sure MORE would be honored to have her join us. Funny thing is that over the past 2 years there have been other non-affiliated or even former Unity supporters who have been pushed by events and the UFT's tepid response and internal bully tactics to come to see that a strong alternative with deep roots into the schools is the only chance of reversing the decline of the UFT -- even if that groups never gets to take power its very existence as more than a fringe constitutes a major check and balance. If MORE were stronger I believe the NO vote would win handily. So even though Unity is trying to claim that MORE is only promoting a NO vote to build MORE, the reality is that it is the Unity oppressive and arrogant response to the challenge that is pushing people in the direction of MORE (later I'll write about the 45 or 50 people who showed up to the MORE Park Slope contract/happy hour event Friday afternoon). Here's hoping that more people like Roseanne stand up.

MORE UPdate - VOTE NO Then Attend a MORE Happy Hour Today

I'll be at Freddy's in Park Slope for the happy hour from 4-6 - just one of the many MORE happy hours around the city today -- see below.

Reasons to VOTE NO: PDFs you can print and distribute for your colleagues:

Tentative Agreement Fact Sheet
Vote No Flyer
Retro delayed is retro denied (Eterno)
Why the wait is not over (Cavanagh)
What happens if we vote it down? (Lamphere)

Inform yourself about the contract proposal

• How to win a better contract
• What happens if we vote this contract down?
• 50 Years of UFT stagnation on class size
• Send it back!

Join MORE Today! IMPORTANT EVENTS

Happy Hours
Friday, May 23
Park Slope, Brooklyn
Freddy's Backroom
627 5th Ave. 4-6pm

Kew Gardens, Queens
Austin's Ale House,
4:30-7pm

Next General Meeting
Saturday, June 7, 12-3pm
Location TBA

Steering Committee
steering@morecaucusnyc.org
Thursday, May 22, 5:30 pm
Skylight Diner (9th & 34th)

 

Vote NO! 

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UFT Contract: Roseanne McCosh, PS 8X, Urges Colleagues to Vote NO

Former Unity Caucus member slams UFT leadership and Unity.

Norm---
I wrote the below and it will go into teacher mailboxes. The majority in my school are voting NO and many of them will not attend the union meetings with UFT officials to hear bullshit.  The NO campaign at PS 8 was taken up by many teachers in my school.  It was good to hear people who don't normally voice their opinions talking to others about what a raw deal this is and sending me information and reasons to vote no.  Normally I'm the key person to disseminate information but this time many others jumped on board.  I'm giving my colleagues some final considerations before Unity arrives at our school.  We will vote on the contract on Friday....   Roseanne McCosh, PS8x

Unity slugs have tried to make it seem that only MORE is against the contract and is only taking that position as a cover to attack Unity. I can say that in fact MORE very early on was analyzing the contract and some of us warned not to take an automatic NO position but to hear where people in the schools were coming from. I never expected they would screw up on the money issue and in fact believed they would come up with a winning money package even if the rest of the contract sucked and they would get a slam dunk.

Boy was I wrong. I heard from people I had not heard from in years. MORE was inundated with people who from the first word were opposed -- not MOREistas but independents.  Roseanne was one of them.

Dear UFT Members:

     The UFT is sending a representative to our school today to convince us to vote YES.  This is the job of all who work for the UFT.  No one who works for the UFT is permitted to disagree with the union president.  Our union president (Michael Mulgrew) did not allow for an open debate on the contract at the delegate assembly.  Those of you who attended our last chapter meeting heard Lori (our delegate) speak to what she has witnessed at delegate assemblies—including the one during which the DA passed this contract on to us.  Mulgrew filibustered and did not allow anyone opposed to the contract to have equal time to speak to the audience.  I’ve already given many reasons why we should vote NO.  I will leave you with some final thoughts prior to their arrival:

     

Fear will be instilled as they try to convince us to vote YES.  But do you want to know who’s really afraid?  The UFT Leadership is afraid.  They are afraid that those of us in the trenches will wake up and demand better when they promised NYC that they could corral us in any direction they wanted.  Maybe they can corral the majority----maybe not. Time will tell.  But I’m not interested in being a member of the majority.  I am interested in being an individual who knows when I’m being steamrolled and screwed and who stands up and says, “HELL NO!”  

However, my NO vote isn't really about my personal circumstances at all.  With or without this contract my retirement timeline remains the same and I will retire with a livable income.  I can sincerely say that my short distance to retirement means that this vote means very little to me personally.  A YES vote means my pension will be higher.  I’ll see the same retro as those of you with much longer to go. I’ll just have to wait like everyone else.  I am treated well by our current administration and I have handled difficult administrations in the past without ever bending over for anyone.  My NO vote is a vote for your future--not mine.  

• Health Care: My NO vote is saying that I won’t accept changes to health care that will be made if this contract is approved. Until I see the health care plan to save the BILLIONS Mulgrew promised DeBlasio, I don’t want to hear that there are no givebacks.  I don’t want to HEAR anymore.  I want to SEE a written plan and know exactly how the UFT is planning on saving those billions of dollars.  (see HealthCare Savings section of  the contract which is pasted on the back of this page---BILLIONS in Savings but no details as to HOW). 
• Stronger Union: My NO vote is about the future of a labor union that has become weaker with each passing contract.  My NO vote is my way of saying that all teachers are entitled to due process hearings before their livelihoods are taken away from them.  By selling out the ATRs we are giving up our own job security in the future.  We will be helpless to an abusive principal.
• Playing us for fools: My NO vote is saying DON’T LIE TO US!  Ask [name redacted] from our SBST how she was lied to and was told at a UFT pension workshop that she would get 5% interest on our owed money when the fact is it’s 0%. They lied to all who attended.
• Appropriate Compensation: My NO vote is also saying that teachers should be rewarded for their patience in waiting for delayed increases and retro.  And that reward should be the elimination of extended time.  The last time we showed patience we got February break included in our contract.  This time we get 2 more evening PT conferences and speeches about how lucky we are to have a job and that Bloomberg left the cupboards bare.  Ask the Wall Street execs how their cupboards are doing these days.  The DOW has reached new highs and the rich of NYC are doing quite well.  It is always the working class that is asked to make sacrifices.     (CONTINUED ON BACK)

• Scare Tactics: My NO vote is saying that the UFT will not scare me into compliance.  Let NYPD and FDNY negotiate first if necessary.  They have already said they won’t accept this pattern of delays and retro on retro. The president of SBA (Sergeants Benevolent Assoc) has stated, “I think Mike Mulgrew is out of his mind for doing a deal like that.”   We will do better if we vote NO.  Don’t let the UFT convince you otherwise.  The UFT’s main goal is to not have egg on their face.  Their goal is to corral us as they promised NYC they would.  Enough with fear based decision making from a labor union leadership and membership….it’s embarrassing.   Male dominated unions are not afraid.  Why are we?

H. Healthcare Savings

a.  The UFT and the City/DOE agree the UFT will exercise its best efforts to have the MLC agree to the following:

 i. for fiscal year 2015 (July 1, 2014-June 30, 2015), there shall be $400 million in savings on a city- wide basis in health care costs in the NYC health care program.

ii.  for fiscal year 2016 (July 1, 2015-June 30, 2016), there shall be $700 million in savings on a citywide basis in health care costs in the NYC health care program.

iii.  for fiscal year 2017 (July 1, 2016-June 30, 2017), there shall be $1 billion in savings on a citywide basis in health care costs in the NYC health care program.

iv.  for fiscal year 2018 (July 1, 2017-June 30, 2018), there shall be $1.3 billion in savings on a citywide basis in health care costs in the NYC health care program.

v.  for every fiscal year thereafter, the savings on a citywide basis in health care costs shall continue on a recurring basis.

vi. The parties agree that the above savings to be achieved on a Citywide basis are a material term of this agreement.

vii.  In the event the MLC does not agree to the above citywide targets, the arbitrator shall determine the UFT’s proportional share of the savings tar get and, absent an agreement by these parties, shall implement the process for the satisfaction of these savings targets.

viii.  Stabilization Fund: (1) Effective July 1, 2014, the Stabilization Fund shall convey $1 billion to the City of New York to be used in support of the pro rata funding of this agreement.

(2) Commencing on July 1, 2014, $200 million from the Stabilization Fund shall be made available per year to pay for ongoing programs (such as $65 welfare fund contribution, PICA payments, budget relief). In the event the MLC does not agree to provide the funds specified in this paragraph, the arbitrator shall determine the UFT’s proportional share of the Stabilization Fund monies required to be paid under this paragraph.

AFTERBURN:

Roseanne was quite insulted when Unity slugs were leaving those comments that MORE was playing politics.

The NO campaign being run in my school is being run by teachers with no affiliation or allegiance to any caucus. We have defined our reasons for voting NO very clearly. It is a campaign against UNITY because Unity is trying to ram this shit down our throats. And rest assured the day MORE or ICE or anyone else wants to ram shit down our throats we will speak out against them as well. PS 8 is comprised of individuals who THINK and vote accordingly....and some of us may very well vote yes....but those of us voting NO have our reasons and our minds will not be changed by spin. Roseanne McCosh PS 8

Irony is that she is a former member of Unity -- and let us not give up on all of them -- she is an example that some will see the light. So I issue a call to Unity Caucus members ready to switch: MORE welcomes you. (We also welcomed New Action early this school year but they have another agenda.)

UFT Contract: The "VOTE NO" Caucus Says .......

They're flying in from all over the place. I'm assuming you're reading the great stuff over at the MORE blog.

We are better off with the old contract until we can get a better one. Vote NO on the UFT Contract Offer!!

Have you noticed that every new contract that has been imposed on us UFT members over the past two decades has more give-backs than improvements. This contract is no exception. Moreover, the top brass of the union continually manages to shove the new contracts down our throats with no discussion either in the chapters or even in the Delegates Assembly. Now we are being told that if we reject this rotten offer we will only make things worse because we can’t get anything better and we will have to “go to the end of the line” of unions negotiating with the City. However, the real truth is that things will get worse if we approve this deal. While it is true that a few people may get a few crumbs from this contract, for the vast majority it is a lose-lose deal. Here are three good reasons to VOTE NO:

1. The back pay totalling $3.4 million will be paid for by health care cuts that must be accepted all city workers. !  “If the other unions agree to similar health care savings, the spending cuts realized would total $3.4 billion, officials said — the same amount as the teachers’ union’s back pay.”

2. If this contract is approved teachers and staff of TWO HUNDRED (200) schools will find that they will NOT be covered by certain contract provisions and protections that the rest of us have.! “And in an effort to encourage innovation in areas like hiring and scheduling, 200 schools would be eligible to apply for exemptions from city and union regulations.”

3. The Department of Education wants to get rid of senior teachers and create a system of new teachers, who are paid less and can be forced to do anything, i.e., grovel, to keep their job, because they will have no tenure rights  The UFT--”our” union--has gone along with this plan. The first major move against job protection happened two contracts ago with the elimination of seniority transfer rights  originally established, not to give senior teachers privileges over junior teachers but to protect teachers and staff from arbitrariness and favoritism on the part of the principals so we didn’t have to grovel for our positions and could function with dignity. With this gone, senior teachers are targeted for “U” ratings so as to get rid of them because they cost more than a newer teacher.

Another consequence of getting rid of seniority transfer rights has been the creation of ATRs, the Absent Teachers Reserve. Most of the 1,500 ATRs are senior teachers who were not “selected” for rehiring by principals when some of the more than 160 schools were closed and new, smaller schools took their place. These senior teachers were not selected because they cost more than newer teachers, a consideration that has become critical since school principals now have their own, limited budget, a change implemented at the same time that seniority transfer rights were eliminated. These teachers are left with no permanent assignment. The DOE (and the UFT officials) evidently anticipate that that ATR’s will become demoralized and disgusted and quit--”disappear.”  But many have not given up.

Therefore, this new contract will open a new offensive to get rid of these teachers. Principals would be asked to fill vacancies with teachers from the [ATR] pool, but they could dismiss them as soon as one day into the job.  This is a gross violation of all that we have won in the way of protections of our rights and jobs against arbitrary or mean-spirited principals since the union was organized. Under the proposed agreement, schools would be asked to hire those teachers for vacancies starting in October, but principals would be given the power to remove the teachers if they performed poorly. If a teacher were twice rejected, the city would be allowed to begin the firing process.

We must say NO to this “streamlined” firing scheme!!

DO YOU NEED OTHER REASONS TO VOTE NO???

Then here are the reasons to vote NO raised by the MORE Caucus in the  UFT:

“The raises do not keep up with the cost of living. 18% over 9 years is less than the rate of

inflation. In short, our real earnings will be less at the end of this contract than they

were at the beginning.

• We don’t get the original 8% raises until 2018 and we won’t get all the retro pay until

2020. Other city workers got their two 4% raises already and continue to earn them

each year. We will get them only in small increments beginning in 2015.  

• Only minor changes to the teacher evaluation system: We are still being evaluated

based on student standardized test scores.  

• This contract does not include reductions in class size.

• The contract introduces individual merit pay. The creation of Ambassador, Model, and

Master teacher categories will divide our members and encourage us to compete

against each other rather than collaborate with each other.

Tell the UFT officials to go back and get a good contract for us, one that strengthens our power and improves our living standard and protects us from nasty principals and not one that weakens our power and lessens our protections.”

Vote NO !!!!!

The “VOTE NO!!” Caucus