Dear Colleagues,
Next week we will be voting on a proposed contract. I’m still waiting for ballots that should arrive any time. We will likely vote in the teacher cafeteria.
The elite invitation-only Unity Caucus will give you a handout that focuses on money. Understand that this is money you will get in dribs and drabs until 2020. Understand also that the city, after the contract expires in 2018, will surely have to consider it still owes us 50% of retro, billions of dollars, while negotiating the next contract. Understand that most of our brother and sister unionists have been receiving higher pay for four years while we must wait four years more.
I expected to wait years for retro. I did not expect to wait years for the raise most other unions have already received. I’m also less than proud we’ve imposed a pattern of 10% over 7 years, about 1.4% per year, on our fellow unionists. That’s the lowest pattern in my living memory, and quite possibly the lowest in history.
My primary reservations about this contract are not about money. First, we’ve established a system under which ATR teachers can be fired for two incidents of undesirable behavior. We don’t know what that is, but UFT President Mulgrew gave, as an example, shouting in the hall. ATR teachers will NYC Educator: Dear Colleagues,:
