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Joint Contract Campaign: Teachers and Transit Workers
As you know, we haven’t had a contract in over two years, or a raise in almost three and a half years. Meanwhile, the transit workers contract is going to expire in a little over a month. In recent years, their union has shown itself unwilling to work under an expired contract.
TJC raised a resolution at the December 7 Delegate Assembly for a joint contract campaign with TWU Local 100. For a copy of the resolution, click here. Despite the support of what has been estimated as between one and two hundred of those voting at the Delegate Assembly, it did not get on the agenda for discussion. This is all the more regretable, because the Unity UFT leadership effectively has no strategy for winning a good contract except waiting for Bloomberg to leave and hoping the next mayor is more friendly towards us.
Join TJC’s Petition Campaign! Last June, more than two out of five of new teachers who were up for tenure had their probation extended. For many, probably most, this was unrelated to their performance as teachers. Teachers in hard-to-staff schools with large numbers of students in poverty were much more likely to have their probation extended than those in selective schools. Probation was extended in cases where supervisors had not done sufficient observations or paperwork. In many cases, probation was extended despite principals’ recommending that tenure be granted. UFT leaders deplored, asked “tough questions,” but took no other action. The UFT needs to take action. Erosion of tenure is loss of due process, and without due process, the union is an empty shell. We are asking you to please download our petition to the UFT leaders, get nine of your colleagues to join you in signing it, and mail it back to us. When we have one thousand names, we will present it to UFT leaders.
On November 30, high school and community college students, and members of the UFT and two locals of the TWU, marched together through South Brooklyn to protest against budget cuts. To see an inspiring video of this march and rally, click here.
At the December 7 2011 meeting of the UFT Delegate Assembly, Teachers for a Just Contract proposed a coordinated contract campaign of transit workers and teachers to win good contracts for both unions. Despite support from what has been estimated as between one and two hundred of the Assembly, it was not accepted for discussion. To read the proposal, click here.
At the November 2011 UFT Delegate Assembly, UFT Secretary Michael Mendel attempted to rewrite history and claim that the rights we lost in 2005 were rights we never had. He smeared as “lies” TJC’s demand to restore the rights excessed teachers had before the catastrophic 2005 contract. Who’s the real liar? Why did the ATR crisis begin after 2005? To read the real story, click here.
December 11: Postscript: At the December 7 Delegate Assembly, Secretary Mendel made an apology to the D.A., to the woman who made the motion, and to its author, for his outburst in November, for being “over the top.” This was a result of widespread unhappiness with how he had acted. It is clear that unrestrained bashing of the opposition is no longer acceptable.
The UFT Must Mobilize Against the New DOE Observation and Rating System! Online Observation Reports. Observation reports on planning meetings and Inquiry Team meetings. To read the new TJC leaflet about the changes that are coming, and how to stop them, click here. Then, please let us know how you like it by using our “contact us” form. If you find it worthwhile, we hope you will send it to, or make copies for, other UFT members you know!
To solve the ATR crisis, the UFT must mobilize the entire membership to force the DOE to permanently place all ATRs and to change the contract so that there will never be another ATR crisis. To read TJC’s resolution to end the crisis once and for all, click here.
The June Memo of Agreement between the DOE and the UFT will not solve the ATR crisis. The DOE largely “melted” its hiring freeze over the summer, adding Social Studies, Math and English to ESL and Special Ed as vacancies principals could fill with new hires, instead of with ATRs. Now, the DOE is placing ATRs in the few vacancies that remain. However, since the Central Office is paying their salaries, why should principals appoint these ATRs and put them on school payroll? The ATRs not placed in vacancies have it even worse. They will be shunted from one school to another on a weekly basis. To read TJC’s leaflet with our strategy to solve this crisis, click here.
ATRs face an uncertain future as the June 2011 DOE – UFT Agreement goes into effect. Three years ago, the ATR crisis was already plaguing teachers. A grassroots pressure campaign was fighting for positions for all ATRs. The UFT leadership undermined this rank and file initiative. As ATRs once again organize to defend themselves, the lessons of the past are important. For the full story, as told in a contemporary TJC leaflet, click here.
This past year, the Bloomberg administration consistently attacked seniority. They deplored that, in the event of layoffs, the first out would be “young, exciting” teachers. Then, at the end of the term, Bloomberg turned on these same “young, exciting teachers” and denied tenure to almost two-thirds of them. The UFT has already let down ATRs, veterans, and teachers in arcane licenses. Now, in our new leaflet, TJC makes the case that if the UFT is to survive, it must mobilize to demand due process for all teachers! To download and read a copy click here.