If the dispute is unresolved, and after discussion with me and the workload liaison, the dispute may be forwarded within five school days to the appropriate superintendent for review. The superintendent will designate a representative to investigate jointly with a UFT-appointed representative the workload that is alleged to be inappropriate. The two representatives will then submit recommendations to the superintendent for his or her written determination, which must be given within 10 school days of the recommendation.

If still unresolved, the dispute may be forwarded to the chancellor’s level for a final resolution within five days of the superintendent’s recommendation.

If you are having workload problems, don’t hesitate to e-mail me at www.mjeuft@aol.com to discuss the situation. We earned this contractual right to dispute our unmanageable workloads, so let’s use it when we need it.

Another area that causes great stress and unhappiness to school secretaries is harassment from administrators. Repeated disrespectful, discriminatory and/or demeaning language or behavior is the usual kind of harassment experienced by our colleagues. The contract provides for a special complaint provision to address harassment by supervisors. In order to document the harassing behavior, you will have to keep an anecdotal log of the incidents of harassment along with the names of witnesses. But first, speak to your school’s chapter leader to alert him or her to the situation and to get assistance in documenting the harassment. In addition, the union has initiated a new confidential harassment hotline where you can e-mail details of your situation. The e-mail address is iamharassed@uft.org. This information will provide the UFT with information needed to combat these unconscionable practices.

By now, you will have received a copy of the license violation survey that was e-mailed to your school’s chapter leader in December. You probably are aware of whether she or he has filled out the online survey with the names of other titles in your school that are performing secretarial work. If not, I suggest that you sit down with your chapter leader and fill out the paper copy that you received and fax or mail it back to me as quickly as possible. You can, of course, complete the survey yourself and get it back to me.

We cannot proceed with the union-initiated grievance against this practice unless we have substantial documentation to back our claim of widespread license violations. We cannot allow this practice to continue to erode the integrity of our license. As the number of students, staff and programs in our schools grow so should the number of school secretaries to do the work. To date, approximately 50 percent of the returned surveys tell us that other titles are doing secretarial work in our schools. Let’s get the information we need to win this grievance!

At the present time, the teacher’s contract is in the process of being reviewed and once all the wording is approved by the UFT and the DOE it will be printed. The contracts for the functional chapters, which includes ours, will follow. In the meantime, click on this link for information regarding our new contract: http://www.uft.org/member/rights/contracts/MOA.pdf and for information on the new salary schedules: http://www.uft.org/member/rights/contracts/salary_tables.pdf. (School secretary tables are on page 7.)

Make sure you take advantage of our Tuition Reimbursement Program if you are taking any of the six credits in the specified school records and accounts or education courses this school year. The application can be found in this issue of Relay.

Keep me posted on happenings in your work life by e-mailing me or calling your secretary coordinator whose number is listed on the last page of this Relay.

Jackie Ervolina

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