Top News Stories

Progress on paperwork

Mar 13, 2008 2:27 PM

UFT President Randi Weingarten told the March 5 Delegate Assembly that there has been progress in tackling excessive paperwork.

The UFT’s 2006 contract provided that the city would join the union in forming a paperwork reduction committee. She said the union’s efforts had borne fruit in a directive from Chancellor Joel Klein to principals in the March 4 Principal’s Weekly. In it, the chancellor says, “I urge you and your school community to take a look at the paperwork tasks you and your teachers complete and ask yourself which are necessary and which might be discontinued or replaced with new, more efficient tools.”

Weingarten credited the more than 200 members who responded to the UFT’s appeal on its Web site for specific examples of unnecessary paperwork. “Those concrete examples really made the difference,” she said.

She advised delegates and chapter leaders that if excessive paperwork is a problem in their schools, they should bring Klein’s directive to their next Consultation Committee meeting. If that doesn’t provide relief, she said, tell your district representative and the union will take further action.

55/25 a done deal

To enthusiastic applause, Weingarten said that the 55/25 early retirement bill was “signed, sealed and delivered.” It was a fight to the last minute, she said, and the concern was that it would be held hostage to city and state budget negotiations.

She credited Mayor Michael Bloomberg for his work in getting the bill enacted.

“He helped out here,” she said. “He made a deal … and was out as forcefully as we were the last few days saying ‘a deal is a deal.’”

Despite opposition from budget watchdogs, she noted, Gov. Eliot Spitzer also kept his word and signed the bill into law.

UFT gives Clinton a boost

Weingarten thanked the UFT members who volunteered to campaign in Ohio or make phone calls to that state and Texas to help Sen. Hillary Clinton in the days leading up to the March 4 presidential primaries. She asked the volunteers who were in the audience to stand and be recognized.

Educators have a lot at stake in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, she said. She noted that the two candidates have distinct positions on No Child Left Behind, the federal law that is the engine behind much of the excessive testing.

“The only candidate saying ‘No’ to NCLB is Hillary Clinton,” she said. “As of this moment, neither John McCain nor Barack Obama has said that.”

Weingarten’s future plans

After weeks of media speculation that Weingarten will succeed AFT President Ed McElroy when he retires in July, Weingarten spelled out her current thinking to delegates. Repeating what she has already written to chapter leaders, she said that she was seriously considering running for AFT president at the July AFT convention in Chicago, but had not yet made a decision.

“There are a lot of personal and professional issues that run through my mind, including making sure that the UFT is the strongest union it can be,” she said. “If I decide to run — and I want to hear from you — and if I win, I will do both jobs.”

Weingarten introduced Vice President for Academic High Schools Leo Casey, who announced that copies of a DVD, “Meeting Face to Face: The Iraqi-U.S. Labor Solidarity Tour,” which chronicled the June 2005 visit of Iraqi trade unionists to the United States, was available with teacher guides gratis to secondary school teachers wishing to use it in their classes.