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5% increase in next paycheck

May 22, 2008 11:52 AM

Computer error delays longevity for thousands

UFT-represented educators received a 5 percent raise on May 19. The salary increase will appear in the May 31 paycheck.

Since the May 31 pay period also covers May 16-18, three days before the increase takes effect, checks will indicate that the three days are paid at the old rate.

The pay increase was negotiated as part of the early two-year contract that members ratified in December 2006. Members received a lump-sum payment of $750 in January 2007 and a 2 percent raise on Oct. 13, 2007. The agreement also created a new five-year longevity and increased the city contribution to the UFT Welfare Fund, allowing the union to cap drug co-pays at $1,000 per year per family.

Also, the new five-year longevity raise for members who have completed five years of service in the New York City school system took effect on May 19. However, the Department of Education has informed the UFT that, due to a computer error, 3,866 eligible pedagogues and 47 paraprofessionals will not receive the five-year longevity increment in the May 31 check.

Those members will receive that increase plus arrears for the 12 applicable days (May 19-31) on their June 15 check. And, at the union’s insistence, the DOE has agreed to send a letter of apology to the affected members’ homes.

The DOE’s error does not affect the 5-percent raise.

Prior to the five-year longevity was negotiated in the latest contract agreement, members waited 10 years for their first longevity increase to kick in.

Salary schedules for titles representing more than 400 members appear on pages 26 and 27. All schedules are posted on the UFT Web site, www.uft.org — click Salary under Resources for UFT Members, and then click the link for All Salary Schedules.