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contract negotiations

The UFT negotiating committee met on Jan. 5 at union headquarters for a confidential discussion about what next steps to take to reach a settlement in stalled contract negotiations. Mediation has failed to resolve the serious differences between the UFT and the Department of Education.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg blasted public employee pensions, current layoff rules and educators serving in the Absent Teacher Reserve in a State of the City address on Jan. 19 in which he said he would shrink the cost of government by going after public employee benefits rather than raise taxes to meet this year’s budget challenges.

Just two days before layoff letters from the Department of Education were due to hit the mailboxes of 4,400 teachers across the city, Mayor Michael Bloomberg rescinded those notices and announced that there would be no layoffs. UFT President Michael Mulgrew applauded the mayor for calling off the layoffs. “I’m glad that he made the right decision to avoid massive disruption in the schools,” he said.

As contract mediation continues, UFT officials are fighting fire with fire by vigorously taking on what they call the counterproductive and potentially disastrous ideas being floated by the anti-public education crowd. Some of these ideas floated recently in the press include firing all educators in the Absent Teacher Reserve and allowing principals to decide who gets laid off.

Agreeing with the UFT that — six months since the union’s last contract expired — negotiations with the Department of Education had deadlocked, the state’s Public Employment Relations Board on Feb. 22 appointed Philip L. Maier as mediator.

The New York City public school system is currently struggling to help students excel under some of the most difficult challenges it has ever faced as proposed education budget cuts threaten to decimate our classrooms in ways we haven’t seen since the fiscal crisis of the 1970s.

With a resounding 99 percent of the membership voting to ratify in their largest vote turnout ever, Federation of Nurses/UFT members employed at the Visiting Nurse Service approved a new, two-year contract that came with wage raises, no givebacks and full employer pension-and-benefits funding.

In a groundbreaking vote, UFT-represented family child care providers on Jan. 15 ratified their first-ever contract with the state. Providers cast 3,658 ballots in favor of the agreement and 54 against. “This is an enormous step forward for New York City’s 28,000 family child care providers in our fight for justice and dignity,” said Provider Chapter Chair Tammie Miller. “We have waited years for this day and it is finally here.”

The UFT, saying that talks to replace its expired contract had reached an impasse, asked the New York State Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) on Jan. 15 to intervene in the negotiations. UFT President Michael Mulgrew said, “Despite weeks of meetings and discussions, we have not been able to make real progress in our efforts to reach a new contract with the Department of Education. The UFT has no choice but to reach out to a neutral third party to help resolve the differences that are preventing us from a new agreement that is fair to our members and to the parents and children who rely on the New York City public schools.” At the request of the 300-member negotiating committee, the DA passed a resolution at its November meeting that authorized the union leadership to file for impasse if necessary.