BY CRYSTAL LEWIS
“Everything we’ve done, especially over the last three years, we’ve earned our raise. We kept the school system afloat while so many people were at home,” said Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, which began contract negotiations with the city last week.
The UFT’s negotiating committee met briefly with the city Oct. 13 to discuss a new contract, the union announced in a press release. The union’s collective-bargaining agreement, which was reached in 2018, expired Sept. 13 and provided 7.5 percent in raises over 43 months.
The union represents nearly 75,000 teachers, as well as guidance counselors, paraprofessionals, occupational therapists and other staffers working in city public schools. Including retirees, the UFT has more than 190,000 members.
The vast majority of the city’s labor agreements have expired. The Adams administration met earlier this month with the city’s largest municipal union, District Council 37, to begin bargaining. DC 37’s contract expired May 25, 2021. Together, DC 37 and the UFT represent about 60 percent of the municipal workforce.
The city has yet to start negotiations with any other civilian unions, Labor Commissioner Renee Campion confirmed Oct. 17.
Special-education teacher Matt Driscoll, who has worked in city public schools for 19 years, called for a “fair raise that keeps up with inflation.”
The negotiations come as the city faces large budget gaps. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli projected that the city could be up against a $9.9 billion budget deficit by 2026, the New York Daily News reported last month.
Mulgrew pointed out that city unions faced similar circumstances after former mayor Michael Bloomberg refused to negotiate with the city unions during the last years of his administration.
“Nine years ago, we were in almost the same situation, where almost every contract was expired,” he said during a recent phone interview. “But unlike last time, this time there’s close to $9 billion in reserves.”
There are also concerns that increased health care costs, which have drained the Health Insurance Premium Stabilization Fund, could interfere with the city’s ability to provide substantial raises.
“The city implied that rising health care costs will make it difficult for it to afford pay increases for its workforce … But we made it clear to the city that we are prepared to fight to make sure we get the raises we deserve while avoiding health care premiums in the coming years,” an email sent to UFT members following the bargaining session stated.
The UFT will not be bargaining over health care; rather, the Municipal Labor Committee will. In addition to negotiating health benefits for in-service members, the MLC is working to switch retirees to Medicare Advantage, a plan which has faced a series of setbacks. The city and the unions negotiated to switch retired city employees from the current Senior Care program to Medicare Advantage as a cost-savings measure, but a Manhattan Supreme Court Justice ruled in March that the plan was illegal as constituted because it would have required retirees who wanted to keep their current coverage to pay $191 a month.
The city appealed that decision, and is now seeking to enlist the help of the City Council. Its goal is to amend city law so it can charge retired workers who decline the Medicare Advantage plan in favor of keeping their current Senior Care coverage.
Seeking more than raises
This also marks the first time the city’s public-school teachers will negotiate raises and benefits since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, during which educators had to abruptly shift to remote instruction and, after schools opened for blended-learning in the fall of 2020, hybrid lessons.
“Now we’re fighting to help our students recover from its effects. Educators need a fair contract that will help them, and our schools, improve the lives of our city’s children,” Mulgrew stated.
In addition to raises, the union is also seeking to improve working conditions for educators. The union leader noted that many teachers have experienced increased workloads due to the use of increased technology.
“There’s aspects of the contract that haven’t been changed. All of the technology we’re using now, there's nothing about that in the contract now,” he said.
Over the summer, Governor Kathy Hochul passed legislation that will reduce class sizes by 2027. “It would be good to get that in the contract,” said Driscoll, the special-education teacher. “The last time we got [class size] caps in the contract was decades ago, so there is precedent for it.”
The union began preparing for negotiations this past spring, when it sent a survey asking members to rank which issues were most important for them in this contract. More than 32,000 members responded to the survey. The UFT also formed its 500-member bargaining committee in May.
Rjm71
How about settling nyc pba's contract.
Nyc police officers have been without a raise since Aug 1st 2017.
Wednesday, October 19, 2022 Report this
Tommyd23
It’s funny how the union says they were in while everyone was home. I call bull crap! Though the teachers (Most) are a valuable asset for our children and wanted to work as per the union they were not allowed to go back and do their job. The union HURT the children by their actions. The teachers do deserve a raise - but the union hurt them and the children by having the children held hostage for their personal agendas.
Raises for the teachers YES!! & BOO to the teachers union. I have a family member who is a teacher - I do know what I talk about.
Oh and the union got millions to improve facilities due to Covid. Where and what have they improved the facilities.
Thursday, October 20, 2022 Report this
Maybe Mr. Mulgrew can use the added technology as his own productivity value in this collective bargaining instead of selling off a retiree health benefit or an employee benefit. Unlike last time where he subsidized his own contract on the backs of other unions and Retirees. And while it’s honorable to negotiate a contract for his workers that would benefit the children in school, it should be equally as honorable to protect the retirees that built those schools and built his union and built and rebuilt this city. My advice to Mr. Mulgrew is if you set the pattern this year, do it with your own productivity. We are watching.
Friday, October 21, 2022 Report this
mooktao
In 2014 UFT MOA: Section H. Healthcare Savings (a.) (viii) Mulgrew (UFT) and the MLC conveyed $1 billion to NYC from Health Insurance Stabilization Fund to be used in support of the pro rata funding of said agreement (UFT contract raises). Just one of the improper uses the Stabilization Fund was not created to achieve and should be payed back instead of amending city law to charge retirees for benefits they not only earned but were promised. All costs are rising. Let's see transparency from Mulgrew, provide Stabilization Fund audit.
Thursday, October 27, 2022 Report this