With no seniority rights, no right to grieve LIFs, school closings and ATRs, the open market system and principals having to pay twice as much for a senior teacher as a newbie, I wonder how many of us will ever make it to the 100,000 plateau.
Bloomie was smart enough to figure out that it doesn't matter what the top salary is if you can make the people approaching it walk the plank. Too bad Randi didn't see this coming.
I don't disagree with you about Ms. Weingarten's lack of judgment and vision (or utter indifference, perhaps), but we still have it a lot better than non-unionized charter teachers, and while seniority rights were seriously curtailed, they've not yet been eliminated. One thing about charters (including the "unionized" Green Dot, much beloved by UFT brass) is that they can "excess" employees regardless of their seniority, since there is no consideration whatsoever of seniority.
So if you're a math teacher, and a math position is lost, the person at the bottom of the totem pole is the one to lose a position. This happened to me four times as a young teacher, and I honestly believe the hardship was less for me than it would have been if, for example, I'd already started a family and was relying on this job.
Now the ATR deal was a mess, and what's worse, in my view, is that we were barely compensated for it, when you consider the mountain of givebacks that went along with it. If you're going to negotiate, if you're going to give up something, you ought to really be compensated for it.
If, for example, we took a zero-percent raise for the UFT transfer program (we did), then we ought to get back that zero and get a raise on top of that before we consider giving it up.
PERB had already announced that it supported lockstep bargaining and givebacks for anything additional. The UFT ignored very recent history, went to them anyway, and through a campaign of lies and intimidation managed to sell a very, very bad deal to 60% of working teachers.
As far as I know, that was the worst move the UFT ever made. A perk of that contract was supposed to have been 25/55. Yet the UFT managed to surrender to a merit pay scheme and accept 27/55 for new recruits.
They're some of the very worst negotiators I've ever seen, and it's a disgrace that we're compelled to pay for such shoddy, thoughtless, counter-productive nonsense.
I don't necessarily need a trip to the Bahamas in order to brainstorm with my colleagues. Whether the money is public or private the trip was not the proper use of school money.
I certainly agree that charter teachers have it worse, but if you're falling off a cliff, it does little good to realize that someone else is falling off a higher cliff while on fire.
I disagree about seniority rights, however. They are dead and gone. No matter how many years you may have in the system, if an admin wants to get rid of you, they can. If you are at the mercy of administrators, you essentially have no rights.
After being targeted, I managed to get a job at a good school with the help of some long time friends. No doubt the UFT counts me as a "success" story as the opening was posted on the open market, but without connections, I would have been stuck in my old school with bullseye on my back. I don't know how Unity defines this as a success when I had to scramble to get a job I would have been entitled to under the previous contract.
I've watched three colleagues of mine lose their positions at the hands of BloomKlein stooges. All were replaced by first year teachers. This never would have happened in the pre-Randi days.
I hate to bust people's balloons about Randi but if you read the Kahlenberg book on Shanker you will see she is continuing a long-time trend of UFT policy. ICE is going to have a forum during xmas break on the roots of UFT policy: from Shanker to Weingarten - and beyond, so people don't fall into the trap of singing "Ding dong the witch is gone" when she leaves.
Just A Cog
Don't get me wrong--I agree things are much worse than they were before the 05 contract. You may have noticed I am occasionally critical of UFT leadership.
In any case, I'm glad to hear at least someone has climbed out of the ATR hole they've dug for us.
Norm,
I guess I'm gonna have to read that book. Maybe when I finish Ken Follet's World Without End, which is probably much less depressing in the long run. But there were no ATRs until the 2005 contract.
Why do charters always plead poverty when it comes to finding a place to put their school? They have no qualms about pushing public schools out, then voting in small classes for themselves. If they have so much private money to burn, they should fund their own buildings.
NYC-I know where you stand on the contract and the UFT, which is why I read this blog daily. Kudos to you for presenting the truth without the Unity BS.
For the record, I was not an ATR, but a toad beneath the harrow of a dictatorial principal--like many others these days. I managed to get to a better place, but far too many senior teachers have no option but to stay in a bad situation. The continued closing of more and more schools virtually guarantees a glut of veterans with no place to go. I think the treatment of ATRs speaks volumes about the UFT's lack of support for seniority. There should be no new hires until all ATRs are placed.
As for charter school teachers, I have less sympathy for them, as they have the option to join a public school and their willingness to work corporate hours for chump change only serves to further erode our rights--giving Bloomie the opportunity to ask why those lazy UFT members can't work 300 days a year...
I would be happy with 40 minutes to talk to the teachers teaching the same prep as I teach--just 40 minutes and a place to sit while we talk. I would love to have time to discuss the common final exam and things we can do to make things better for our students. I don't need a vacation in the Bahamas.
It's not just the money, as NYC Educator and others point out. It's the offensive assumption that teachers would WANT a vacation in the Bahamas with their co-workers.
I worked for about a year and a half for a software/web company whose "work hard, play hard" ethic went hard against my grain, although I liked some people and some aspects of the job. Toward the end of my time there, the company took us to Cabo after laying off a good portion of the staff. It was the most depressing "reward" I received at that place. At one point one of the entertainers at the resort tried to force me to drink tequila through a tube. Everyone else was participating and appearing to have a walloping fun time; I didn't want to drink under pressure. Fortunately a co-worker saved me.
I don't suppose KIPP makes teachers drink, but the idea is similar--work them day, night, and weekend, then take them to a beach resort where they are not allowed to rest in their own way, on their own terms.
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