NYC Teacher Contract Talks
NYC Teacher Contract Talks
The NY Times is saying that Mayor De Blasio’s trying to work out a deal with the UFT. The NYC Teachers Contract Talks will take on the expired contract. The teachers have been working without a contract since talks broke down between the Union and Mayor Bloomberg in 2009. Bloomberg left 151 union contracts open, for the new mayor to negotiate.
All Eyes are on this negotiation
Aside from meaning possible 4% annual raises for teachers from 2009-2011 (the recommended level set by an independent panel set by the state when the Bloomberg talks failed), the impact on the city budget and other union negotiations could be serious from the NYC Teacher Contract Talks.
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City budget impact
The city could have to figure in $3.4 billion this year, which would cover the 4% raises. The UFT is saying that they deserve those raises since D.C. 37 received that percentage raise in 2009 and 2010. The other unions’ demands could push that as high as $8 billion. The city is estimated to have a $1.9 billion surplus, but Mr. Mulgrew argues that it’s a higher figure than that.
Long-term deal
De Blasio is looking to settle a nine-year contract, which would allow him to run another Mayoral election campaign without the specter of a second union negotiation looming over his candidacy. The contract dates back to 2009, and would extend into 2017. It would also allow him to pay out the negotiated back pay more slowly.
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Give-backs: Healthcare??
The city is said to be seeking health-insurance givebacks as a way to save money (we have a post coming soon about this issue!). they want the union to agree to several money-saving measures.
[button link=”http://bronx.ny1.com/content/news/205306/de-blasio-proposes-nine-year-contract-for-city-teachers”]Click here to see the NY1 Video News segment[/button]
A deal this weekend?
UFT President Michael Mulgrew and the city’s labor commissioner, Robert Linn, are meeting today and over the weekend. Possible models they’ll look at include Governor Cuomo’s wage-freeze contract, which would allow raises in years four and five of a five-year contract.
What’s Fair?
What’s fair here? The independent state panel found that the teachers should get a certain amount. Bloomberg left it on the table. Will the press is hammer the number $3.4 billion into NYers minds until the teachers union seems unfair for demanding the raise they were entitled to? Will De Blasio, a pro-union Democrat, give the UFT what Bloomberg wouldn’t? Will is cripple the city budget to do so? This is not an easy choice for a Mayor whose sympathies clearly align with the UFT, but who has to keep the city’s budget together. He has to set a precedent here for his negotiations for the other 150 unions (who came together to support his universal Pre-K plan).
UPDATE: Michael Mulgrew says that talks are going well and cautions wariness on reports from the press. http://www.uft.org/news-stories/contract-talks-moving-pretty-well
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