ICE CONTRACT GOALS FOR 2009
DC 37 has already set a wage-increase pattern for non-uniformed city employees of 4% and 4% over two years. Our goal for the next contract must be to restore professional dignity for teachers and other UFT members. Here are some non-salary issues that must be addressed:
I. We must win back and expand rights taken from us in 2005 that have led to an educationally unsound atmosphere in the schools for teachers, students and entire school communities
- Extended time must be used in a way in which the UFT staff in each school is allowed to vote to decide how best to use the time.
- Article 18 must be expanded to restore the provisions of former section 18G5, which “... offered the broadest placement choices available within the authority of the Board...” This would allow preferred placement rights so any excessed educators from closing schools could pick a wish list of six schools and be guaranteed placement in one of them.
- No new hiring will take place until all Absent Teacher Reserves within a license have been placed. A plan should be developed to offer any excessed UFT member the same “broadest placement choices available within the authority of the Board” described above.
- The UFT Seniority and/or School Based Option Transfer Plans must be restored. The SBO Transfer and Staffing Plan Committee must once again be made up of a majority of Chapter members. It should have the power to hire all UFT personnel in a building, based upon objective criteria that include seniority; and there should be an expedited grievance procedure for people who feel they have been unfairly rejected. Principal patronage hiring doesn’t improve education, and goes against more than 100 years of civil service-based merit hiring.
- The two weekdays before Labor Day that were added to the school calendar must be removed. They serve no educational purpose. And ... our school year is already among the longest in the metropolitan area, while our salaries remain among the lowest.
- Restore Circular 6R to its original form. End all involuntary administrative assignments, such as (but not limited to) hall patrol or cafeteria duty (we are professionals!); or forced small group instruction, which is tantamount to an additional class.
- Use a process like the expedited reorganization grievance procedure to challenge unfair/inaccurate letters in the file, and unfair/inaccurate observation reports quickly.
- End the special 3020A process for time and attendance matters. Restore full State 3020A rights for all UFT members.
- End suspensions without pay based on probable-cause hearings, particularly suspensions resulting exclusively from a Special Commissioners’ report.
- An iron-clad no-layoff agreement, similar to the old Article 17F, must be included, so that no UFT member will be left behind.
- There must be no health care cuts or increases in premiums.
II. We must attain professional Contractual gains to enhance teaching and learning conditions:
- Add language to the Agreement that will make it impossible to tie hiring, firing, tenure decisions, or disciplinary actions to the results of high-stakes testing.
- Paperwork Reduction: Any new paperwork must be educationally justified; and time must be provided within the existing school day and structure for all UFT titles to be able to do the additional tasks.
- Add to Article 8E a Section 2 that states, “The format for teaching each individual lesson is up to the professional discretion of each individual teacher, so long as the lesson adheres to state learning standards for a particular grade and subject, and the teacher follows the characteristics of good teaching outlined in Teaching for the 21st Century.”
- Strong neighborhood schools in every community are essential. The DOE must show that closing a school is a last resort, after extra support has been given, and other approaches have been attempted in consultation with school communities. No closings based on NYC school report card grades, or the results of high-stakes testing!
- Class Sizes should be reduced to the levels called for in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity Decision (Class size limits of 20 for K-3 and 23 for 4-12). The UFT Contract grievance process is the best way to enforce class size reduction.
- No more half class, space limitation or singleton exceptions on class size limits.
- Reduce caseloads for guidance counselors, social workers, and school psychologists; and set reasonable workload limits for secretaries. All of this should be enforceable through arbitration.
- Negotiate a preparation period for paraprofessionals.
- Add to Article 8A provisions that would give School Leadership Teams, by consensus, power to produce a Comprehensive Education Plan, and the authority to make school-based budget decisions; and provide an appeal process to a neutral arbitrator/mediator if there is no consensus.
- Add language that makes individual salary levels of UFT members irrelevant to hiring decisions by schools.