The Snakehead Goes Off; or,How Do You Spell COLLUSION ?
R.A.N.D.I. that's how! Wake up people. We're on the receiving end of another butt ramming courtesy of our Unity leadership. We are being played like a fish, deceived and manipulated ... and by the people who are supposed to protect us! How convenient that all of a sudden we have a new contract, a year ahead of schedule. Looks like its just in time for this spring's election! What a coincidence! Can anyone still believe that the Mayor and our President aren't in bed, aren't in cahoots? The current contract and this new contract were negotiated at the same time same. Bloomberg got his changes in work rules, and the good P.R. that comes from stripping teachers of their rights. Now Randi gets all the credit for producing a contract with "no givebacks," so she can ride a wave of support to reelection. Our union is backing mayoral control of the schools, and becomes another notch in the mayor's belt. Everyone wins: Bloomberg, and Randi... well maybe not everyone. WE LOSE--AGAIN (if we ratify this crap). Voluntary "buyouts" for excessed teachers that become ATR's? Not too scary! Why not just arrange to have the senior teachers they don't want around anymore pushed under a bus? The potential for disaster is endless. But they've buttered up the new teachers with a five year longevity to counter balance discontent amongst older teachers, so new teachers will bite the hook dangling in front of them. Pretty slick... looks like this has been very well planned ... and that in itself should piss you off. Before some idiot starts to say "but this contract has no givebacks," remember everything was given away in the last contract, and most of us felt we should be working to get back some of the rights that were taken from us. No takebacks huh? Oh well.
Now, wait until the "coalition" bargaining with our pensions and health care begins! I'm sure that will be lots of fun, after all the mayor declared months ago that concessions on pensions and healthcare were the top priority. It all starts to come together doesn't it? Randi gets hers, Bloomberg gets his, and we are used as pawns in their self-serving political games. Well, I don't like being used, I don't know about you but, this whole collusion thing really burns my ass. We cannot stand for this, no more backroom politics and under the table deals, no more corruption from these self serving sycophants. VOTE NO on this contract! Vote UNITY OUT! Anyone but Randi. UNITY OUT!
Now, wait until the "coalition" bargaining with our pensions and health care begins! I'm sure that will be lots of fun, after all the mayor declared months ago that concessions on pensions and healthcare were the top priority. It all starts to come together doesn't it? Randi gets hers, Bloomberg gets his, and we are used as pawns in their self-serving political games. Well, I don't like being used, I don't know about you but, this whole collusion thing really burns my ass. We cannot stand for this, no more backroom politics and under the table deals, no more corruption from these self serving sycophants. VOTE NO on this contract! Vote UNITY OUT! Anyone but Randi. UNITY OUT!
posted by A Strong, Proud UTP Member at 11/09/2006 03:55:00 PM
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Posted on http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/
The Contract: What Lies Beneath
We have been besieged by questions: After all the rancor and viciousness of BloomKlein where did all this sweetness and love come from? What are the real givebacks?
With fall-out from the phony promises and massive sell-job and threats that a “No” vote would result in dire consequences still echoing from the dreadful 2005 contract, these questions are a signal from many people who have been beaten and battered by recent contracts and have lost faith in the union leadership to negotiate anything that is truly favorable to the members. So, what gives this time? Should we lift the hood even a bit to see what monsters might be lurking beneath?
A clue in the NY Times?
“This time the city extracted no productivity increases or other concessions, which seemed to be part of a larger strategy by the Bloomberg administration to pave the way for separate talks aimed at achieving crucial savings on health care and pension costs, which have climbed sharply in recent years... But negotiations over health benefits are to be conducted separately in talks with the Municipal Labor Committee, the umbrella group for the city’s unions, and since Ms. Weingarten is the committee chairwoman, her good will is essential if headway is to be made on insurance issues.”
A follow-up headline proclaimed: “With Teacher Pact at Hand, City Looks at Health Costs.”
Does this contract basically waive the right of our union to bargain about health benefits by giving this power to the Municipal Labor Committee, in effect removing member rights in perpetuity to vote on any loss of valuable medical benefits? Does the contract assign to the Municipal Labor Committee a “blank check” to negotiate cost containment initiatives and program modifications to City Health Benefits Program that are not subject to our approval? If MLC agrees with Mayor, will UFT members get to vote on potential mandatory health care contributions? (Transit workers were able to vote on whether or not to contribute 1.5% of their salary for health benefits.) If a flat rate percentage is tacked on in the future, what is the real raise, especially for the newer lower-salaried people?
And let’s not forgot the possible quid quo pro in exchange for supporting (or not opposing) mayoral control, which if continued will continue to be an unmitigated disaster for the teachers, students and parents in NYC. Can you get somethin’ for nuthin’ with Unity in charge?
It feels like April! It’s only November
The teachers in my school are so angry about the current contract. We don’t even have time to use the bathroom during the day. When passing colleagues in the hall, the constant comment is, “It feels like April! It’s only early November.” The weight of the workload and schedule are crushing. We are very angry about the current conditions, and the fact that we can’t do much to complain since most of our rights to grieve and to participate in the decision-making processes of the school are gone. The older teachers are afraid — under the current system they can suddenly become “senile” and unable to teach. The younger teachers don’t understand. Whole classes are guinea pigs as large numbers of new teachers “experiment” with what works. Fed-up, on the ICE blog
With only TJC and ICE members voting in opposition, the negotiation committee did not address any of the issues raised by Fed-up when it agreed to a tentative deal with the DOE . The contract extension contains no take backs of any of the givebacks of the 2005 contract: letters in the files still can’t be grieved at step 2; 37 minutes and a thinly disguised 6th teaching period; loss of Circular 6 and reinstatement of potty patrol; loss of seniority transfers; erosion of workplace rights; inability to question administrative decisions; teachers standing at the mercy of anti-union principals who control through intimidation.
As it stands our union is detrimental to us. They work against us instead of for us.
Vote yes, then you can also have two pensions. Complaining will get you nowhere, there is no "other side" to support anymore. Just grab your piece of the pie!
Double Pensions (DP) for everyone!! They are there for the taking!
Let me guess . . . the 2 deleted comments at the beginning of this post is not censorship.
The two deleted posts were spam links about earning more cash. It was the same link twice. They were deleted.
(Not everything is conspiracy.)
Or maybe thats just what they want us to think!!
Exactly.
Just take your two pensions and move along.
You are obviously jealous that WE have two pension and you don't! We at the UTP now drink our morning coffee from monogramed golden mugs and we use the distilled tears of those remorseful teachers who voted "yes" for the last contract to brew our Uni-tea!
Hey Max, that is really funny. I enjoyed that one.
Max is a funny M.F. isn't he?
M.F.? Perhaps M.F. implies that Max is a male/female like the rest of the rest of you dime store human oddities. Who don't you guys drop that snakehead geek like a bag of onions and then crawl back under that rock you call home? Sounds like a sweet plan to me.
The M.F. stands for MOTHER FUCKER. Apparently you people don't appreciate how polite I am. Stop being so god-damned rude and disrespectful. Its not good to drop a bag of onions either. Onions are apparently a very healthy food item and they don't deserve to be defiled in such a manner. The nerve of some people. The O.P.A. (Onion Producers of America) will hear about this. Hate speech in any form will not be tolerated, its offensive and just plain wrong. If I wasn't getting two pensions I may have been personally insulted by all this. Lucky for me I am insulated from reality, and no longer have to deal with the lowlives the rest of you call your "colleagues". My office at 52 Broadway is under construction as I type this, and all you idiots are paying for it! HA HA! See ya, suckers.
This site is a little to scary for me.
I'm glad to see someone standing up for the rights of onions. We owe so much to the round little cuties. The Onion Appreciation Society (OAS) would like to thank snakehead and the UTP for drawing attention to the plight of overlooked and exploited onions everywhere.
Oddly enough, I was cooking sauerkraut the other night. My wife thought it was a broccoli smell that permeated the house (she said the house stinks really bad). Having eaten all of the sauerkraut I refused to acknowledge any smell in the house and played dumb which I'm really good. I just thought I would fess up. Cabbage are our friends.
Snakehead is hot, what a badass.
Hail UTP!
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