Reasons to VOTE NO on the UFT Contract: MORE UFT Caucus
Reasons to VOTE NO on the UFT Contract: MORE UFT Caucus
MORE UFT shares 5 big reasons to say "NO" to this tentative contract. Share these with your UFT friends and colleagues.
Shared with permission from MORE UFT caucus. Find a downloadable version to print and share here: tinyurl.com/novotereasons
The proposed UFT 2022-2027 contract…
… is a pay-cut, when adjusted for inflation. Inflation has averaged 6% annually, while the contract only provides a 3.0% to 3.5% raise per year. And the annual bonuses aren’t even pensionable! We can do better! Teachers in LA and nurses in NYC just won 6-7% annual raises over the next 3 years.
… is based on implicit healthcare givebacks. Mayor Adams demanded healthcare givebacks in this contract. So why did he approve this deal? Because the UFT leadership agreed to move members onto a new, lower quality insurance plan next year to save the city billions. We need a contract that guarantees good healthcare for all members!
… leaves behind titles like paraprofessionals and therapists who are fighting for pay equity. Under this TA, the 2027 starting pay for a paraprofessional would only be $33,000! That’s not enough to survive in this city. We need a contract that guarantees a living wage for paras, therapists, and all other job titles. No UFT member should need to work a second job!
… opens the door for privatization. Last fall Chancellor Banks eliminated hundreds of Teachers Assigned UFT positions and jeopardized 400 essential Early Childhood Instructional Coordinator and Social Worker jobs. He wants to outsource these positions. This MOA will let him do that. We need a contract that preserves all UFT positions! We also need meaningful contractual limits on virtual schooling, so it’s not used to line the pockets of ed tech companies.
… is being rushed to a vote. This contract would change the lives of all UFT members for the next four years. Some proposals, like virtual schooling, would alter public education in NYC forever. We’re being asked to vote without enough time or information. We need at least four weeks to evaluate all the ramifications of this contract!
How can we get a better deal?
UFT members mobilized, rallied, and organized to fight for this contract. But we have just begun to fight, and we have to deepen and expand the campaign if we want to win. Mass rallies, regular school pickets and walk-ins would be the first step of showing our power. But we don’t want to sugarcoat it. If we want a better deal for our union, we need to seriously prepare to break the Taylor Law and go on strike, just like the strikes that won LA teachers and NY nurses major raises. This begins with educating our members and communities. We also need to build an infrastructure of strike committees in every school and prepare to protect members who face financial hardship.
But it all starts with the members of our union—all 115,000 of us—standing up to this TA and saying NO! Send our union back to the bargaining table. We won’t accept a contract that doesn’t serve us, or the students and families we work with.
I 100% agree if we want a better contract, we would need to go on strike. However, I also understand how unlikely it will be to convince our members to strike. As an example, in my school I struggled getting people to participate in teach-in, leafleting, and attending the rally. I hear the same from the other CLs in my district and assume it’s similar across the city. I appreciate your perspective and thank you for the content you provide for an alternative perspective.