The Public Employee Relations Act (PERB), known as the Taylor Law, named after chairman of the commission that drafted the law, sets guidelines for public employee labor relations, all public employees in New York State can form unions without management interference, collective bargaining guidelines embedded in the law, all contracts remain in “full force and effect” until the successor contract is in place. Strikes are prohibited, and if a union strikes 2:1 salary penalties, possible fines and other penalties. PERB offers mediation, fact finding and non binding arbitration to resolve disputes as well as two principles, “ability to pay” and “pattern bargaining,” the UFT has pointed to salaries in suburban school districts as the “pattern” as well as salaries in other large cities and management defines the pattern as the percent increase set in the first set of negotiations, there are about 100 public employee unions in NYC.
The 2005 UFT contract, after 2 1/2 years without a contract resulted in a contract far beyond the pattern, the contract included extending the school day for professional development activities, a longer day tied to a percentage increase above the pattern was appropriate.
There are 26,000 paraprofessionals, many working with handicapped children, due to the low pay recruiting new paraprofessionals is difficult, there are 1600 vacancies.
The city argues pattern bargaining would not allow greater increases for paraprofessionals and the UFT began a different strategy: ask the City Council to pass legislation to provide a $10K pay bump, one time unless negotiated in the upcoming contract negotiations. The idea was popular among the council members however Speaker Adams refused to allow a vote.
Candidate Mamdani was enthusiastic. Newly elected Speaker Menin supported the bill, numerous meetings, hearings and culminating in a 49-0 vote approving the bill.
The City Office of Collective Bargaining opposed the bill arguing it violated pattern bargaining.
Randi Weingarten, current president of the American Federation of Teachers has long criticized pattern bargaining for unfairly depressing salary increases for educators, arguing that dumping school staff into generalized municipal wage patterns hurts recruitment and retention. [1, 2]
As the former head of the United Federation of Teachers, Weingarten argued that standard percentage increases applied across all city titles disproportionately shortchange lower-paid school personnel like teachers and paraprofessionals compared to other municipal sectors. [1, 2, 3, 4] She maintained that rigid bargaining templates restrict local unions from addressing specific staffing shortages, professional needs, and equitable pay
The Mayor, who opposed mayoral control during his campaign also said parents and teachers would be included in the new chancellor hiring, positions he abandoned upon election, appearing to once again change his position. Mamdani can sign, veto, take no action and allow the bill to become a law or challenge in the courts.
The NY Times reports Mamdani met with UFT President Mulgrew and sounds like it didn’t go well. According to Times Mulgrew threatened “Going to War” with the mayor.
…. after the City Council unanimously passed a bill last week giving bonuses to teaching assistants, Mr. Mamdani backpedaled, as administration officials have said that the payments would violate state labor law.
He has not indicated whether he intends to veto the measure, sue the City Council for passing it, or do nothing and let it lapse into law.
. Mr. Mulgrew, … said that he would be disappointed in the mayor if his administration opposes the bonuses or challenges them in court.
“If we have to go to all-out war with him over this, then we’re willing to do that,” Mr. Mulgrew said in an interview, adding that an escalation to that level would reveal that Mr. Mamdani “is not the person we thought he was.”
The UFT actions, agreeing to stretch out the full implementation of the Class Size Reduction Act as well as slowing the funding of pensions, actions that saved the city $2B, actually pushing the costs down the road, a major factor in balancing the budget. Mamdani has gone from stunning victories in the recent primaries, perhaps leading a DSA tsunami across the nation to alienating a large cohort of voters. His threat to arrest Netanyahu followed by the slashing of two New Yorkers in an anti-Semitic attacks: troubling.
Are the mayor’s anti Israel comments legitimizing Anti/Semitism? Will his Pied a Terre tax chase the wealthy out of the city? Is the NY citizenry beginning to tire of a mayor with a national more than local agenda?
The Times reports the Mayor and Mulgrew are “talking?”
The “hazy, lazy days of summer” are going to remain hazy, maybe not so lazy.
Black voters in the city were not enthusiastic about Mamdani and his opposition to the pay boost, impacting mostly women of color only adds to their doubts. Can he reclaim the enthusiasm of the primary victories?
Has he alienated the Speaker and the 49 Council members who enthusiastically voted for a pay boost?
Tip O’Neill, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives famously said, “All politics is local,” Mamdani’s threat to arrest Netanyahu might garner him kudos from his DSA bros, not so much from the NYers just trying to keep their heads above water and pissing off the leader of the 190,000 member UFT is foolish, then again, politics makes for strange bedfellows.
Ed in the Apple: Blogging on the Intersection of Education and Politics Title 