DC37, the city's largest municipal union, which set the standard for all city contracts in the last round of negotiations, has done it again. They've received a 32 month contract and a 10 percent raise, and have agreed to no givebacks. They've also won the right to live outside New York City, an actual gain for them.
Several labor experts said Mr. Bloomberg’s decision to loosen the residency requirement was a tacit recognition that the city had become too expensive for many municipal workers.
Meanwhile, UFT President Randi Weingarten has organized a coalition of unions waiting for contracts. Since the precedent has already been set, and neither FDNY nor NYPD are on board, there's little to no chance this will do anything but impede negotiations for us.
Randi has asked for 4 percent a year, in order to catch up with the suburbs. An odd position, considering her regular boasts to rank and file that we'd already done that. Clearly the only path to Randi's goal is more givebacks for actual teachers. That will give me something to think about next year as I patrol the halls one period a day rather than read essays, meet students, and prepare lessons.
Having excluded precedent-setting DC37, there's little chance any city workers' salaries will keep up with cost of living, as DC37, apparently, never frets over such trivialities.
That's the plight of people who work in the United States nowadays. Check out Paul Krugman's column on Left Behind Economics ($):
Bush supporter: “Why doesn’t President Bush get credit for a great economy? I blame liberal media bias.”
Informed economist: “But it’s not a great economy for most Americans. Many families are actually losing ground, and only a very few affluent people are doing really well.”
Bush supporter: “Why doesn’t President Bush get credit for a great economy? I blame liberal media bias.”
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