...but despite the best efforts of the Unity/New Action aristocracy, it seems a case of too little too late. It appears that, despite our repeated concessions to City Hall, despite the fact that we've moved 40 years backwards in terms of teachers' rights, the mayor still wants to target us, spending a million dollars to get rid of more tenured teachers. Does anyone trust this administration to make fair judgments? Is anyone besides the Unity patronage mill surprised?
Well I'm not. Are you? Here's what I posted on Edwize:
It's unfortunate that you came to this realization so late.This was entirely predictable, as were most of the actions of this administration.
Perhaps giving up seniority transfers, days in August, and the right to grieve letters in file did not satisfy them after all.Perhaps allowing teachers to be suspended without pay based on unsubstantiated allegations did not quench their desire to scapegoat working teachers.
Maybe it was not such a good idea after all to give in to reorganization number three, the one that made it even more difficult for ATR teachers to find employment, when the mayor's PR, for once, was on a downward scale after the bus fiasco.
Perhaps, in retrospect, enabling mayoral control with no checks or balances was not in our best interests after all.Maybe it was not, after all, the best idea to allow time for money swaps in lieu of real raises.After all, when people work extra hours in Burger King, they get more pay, and few interpret that as a raise.
Perhaps it was not such a good idea to wave our arms in victory when a toothless class size agreement (with no consequences for the mayor violating it) was enacted.In fact, Tweed is not even bothering to release class size statistics, despite a legal obligation to do so.
In my school, where I teach in a trailer behind a building that regularly exceeds 250% capacity, no one is surprised anymore when class sizes hit 38 or 40.No one is surprised when 48 new kids arrive in one week.
Maybe, considering this mayor's approach, it was not such a good idea to enable and support him every step of the way leading up to this.
Though the UFT's actions have earned us the admiration of Rod Paige, and the editorial pages of virulently anti-union anti-teacher tabloids, perhaps they were not in the best interests of working people after all.
Posts
