That’s the response of the UFT and other municipal labor unions to our billionaire Mayor’s State of the City speech, with its suggestion that it was time for the city’s workforce to join the ‘race to the bottom,’ and surrender our current health care benefits and pensions. We’re not running, Mike.
Bloomberg thinks that it is time to take advantage of the corporate onslaught against health care and pensions in the private sector, and he is now pressing municipal unions for concessions in these areas. He sees Delphi [$], IBM [$], United Airlines [$], Verizon, Lockheed, Motorola and other corporate giants [$] on the attack against pensions for their workers, so he figures that they have paved the way for a similar assault in the public sector. It was an open secret that Bloomberg pressured the Metropolitan Transit Authority behind the scenes to hold fast on their demand for pension givebacks in the recent Transit workers strike, in an attempt to create a pattern bargaining precedent which could be used against other unions.
Randi Weingarten, who is head of the Municipal Labor Committee as well as President of the UFT, was clear and unequivocal in her rejection of the Mayor’s suggestion that he could unilaterally impose health care premiums or a fifth pension tier. “She was the only one that criticized my acceptance speech on Jan. 1,” Bloomberg announced in a fit of pique on his weekly radio show, “and the only one really to criticize this yesterday, so she’s being consistent.” Get ready for a whole lot more consistency, Mike.
The Bloomberg strategy is to try to mobilize resentment against municipal workers, since our pensions and health care plans are still intact while so many private sectors workers have had their pensions decimated. This was the same tack taken by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, in his unsuccessful initiative campaign. [$] We say: the time has come to undo the damage already done, not to spread it. This assault on the economic security of American working people has gone far enough, and it will go no farther.
In the words of the old civil rights and labor song, “we shall not be moved.”
2 Comments:
1 paulrubin
· Jan 30, 2006 at 8:20 pm
I guess we know our next offer from Bloomberg which basically means (as I’ve said in this venue before) there will be no further contracts between Michael Bloomberg and the UFT.
(1) a sixth teaching period
(2) inferior medical benefits with more costs to us
(3) an attempt to get the state to institute a Tier 5 pension
(4) more misc. givebacks such as more days, fewer holidays, more power to principals at our expense
Yet another modest raise in the 3% a year range which basically is something we should only remotely consider with zero givebacks.
The goals therefore, with bloomberg, is to simply hold the line and invest our resources in making sure he doesn’t do an end run against us and force the politicians to stab us in the back where he contract negotiations fail. That means the next Governor is a very important variable in the equation.
2 shouldhavegonetomeds
· Feb 12, 2006 at 5:36 pm
yes but the only reason bloomberg is in office is because city workers and their families did not vote for Freddy em masse. I know for a fact many white teachers could not bear to vote for Freddy.Many teachers and New Yorkers who despise Bush love Bloomberg who is essentially just Bush in a package tweaked for New Yorkers