On Tuesday, the City of New York and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) announced a handshake deal, made without the input of UFT members, that will allow schools to reopen with in-person instruction in late September. In March, the city promised to shut down schools with coronavirus cases and then hid positive test results, even instructing people in schools not to report them, in an effort to, But even if these meager safety requirements were more robust, in-person schooling still simply wouldn’t be safe. De Blasio insists that the city is doing the best it can. In fact, some of the union’s original demands — themselves woefully insufficient were also dropped. Mayor Bill de Blasio’s attitude has been that teachers need to “show up and serve people,” and to stop complaining about the serious lack of safety measures taken by the city. “There is no question that reopening in-person schooling will accelerate the spread of COVID-19 and expose educators and school staff to greater risk of infection.” The influx of the city’s one million students into the public transportation system each day could also trigger new outbreaks, yet neither the city nor the UFT has addressed this at all. This Wednesday, the French government unveiled the details of its proposed pension reform. The teachers who comprise the UFT care deeply about their students and their families, and the thought of people losing family members due to a rushed reopening of schools is terrifying. The Black Lives Matter movement has consistently highlighted that there are more cops than guidance counselors and nurses in schools. The “big change” in addressing the lack of ventilation, apparently involves little more than what the district is calling “ventilation checks.” Anyone who saw the videos that circulated on social media last week knows that the city considers a test done with a piece of toilet paper sufficient for these. Last Updated Oct 14th, 2020 at 2:45 pm The head of New York City's teacher union threatened a strike if safety demands amid the coronavirus … Download for iOS or Android, This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. It is FREE! Plans for a strike must continue. The Taylor Law is fundamentally anti-worker. Tuesday marked the second day of mass ... Fifteen years ago this week, 34,000 members of Transportation Workers Union Local 100 went on strike, shutting down train and ... During the crisis, independent socialist journalism is more important than ever. Additionally, a  strike would have confronted the anti-union Taylor Law, which prohibits strikes by NY state public employees, and which has been lorded over public sector workers for decades to force them to accept terrible contracts. The union that represents New York City public school teachers may vote Tuesday on authorizing a strike to start the academic year amid concerns over … Teachers should go on strike against unsafe re-openings. "We don't want anybody to have to worry about getting COVID.". NYC is one of the only school districts of a major city in the country planning on re-opening: others have been pushed online due to a combination of rising cases and educator activism. ©2021 FOX Television Stations, Some with Down syndrome unable to get COVID-19 vaccine despite being 10 times more likely to die, Sarah Everard: Police identify body of UK woman who vanished on way home, officer arrested in case, 77-year-old substitute teacher who lives in his car gifted $27,000 check by former student, Alabama House votes to end yoga ban in schools, but don’t say 'namaste', Risk for COVID-19 hospitalization, death increases depending on body mass index, CDC says, Prince Harry says he and Meghan Markle are relying on inheritance from Princess Diana, Japan sees high rates of anaphylaxis with Pfizer vaccine, Missing cat traced to China animal meat market via GPS. Would you like to contribute to Left Voice? There was no attempt or opportunity to hear from rank and file teachers about their vision of the new plan, much less allow the rank and file an opportunity to vote on it. NYC teachers’ union threatens strike if safety demands aren’t met before schools reopen Reopening Schools by: Aliza Chasan, Kala Rama Posted: Aug 19, 2020 / … Argentina Brazil Mexico Chile Spain France Germany Uruguay Venezeula Bolivia Italy Costa Rica Peru. In contrast, rank and file teacher organizations, such as the MORE caucus, as well as a DSA-led solidarity group, had frequent meetings to discuss next steps and to plan for the possibility of the first strike of the UFT in 45 years. Weak demands are formulated without member input or without a systematic attempt to discuss next steps thoroughly. Teachers want the city to require COVID testing if schools will reopen for in-person classes. 562 likes. There were some meetings held with membership at the district level, though whether or not teachers learned about them was dependent on the workings of their individual chapter, and strike authorization votes had been. So while both Cuomo and the NYC City Council have slashed funding for education, the mayor is now trying to distract from this systemic issue by claiming the UFT has been too demanding in its safety requests. Mayor Bill de Blasio says the leadership of the teachers union wasn't planning a strike vote just yet. Now UFT leaders are trying to sell the necessity of in-person school to their own members by pointing to the fact that in some districts with full remote learning, legislatures have used it as, The leadership’s handling of the reopening has also exposed the ways in which it attempts to keep teachers in line. . Mayor Bill de Blasio’s attitude has been that teachers need to “show up and serve people,” and to stop complaining about the serious lack of safety measures taken by the city. for education, the mayor is now trying to distract from this systemic issue by claiming the UFT has been too demanding in its safety requests. includes almost no remedy for the dangers posed by a school reopening. Get breaking news alerts in the FOX5NY News app. There will be a UFT 50-item safety checklist required to be completed before a school can reopen, but there is no forthcoming information on whether there is any way to enforce this agreement. Woman wanted for assault on SF Uber driver arrested in Vegas, other suspect to turn herself in. Mass Mobilizations in France Against Macron’s Pension Reform, The Days the City Stood Still: Lessons From the 2005 NYC Transit Strike, López Obrador quiere regularizar migrantes a EE. Teachers also know just how catastrophic these reopening plans will be for Black and Latinx communities, which have already been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. A deal was then made with politicians and presented as a win. NYC TEACHERS WIN STRIKE Once again the headline is a little misleading, just as when we covered the start of the Brooklyn Friends School strike , but it is accurate. The UFT argued that “The state could expand [the vaccination] requirement by insisting that all students and staff who are planning on attending school be tested in August for active or prior exposure to the coronavirus.” But Mulgrew has since walked back this demand for full testing, saying now that a plan to test a random sample of 10 percent of students and teachers once a month is a “win” for teachers. Meanwhile, teachers are still expected to return to school on September 8, as planned, with most riding crowded public transportation to get there. There is still no plan to make any accommodation for teachers with immunocompromised or otherwise medically vulnerable family members. Then, on Tuesday, UFT leadership cancelled the strike votes and announced that it had come to an agreement with the DOE to reopen schools as planned with a delay of only seven school days and with a few small changes. JOHN MARSHALL MANTEL/SIPA/Shutterstock While New York City’s teachers union has threatened to strike if schools reopen in three weeks before they feel assured of … There will be a UFT 50-item safety checklist required to be completed before a school can reopen, but there is no forthcoming information on whether there is any way to enforce this agreement. The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) made a statement in solidarity with a potential teacher strike: “There is no question that reopening in-person schooling will accelerate the spread of COVID-19 and expose educators and school staff to greater risk of infection.” Goldstein said that the city still hasn’t agreed to mandatory coronavirus testing for both students and educators, one of the union’s biggest demands. ", "We want everybody to be safe," said Arthur Goldstein, a member of the UFT's executive board. De Blasio insists that the city is doing the best it can. In contrast, rank and file teacher organizations, such as the MORE caucus, as well as a DSA-led solidarity group, had frequent meetings to discuss next steps and to plan for the possibility of the first strike of the UFT in 45 years. The city’s teachers union will spend one more day negotiating with city officials in the hopes of beefing up safety measures before school buildings reopen. According to the agreement students will not be returning to in-person instruction until September 21, a delay of only seven school days from the original reopening. — themselves woefully insufficient were also dropped. That’s why NYC private schools like Poly Prep are setting up their own testing structures. Now UFT leaders are trying to sell the necessity of in-person school to their own members by pointing to the fact that in some districts with full remote learning, legislatures have used it as an excuse to lay off teachers. In an attempt to “sell” this terrible deal to the membership, the UFT leadership has insisted over and over again that “We showed them we would not go back until it was safe.” Lower-level members of the union leadership have been insisting for weeks that the UFT could not demand that schools be fully remote. Meanwhile, the city has been working to meet the union’s other requests, like inspecting more than 1,700 school’s ventilation systems. History Two previous unions of New York schoolteachers, the Teachers Union, founded in 1916, and the Teachers Guild, founded in 1935, failed to gather widespread enrollment or support.Many of the early leaders were pacifists or socialists and so frequently met with clashes against more right-leaning newspapers and organizations of the time, as red-baiting was fairly common. It’s long past time for rank and file New York City teachers to force the UFT leadership to stop hiding behind the Taylor Law as a way to avoid taking militant action when it’s necessary — like now, in a life-and-death situation. It's clear to me that is not on the agenda for this meeting. NYC, teachers union strike deal on deferred compensation payout Minnesota is a Blue State. First they said it was because parents were needed as allies, then when it became clear that parents were overwhelmingly not in favor of the DOE reopening plan, the narrative shifted. The union … Public employee strikes have never been legal in New York. They made clear that a strike vote is not planned," Mayor Bill de Blasio said. So while both Cuomo and the NYC City Council have. NEW YORK - The United Federation of Teachers' executive board was set to meet on Monday but it is still unknown if teachers will follow through with a threat to strike if New York … The leadership’s handling of the reopening has also exposed the ways in which it attempts to keep teachers in line. However, there are still massive testing shortages and delays, with some people waiting up to 18 days for results. New York City teachers haven’t gone on strike since 1975, and going on strike could bring big risks, according to Chalkbeat. The Mayor’s Office says that all staff members will be asked to take a COVID-19 test before the first day of school and workers will have priority testing access at select hospitals with expedited results. 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