Posts tagged New York City
NYC Teachers, Migrant Students, and The Clash of Two Titans
January 27, 2024 // Among those policies were Assembly Bill A6328A and Senate Bill S9460. SB 9460 placed a mandatory limitation on the number of students per teacher—which will predominantly benefit wealthier areas. According to an analysis from the city’s Independent Budget Office (IBO), the law will require at least an additional 17,700 new teachers by 2027—when the law takes full effect. Officials have tried to warn of the law’s cost tradeoffs, namely that because the city’s highest-poverty schools already have smaller classes, they stand to benefit the least from the state’s class size cap. This means that funding will benefit wealthier areas, as opposed to the highest-poverty areas. Assembly Bill A6328A, also supported by UFT, codified migrants as a protected class, extending the right to a free education for every resident between the ages of 5 to 21, regardless of citizenship status. Since the new laws have passed, it’s estimated that 53,000 new migrant students have enrolled into public schools, 85% of which are non-English speaking.
Drama in the Teachers’ Lounge
January 12, 2024 // Ed Calamia, an English teacher at a Bronx school, says he doesn’t support congestion pricing, but he still doesn’t think the leadership should be filing lawsuits on behalf of its members without consulting them first. The move by Mulgrew, he says, is not the first time UFT top brass has acted unilaterally. “Some people think the rank-and-file membership should be involved with decisions, and some people think once they’ve been elected, it’s a dictatorship,”
Commentary: BOARD GAME CAFE WORKERS ARE UNIONIZING BECAUSE NOTHING MAKES SENSE ANYMORE
January 4, 2024 // Whether the ownership likes it or not — they don’t, by the way, they said the board game cafe employees unionizing would “flexible and open-door atmosphere we have tried to foster” — Hex & Co. unionized, and two other board game cafes followed suit. If it works out for them, great. But when these cafes can’t afford to keep their doors open, we’d better not hear any complaining about how no one was willing to pay them to teach board games.
A Seat at the Table: Physicians Have Been Unionizing in Droves
January 3, 2024 // Mugdha Mokashi, MD, a second-year ob/gyn resident, emphasized that residents and fellows often take care of patients with the greatest needs and the fewest resources. "This is about having a seat at the table" to help make decisions that affect working conditions for residents and fellows, as well as others, including nurses and midwives, Mokashi told MedPage Today, adding that the people "directly responsible for making patient care better" should hold power within an institution.
Pizza Hut franchisees lay off more than 1,200 delivery drivers in California as restaurants brace for $20 fast-food wages
December 26, 2023 // Mark Kalinowski, a restaurant-industry analyst, wrote in a note this week that he expected "more harm to come" in various ways as fast-food chains "take action in an attempt to blunt the impact of higher labor costs." Chains such as Chipotle and McDonald's said they planned to pass the costs of higher wages in California to customers by raising menu prices. In 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California signed the FAST Act into law. It called for the minimum wage for fast-food workers to increase to $22 an hour in 2023. But corporate chains such as McDonald's, Chipotle, and Chick-fil-A, as well as franchise advocacy groups, fought the law. A coalition of restaurant-industry organizations said the law could raise costs for fast-food restaurants by $3 billion. They rallied to get a referendum on the ballot.
NYC Commercial Building Workers Authorize Strike
December 22, 2023 // The board is asking workers to kick in on health insurance premiums — a nonstarter according to the union. 32BJ has a self-funded health plan and has worked to keep health insurance costs down. Its members are among the minority of American workers that do not bear any of the cost of their insurance premiums. The board is also proposing a lower pay rate for new hires and other changes it refers to as “enhanced flexibility.” But 32BJ leaders disparage this idea, saying it’s akin to the two-tier wage system auto industry workers overturned this fall.
Boarded The Teachers’ Union Takeover of NY School Districts
November 21, 2023 // NYSUT’s involvement in state and federal elections is well-documented, but the low turnout in New York’s generally nonpartisan school board elections has given it an even bigger opportunity. The union also isn’t stopping with school boards: its electoral efforts involve elevating members to local, state and federal office, positions from which union members could eventually affect every facet of education policy. The system of campaign finance rules that regulate everything from elections for governor down to town assessors does not cover school board elections.
Cornell grad students overwhelmingly vote to unionize
November 13, 2023 // Union organizers have advocated that collectively bargaining with Cornell will be a path for graduate student to address issues ranging from improving the university’s services for foreign students studying on a visa, to assisting grad students with the cost of transportation, such as Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit’s bus services or parking on campus. In addition to improved wages and compensation, CGSU has also promised to advocate that Cornell provide dental and vision insurance to graduate students “at no extra cost.”
City Workers Ditch Unions, Skip Dues, Following Supreme Court Ruling
November 2, 2023 // Pre-Janus, public sector employees had the option to explicitly opt out of union membership thanks to an earlier Supreme Court decision but still had to pay “agency fees” out of their paychecks to the unions. Union leaders, including New York City’s Municipal Labor Committee, warned before the decision of potentially large declines in union membership if signing up became optional. Any dramatic loss of dues-paying union members could threaten unions’ operations or even their ability to exist – a possibility on the horizon in some so-called “right to work” states.
What could the new EEOC rule mean for unions?
November 1, 2023 // Seabron was just one of multiple black employees who experienced harassment from this union. Moeleek Thomas, a tow truck operator with the New York City police department traffic enforcement division was called racist names when he tried to raise concerns to union leadership. “Union leaders avoided my questions about the lack of a contract for our unit,” explained Thomas. “I was frustrated, and that frustration led to a confrontation with the vice-president of District Council 37 Local 983, Marvin Robbins, during which, Robbins called me racist names.” “In a phone call, Robbins called me a ‘house n—er,’ an ‘Uncle Tom,’ and he told me I was nothing but a ‘kiss-a–,’” said Thomas. Thomas hopes the EEOC rule could help hold union leaders, like Marvin Robbins, accountable for their actions. The EEOC has invited the public to submit comments regarding the proposed rule at https://www.regulations.gov/document/EEOC-2023-0005-0001 until Nov. 1.