Posts tagged salary
AFT PRESIDENT RANDI WEINGARTEN QUALIFIED FOR PUBLIC PENSION FOR YEARS SPENT OUT OF THE CLASSROOM ON UNION LEAVE
May 17, 2023 // AFT president Randi Weingarten’s teaching experience is very limited. While she describes having worked as a New York City public school teacher for six years, she only worked as a regularly appointed full-time teacher for three years, after having spent three years as a per diem substitute. Documents recently obtained by the Freedom Foundation show that Weingarten has been on union leave from her teaching position for the past quarter century. Additional documents show that the Teacher Retirement System of the City of New York has credited Weingarten with nearly 11-and-a-half years of service credit for time spent out of the classroom on full-time union leave as an officer for the United Federation of Teachers.
Rutgers’ unions ratify new contracts, formally ending strike
May 11, 2023 // Three unions, which represent about 9,000 Rutgers staff members, were involved in the strike: the Rutgers AAUP-AFT, which represents full-time faculty, graduate workers, postdoctoral associates and some counselors; the Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union, which represents part-time lecturers; and the AAUP-BHSNJ, which includes faculty in the biomedical and health sciences at Rutgers’ medical, dental, nursing and public health schools.
Op-ed Lawmakers: Protecting teachers’ paychecks is an Oklahoma priority
May 9, 2023 // Teachers across the country seem to be awakening to the gulf between their own values and the political bent of the unions. The National Education Association, which is one of the nation’s largest teachers union, ended 2022 with a net loss of 40,107 members, marking its lowest membership level since 2006. But educators shouldn’t be left to resist union overreach on their own. They need their state leaders to hold unions accountable and to protect teachers’ rights. Oklahoma leaders already have begun tackling this important issue. In 2021, we authored legislation, now reintroduced as Senate Bill 99, which would help protect teachers’ First Amendment rights to decide whether to pay union dues. Gov. Kevin Stitt followed in 2022 with an executive order calling for action on teacher notification, which would guarantee teachers a written notice to confirm that joining and paying a union is optional. State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters also has been a vocal proponent of teacher paycheck protection. Now the issue is front and center once again, not just in Oklahoma but across the country. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled a legislative proposal earlier this year to protect teachers’ constitutional freedoms, reduce union overreach and get Florida taxpayers out of the business of collecting union dues. Meanwhile, state leaders in Indiana also are prioritizing the needs of their teachers, and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has introduced similar legislation.
Southwest pilots union vote on potential strike underway
May 2, 2023 // The strike voting period opened Monday at noon. The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association said they're still disagreeing with management on salary, benefits, retirement and other contract terms after years at the negotiating table. SWAPA President Casey Murray wrote in a statement the company's management has shown "no willingness" to address pilots' concerns related to scheduling and technology issues. “The decision to authorize a strike is not one we have taken lightly, but given the lack of accountability and dearth of leadership exhibited by our current executives, we felt that this was a last resort to try to force them to face the issues plaguing our passengers, our frontline employees, and our pilots,” Murray wrote in a statement.
Union strike: Broadway actors plan rally outside DPAC before ‘Beetlejuice’
April 13, 2023 // Broadway could go dark as Actors’ Equity Union, representing actors and stage mangers, has issued a strike threat warning. The Actors’ Equity Union is back at the bargaining table Tuesday with the Broadway League, which oversees the contracts for thousands of touring performers. Kate Shindle, president of the Actors’ Equity Union, said the main reason actors and performers are seeking new contracts is the rising cost of food and housing in the places they visit on tour. Union members get a set allowance to cover those costs and are asking for an increase in that amount. Actors are often dipping into their salary to pay for food and hotel rooms.
Can Women Help Fill the Shortage of Trade Workers? Unions Are Betting On It.
February 15, 2023 // Her website bio describes her as a feminist plumber, but Judaline Cassidy is more than that. She’s nothing short of a tradeswoman evangelist, preaching the gospel of tradework to the masses, and she hopes women are listening. Cassidy was raised by her grandmother in Trinidad and Tobago. Without money to attend college, she began to look at trades, which she saw as the one way she could learn an employable skill and get paid doing it. She chose plumbing.
U.S. labor strikes went up almost 50% between 2021 and 2022
January 18, 2023 // Union membership and strike activity has fallen in the decades since King’s death. But more recently, that has been changing. The number of strikes in the United States rose almost 50% between 2021 and 2022, according to Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. That pickup in activity has momentum.
Americans are taking more control over their work lives – because they have to
January 6, 2023 // In research I’ve been conducting on side hustles in the sharing economy, I am finding that many people take these gigs to compensate for limited control in their “traditional” jobs. Although gig work comes with its own set of challenges – lack of benefits is a key one – people feel liberated by greater control over where, when and how they work. Switching on an app shifts allegiance from one company to another. Turning off an app ends the workday in an instant. People rely on side hustles to earn additional income but also because of the freedom that comes from being an independent worker. Another benefit of portfolioing is hedging risk. Sudden layoffs, such as those recently affecting the tech industry, leave people feeling exposed to financial hardship and identity loss from being involuntarily sent to the exit. When facing difficult times at one job, people can turn to other parts of their career portfolio for security and stability.
Reuters to Allow Employees Mostly Work From Home in Tentative Agreement with Union
January 2, 2023 // The agreement between Reuters and the union expired nearly two years ago. In August, Reuters employees held their first strike in decades over stalled wage negotiations. Reuters reportedly offered 1 percent wage increases over three years, despite a 9 percent inflation rate for urban consumers. Last month, unionized employees authorized another strike. The agreement lets Reuters change its work-from-home policies after the 2023 year. It also limits management’s use of nondisclosure agreements in harassment and discrimination cases, according to Bloomberg. Union members will vote on the contract today (Dec. 28).