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Did you get fooled into voting for higher co-pays?

Published April 5, 2016 Contract , UFT Closed
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(from the New Action leaflet distributed at the March 2016 UFT Delegate Assembly).
For a printable version click: Leaflet 2016 March 

Co-pays are jumping: Emergency Room visits – up from $50 to $150. Urgent Care – from $15 to $50. MRIs from $15 to $50. Specialists – from $15/$20 to $30. Blood Work and Physical Therapy from $15 to $20. Copays for visits to primary care physicians stay at $15.

How could this happen? Believe it or not, we voted for it. In the last contract, Unity put in health care “savings” provisions. But despite repeated inquiries, they never told us what those “savings” would be. Now we know what the “savings” are for this year. But brace yourselves – the contract does not agree to just one year, but FOUR YEARS of “savings.”

A better leadership would have shared this crucial information with the members WHEN WE WERE voting, not two years later.

A better leadership would be fighting to IMPROVE coverage, not making deals to make it cost extra.

We want and need parental leave, not higher co-pays. Vote MORE/New Action.

Paid Maternity/Paternity Leave

Published March 8, 2016 Contract , New Action , UFT Executive Board , United Federation of Teachers Closed
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Last April New Action proposed that UFT members should be entitled to paid parental leave. UFT members are often shocked to learn that all they receive upon having a child is six weeks of UNPAID maternity leave. Eight months later de Blasio may be helping this to happen. But why did our union not raise this issue?

At the January 11 UFT Executive Board meeting New Action co-chair Michael Shulman asked if we could send a maternity leave resolution to the NYSUT RA. Unity’s response was that it was not up to us to make that decision for other locals.

New Action disagrees. We can take a stand for fairness and equity and decency. We need to change from the current system to one where UFT members receive paid parental leave. But we should encourage other locals to take this step as well.

Retroactive Pay and Fairness

Published October 26, 2015 Contract , New York CIty Department of Education , solidarity , Teachers Contract , UFT 2 Comments
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(from the New Action leaflet distributed at the October 2015 UFT Delegate Assembly)
In a disheartening turn, after unusually harsh commentary by a teacher who is employed by the union,
the Unity leadership, followed by its caucus, voted en bloc against letting the delegates debate the issue.
For a printable version click: Leaflet 2015 October

Many members are happy to find the first lump sum payment from the 2014 contract in our checks. There are a flurry of questions – as is expected. When money is involved, we want to get it right.

The contract left out some groups of UFTers. People who have been discontinued are not entitled to the pay. Nor are people who resigned. Nor are people who left before age 55, waiting to retire when they turned 55. And people who died in service – their survivors are not entitled to the money they should have earned from 2009 – 2011. There is, unfortunately, nothing we can do to correct this unfairness.

But we can help another group. UFTers on maternity leave are not receiving the money due them this week. The City intends to pay them next round, in October 2017. There is a proposed resolution to get our folks the money they are due now. We urge you to vote to put this resolution on the agenda.

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