At a contentious meeting on Tuesday, New York City teachers and their union president, Randi Weingarten, gave Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg a deadline of early October to offer them a fair new contract. If he fails to do so, they threatened, they may strike, endorse his Democratic rival, Fernando Ferrer, or maybe both.þþA walkout is considered unlikely. It is illegal for teachers to strike, and they would face jail, the loss of two days' pay for each day out of work and the likelihood of public sentiment turning against them. But behind the threatening exchange is a complex, bitter and increasingly unpredictable labor dispute.þþThere is wide and deepening anger among many of the city's 83,000 teachers whose most recent contract expired on May 31, 2003, leaving them without raises as the cost of living has jumped. þþThis summer, Mr. Bloomberg predicted a generous deal by the start of school. Instead, teachers are fuming over a blitz of campaign ads in which the mayor takes credit for improved test scores that they regard as a result of their hard work.þþThe union, the United Federation of Teachers, and the Bloomberg administration are to resume formal negotiations today. On the table is a compromise proposed by a panel of arbitrators. It calls for 11 percent raises over 37 months tied to lengthening the school day by 10 minutes, adding three teacher training days, eliminating some highly prized seniority rights, and other concessions.þþAlthough the panel sided with Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein on some issues, especially on seniority rights, the Bloomberg administration has moved slowly to hammer out a deal based on the arbitrators' recommendations, perhaps to buy the union's neutrality in the mayoral race as long as possible or perhaps because the pact would cost about $200 million more than City Hall expected.þþIn an interview, Ms. Weingarten said teachers were so furious that the first teachers' strike since 1975 was a possibility even though state law prohibits it. ÿThe teachers always made the kids the first priority, and the mayor is running on that record and turns his back on the teachers,ÿ she said. ÿYou have people who are really angry, who feel really betrayed.ÿþþÿNobody wants to go to jail,ÿ she added, ÿbut I understand the consequences of being a union leader.ÿþþIn recent days, the acrimony has worsened. When the former president of the teachers' union, Sandra Feldman, died last Monday, City Hall did not issue a statement expressing condolence. The union took that silence as an insult.þþOpponents of Ms. Weingarten within the union suggest that the talk of a strike is intended not to pressure Mr. Bloomberg but to scare teachers into accepting a deal that includes smaller gains and larger concessions than they wanted. ÿThere are two angles that the union plays,ÿ said Norm Scott, a critic of the union leadership. ÿP.R. with the members and P.R. with the public.ÿþþMr. Bloomberg's aides said that he was unmoved by talk of a strike. ÿWe don't believe teachers or union leaders would break the law,ÿ his spokesman, Edward Skyler, said. ÿThe mayor wants to reach another agreement which gives teachers a well-deserved raise and provides real reforms so we can continue the historic progress of our schools.ÿþþThe mayor's aides indicated that Mr. Bloomberg was far more annoyed by the union's threat to endorse Mr. Ferrer. ÿYou introduce politics in the conversation, you lose him,ÿ one City Hall official said.þþPrivately, however, some advisers to Mr. Bloomberg have expressed concern about how a teachers' strike would affect the campaign.þþMany experts on the school system believe the union is in a bind. ÿRandi's in a very difficult position,ÿ said Diane Ravitch, a writer and historian of the schools. ÿShe's got a very angry membership, and she really wants a contract, and Bloomberg really has no incentive to do anything.ÿþþSome concessions that the arbitrators proposed are particularly thorny. For instance, they urged that teachers in middle school and high school be required to cover for absent colleagues for 12 class periods a year, up from 2 periods, but asked no similar concession of teachers in elementary schools.þþIn interviews, several teachers said that the only gain they could see in the proposed deal was money and that the raises were paltry given the added work, including two training days before Labor Day, shortening summer vacation. þþIf the administration tries to reduce the raises, teachers and union officials said, the deal will stand little chance. Starting city teachers now earn $39,000; the maximum base pay is more than $81,000 - generally 10 to 15 percent lower than in surrounding suburbs. þþAnd depending on how Ms. Weingarten and the Bloomberg administration structure central components of the deal - like the proposed 10 extra minutes - she may not be able to sell it. Teachers could refuse to ratify the contract, as they did in 1995, stunning the union and City Hall. þþÿThe fact is we have extreme commuters: we have people coming from Pennsylvania, we have people coming from Orange and Rockland,ÿ said Mark Nichik, a veteran teacher. ÿThis extra time is no joke because you can't afford to live in the city.ÿþþÿI don't know if she could sell it,ÿ said Mr. Nichik, who lives in Manhattan. ÿTen minutes doesn't seem like much. But if you are going upstate it gets dark 10 or 15 minutes earlier.ÿþþ
Source: NY Times
