Proposed DPS/DFT contact: read the fine print!

[eastsidechris]

Not only do Detroit teachers not get a paltry pay raise [[1%) for three years, but I saw this in the proposed contract:
Termination Incentive Plan

Beginning January 12, 2010 and ending with the fourth [[4th) pay of the 2011-2012
school year [[for a total of 40 payments), all salaried members of the bargaining unit
[[except assistant attendance officers, accompanists and members who work less than
.50 FTE) shall have $250 per pay deducted from their pay and deposited into a
Termination Incentive Plan [[TIP) account. [[Deductions shall not be made for the four
[[4) summer checks for members on 26 pays – checks numbered 23-26). A total of all
deposits into an individual member’s TIP account shall be shown on the member’s pay
stub. Assistant attendance officers, accompanists, members who work less than .50
FTE, hourly and daily rated members shall not be required to pay into the TIP account
but shall have the option of doing so.

2009 Termination Incentive Payment

Bargaining unit members who retire or resign from the District following ratification of
the 2009-2012 Agreement shall receive a Termination of Service Bonus of one-
thousand dollars [[$1,000) for each year of service with the District up to ten [[10) years
of service, with a cap of $10,000. Bargaining unit members on layoff status shall not be
entitled to this Bonus until such time as they are removed from the layoff list pursuant to
Article Fifteen. However, no member’s Termination of Service Bonus shall exceed the
amount he/she contributed to his/her TIP account pursuant to Article Nine, Section B.

Members may elect to have their Termination of Service Bonus paid as a lump sum,
deposited into an annuity, or deposited into a Tax Deferred Plan [[TDP).

Sounds like a big ol' heaping pile of bullspit to me! Perhaps Keith Johnson is the one who needs to be terminated if this is how he did his constituency. You can download the contract at this link: http://mi.aft.org/dft231/index.cfm?a...4-464cbecfcf76

[65memories]

Once again, the guy on the lower rung takes the penalty. Robert Bobb pays consultants and directors $100,000 plus, but school-based administrators [[who continue to give up 10% of their salary year after year) and teaching staff bear the brunt. Can't see the rank and file agreeing to this, when they already sacrifice and go into their own pockets for basic supplies.

[English]

Speaking as a former DPS teacher, I foresee a showdown. It's unthinkable to cut salaries during such hard economic times, but it's inevitable with the loss of so many students... they are going to break the DFT sooner or later. Scary.

[firstandten]

yes, this seems like a real tough sale. Teachers need to look at it this way. There were years where you had the leverage to get the contract you wanted. The total landscape has changed, the leverage you had, you don't have this time. Given that fact the DFT is doing the responsible thing and is giving its members a decent deal given the environment. You may not like it, but Bobb is holding all the cards this time around and the sooner the teachers accept that the better off everyone will be.

[DetroitTeacher]

I'm stumped as to WHY this is in our agreement. Who benefits? Does the district have access to that money while it sits and awaits our retirement? If I am losing 500.00 a month, I won't be able to purchase any supplies, like I normally do, for the classroom. 500 bucks is a lot to lose! I didn't cause the problems in DPS. Those that were in positions of power stole money and the powers that be are handing consulting companies and test agencies [[Kaplan is in our school 3 days a week, interupting the 11th grade English classes) BIG money for little results. If they gave teachers what we really need to get the job done, then they wouldn't need all of these consulting companies coming in.

[noenaim]

I'm going out right now to buy some things for my classroom.Like many teachers I always spend my own money for my students, and now they want to take that money away. In this bad economy in a city that's barely surviving to exist teachers are not going to look very good when we vote no on this contract [[most likely) .This makes no sense this is clearly an attempt to break the union. Maybe its an effort to just get rid of DPS and make every school in the city a charter then there no unions and they can pay the teacher what ever menial salary they want.

[oldredfordette]

I feel bad for the teachers. We do not give a fuck about children in this country and it's not "cost effective" to pay teachers a decent wage to do their work. As soon as education becomes a commodity like health care, it will be rationed in this country like everything else. A damn shame, but it's all a part of our rush to the bottom.

[firstandten]

I know that some think that Bobb is trying to break the union but I don't see it that way. I believe the current labor model between union and management which is based on confrontation and narrow self interest is so 20th century and needs to be updated to reflect the times we are going thru today. In order for that to happen Bobb had to do some things to create leverage for his position. The $10,000 loan is an out of the box idea and given the alternate probably not a bad idea

I believe the DFT moving forward will start to act as more of a partner with DPS and less as an adversary. The very survival of traditional public schools in Detroit is depended on that happening.

[Zacha341]

Anyone hear how the COBO meeting went today? I bet the DFT rank and file members tore the roof off the arena re. the contract!

[Zacha341]

Hot off the press!
Detroit teachers balk at plan to loan district $10,000 each from pay

http://detnews.com/article/20091206/METRO/912060324/Detroit-teachers-balk-at-plan-to-loan-district-$10-000-each-from-pay

Boos greet new DPS contract

http://freep.com/article/20091206/NE...w-DPS-contract

[Crystal]

I don't understand how TIP would work well enough to comment on it, but I want to report on a slightly related topic.

My husband is working as a sub in a local school district. He must pay out of his own pocket to print transparencies and buy the transparency stock.

[Novine]

Most Detroit teachers probably earn at least what they get in pay every day. I wouldn't want to teach under those conditions. But comments like this one

"Not only do Detroit teachers not get a paltry pay raise [[1%) for three years, but I saw this in the proposed contract:
Termination Incentive Plan"

show that some in the teaching profession still don't get it. Complaining about only getting a 1% raise when many people have taken big pay cuts or worse, lost their jobs, looks bad to most people. It sucks but it sucks for most of us out here.

[noenaim]

Most Detroit teachers probably earn at least what they get in pay every day. I wouldn't want to teach under those conditions. But comments like this one

"Not only do Detroit teachers not get a paltry pay raise [[1%) for three years, but I saw this in the proposed contract:
Termination Incentive Plan"

show that some in the teaching profession still don't get it. Complaining about only getting a 1% raise when many people have taken big pay cuts or worse, lost their jobs, looks bad to most people. It sucks but it sucks for most of us out here.

I like most of teachers at my school have a Masters Degree and every 5 years I have to [[by law) go back to school to get more hours of education. If I don't go back to get more eduction I lose my teaching certificate and my job. Guess who pays for this schooling that I am required to do??
Can you name another job where such highly educated people have to beg for a 1 percent raise?

[Novine]

"Can you name another job where such highly educated people have to beg for a 1 percent raise?"

Do you think that's going to gain you sympathy from your neighbors who have lost their jobs or seen their pay and benefits cut?

[rooms222]

Government employees all over SE Michigan are taking big cuts, including no raises, higher insurance payments, and ways to reduce cash outlays [[furloughs, pay cuts and the TIP @ DPS). Furlough days are difficult to implement for teachers because the students still have a mandated number of days of school, so a sub would be hired, defeating most if not all of the cash outlay savings. Hawaii [[with a state-wide school district) did institute furlough days for teachers this year, which closed schools [[and was deeply criticized by the public).

Oakland County made employees take a straight 5% pay cut. This is arguably worse than the furlough or the TIP, because this is money not paid to the employee, and the employee needs about 7% of raises to get back to the pay rate they were at earlier. They do get a little more about 6% more cash in the paycheck than a 10% furlough, but at the cost of working 11% more hours.

The TIP means that the employee does not get the money until they leave, but they do get it. They lose the interest on the money, but protect their base wage, pension benefits, and do get the "principal" back. A difficult to swallow, but creative solution that appears better than the alternatives above, and especially a bankruptcy where the labor contract can be torn up completely.....

[ndavies]

I like most of teachers at my school have a Masters Degree and every 5 years I have to [[by law) go back to school to get more hours of education. If I don't go back to get more eduction I lose my teaching certificate and my job. Guess who pays for this schooling that I am required to do??
Can you name another job where such highly educated people have to beg for a 1 percent raise?

Please quit the crying. At least you have a job and don't have to move.

As a software engineer I would have loved a 1% raise this year. Instead, I had to settle for complete termination of my job, 6 months out of work, a 20% salary cut for the new job and a loss of half my holiday and vacation days. I had better pay and benefits 15 years ago. I also had to move out of state and am now trying to not go bankrupt supporting a house I cannot live in.

[noenaim]

Please quit the crying. At least you have a job and don't have to move.

As a software engineer I would have loved a 1% raise this year. Instead, I had to settle for complete termination of my job, 6 months out of work, a 20% salary cut for the new job and a loss of half my holiday and vacation days. I had better pay and benefits 15 years ago. I also had to move out of state and am now trying to not go bankrupt supporting a house I cannot live in.

I'm going ask another way
Is there a job where you MUST go back to school every 5 years [[paying for the classes your self) just to keep your job?
I have to take 3 hours of classes next just to keep my certification.


I'm not asking for you sympathy just stating facts that I feel few people Know

[EMG]

I'm going ask another way
Is there a job where you MUST go back to school every 5 years [[paying for the classes your self) just to keep your job?
I have to take 3 hours of classes next just to keep my certification.


I'm not asking for you sympathy just stating facts that I feel few people Know

Is that 3 hours of classes every five years? If so, that's REALLY getting off easy.

In my own profession [[medical coding) I am required to get 24 hours of continuing professional education every two years. My wife who is a nurse has similar requirements. And I'm sure the requirements for doctors and other medical professionals are even higher - as they should be.

[eastsidechris]

EMG wrote:
In my own profession [[medical coding) I am required to get 24 hours of continuing professional education every two years. My wife who is a nurse has similar requirements. And I'm sure the requirements for doctors and other medical professionals are even higher - as they should be.

I don't mean to be skeptical, but how many of those hours can be made up by going to conferences each year that can be written off as business expenses?

[Novine]

"Is there a job where you MUST go back to school every 5 years [[paying for the classes your self) just to keep your job?
I have to take 3 hours of classes next just to keep my certification."

Most teachers, if they choose, can stay with the same district until they retire. How many other people get the opportunity to stay with the same company for a lifetime? Want better pay or a better job? You often have to go look elsewhere. You may not be required to go back to school but many professions expect to see that you've gone back to school to get additional training or certification or an advanced degree, depending on your field of work. I'm still amazed at how many teachers still think they are "getting screwed" when they are asked to give up $2 co-pays for prescription drugs or have to settle for a 1% pay raise. I have to guess that most of their friends and families are in the education field too. Otherwise, they would know that the pay and benefits that many of them get today are distant memories for those who used to enjoy similar pay and benefits.

[ndavies]

I'm going ask another way
Is there a job where you MUST go back to school every 5 years [[paying for the classes your self) just to keep your job?
I have to take 3 hours of classes next just to keep my certification.


I'm not asking for you sympathy just stating facts that I feel few people Know

Every profession has it's requirements to stay employed. I wish mine were as easy as yours.

[Melocoton]

I never understand why such a common response to another working person's story of hard times, like that of the Detroit teachers, is to say "screw you, my job sucks worse" instead of something more along the lines of "I know what you're going through." Why is everyone at each other's throats? [[At least on the internet, where it's easy to talk tough.)

As for the person who complains that the DFT should roll over because confrontation is "so 20th century," I would say that the economic hardships teachers and many others are facing sure seem pretty damn 20th century to me. 1930s, to be exact.

[DetroitTeacher]

I am thankful for what I have, a job. My problem is with Bobb and the powers that be who gave themselves a 3% pay raise while I have to give up my money. Another problem I have is the rent DPS is paying for the Central Office when there are buildings that can be used for those offices. NOTHING was said in the negotiations about class size and the kids. THAT is my issue.

[English]

I am thankful for what I have, a job. My problem is with Bobb and the powers that be who gave themselves a 3% pay raise while I have to give up my money. Another problem I have is the rent DPS is paying for the Central Office when there are buildings that can be used for those offices. NOTHING was said in the negotiations about class size and the kids. THAT is my issue.

Amen, amen, and amen again... from your sister in AFT Local 3550 up the road who still holds a cherished place in my heart for Local 231.

[English]

I never understand why such a common response to another working person's story of hard times, like that of the Detroit teachers, is to say "screw you, my job sucks worse" instead of something more along the lines of "I know what you're going through." Why is everyone at each other's throats? [[At least on the internet, where it's easy to talk tough.)

As for the person who complains that the DFT should roll over because confrontation is "so 20th century," I would say that the economic hardships teachers and many others are facing sure seem pretty damn 20th century to me. 1930s, to be exact.

It's the national race to the bottom. We've been sold a bill of goods. We honestly believe that the powers that be are holding all the cards, when in reality they fear that the American public will wake up and do the one thing that every other Western democracy has done in the past 100 years...

...revolt.

I was pretty darned sure we'd take to the streets this decade. They haven't stripped us of enough yet. But there will be a day of reckoning.