Who Wants a Raise?
Everyone. And if you are a UFTer (and not a retiree), you are getting one. But get this. A new paraprofessional is getting a raise of $803/year. Man, do they need it. Getting by on $31,500 in New York City is not easy. I assume most have second jobs. Or have more members of their household working.
But also, get this: a top of scale teacher is also getting a raise. But the teacher is getting an extra $5080 year. Over 6 times as much as the para. Does the senior teacher need more money? Or need it more? No. In NYC $150k does not make you rich. But you’ve got more income than a para. More than five times more.
So who decided that the teacher should get a $5080 raise, while the para just gets $803?
More to come. Because this is clearly wrong. And there’s plenty of blame to go around. But there are also things we can do.
I respectfully disagree with the framing of this argument. Paras are woefully underpaid. Framing teacher pay as the contrast is creating a villain where there isn’t one. This is not zero sum.
It was not my intent to create a contrast – Shanker did that. But if the union is accepting that there is a fixed amount of money for raises (as they have done for decades), then they should be negotiating for everyone to get the top raise.
(the anonymous comment is from Tom M. He did not mean to be anonymous here)