ALBANY – The city’s public-school teachers brought their fight for a new contract to the state Legislature yesterday, pushing for a bill that would punish the city if it doesn’t negotiate in good faith.
“We know legislators don’t get involved in our contract, but this year, they have to,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers.
Complaining about the way the city has been bargaining, the UFT is backing a change in state law that would impose penalties on public employers who do not negotiate in good faith.
Weingarten complained that the Taylor Law, which bars teachers and some other public employees from striking, penalizes only unions that violate its provisions.
Under the UFT proposal, the Public Employment Relations Board could force an employer found not to be negotiating in good faith to pay an immediate 1 percent salary increase to employees.
If the situation didn’t improve, PERB could require additional one-half percent salary increases every three months – pay hikes that would not offset the final contractual agreement.
While the bill has been introduced in the Democratic-controlled Assembly, it has yet to find a sponsor in the GOP-led state Senate.
The city’s teachers have been working without a new contract since Nov. 15, and negotiations between the UFT and Mayor Giuliani have reached an impasse.
The UFT wants salaries comparable to those in the suburbs, which would cost the city an additional $1 billion. The mayor said the demand is unaffordable.
Lobbying in Albany, Weingarten and 1,000 teachers, school staffers and parents also called for a major school-funding increase that can help cover negotiated raises, and pushed for better working conditions and smaller classrooms.