Before the school…
By Adam Kramer
Queens public school teachers were out in force Monday as they joined their brethren around the city to show their anger over the lack of a contract and to push for fair and equitable pay from the city with informational picketing.
Before the school bell rang Monday morning and after it sounded the end of the day Monday afternoon, borough teachers walked the picket line in front of their respective schools. After 17 months without a contract, teachers from Astoria to Glen Oaks, from Flushing to Springfield Gardens and from Jamaica to Ridgewood turned up the volume on their demands for a new and just contract.
“We cannot afford anymore to live on the salary that we have,” said Maria Esther Taborda, an ESL teacher and UFT chapter leader at PS 85 on 31st Street in Astoria. “It’s very disconcerting. Teachers are leaving by droves. We don’t get the salary that we much more than deserve.”
The teachers, wearing signs that read, “We’ve lost our patience” and “Enough is enough,” have been without a contract for 17 months. They battled former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and now hope to negotiate with Mayor Michael Bloomberg on a contract. Teachers, frustrated by the lack of progress, have called for a strike vote on Wednesday before they go into a scheduled negotiation meeting with the mayor Thursday.
Teachers have been pushing for a 24 percent pay raise, which would bring them into line with the teachers’ pay scale in Nassau and Suffolk counties.
Taborda pointed out that the younger teachers are trying to support and raise a family and they cannot do it on a New York City teachers’ salary. Teachers, she said, do not think it is worthwhile to stay in a system that does not provide adequate funding for the schools.
A 15 percent pay hike proposed in an independent fact-finding report is a good framework for a contract, she said, but there are certain things that have to be worked out. The teachers want a contract now, she said. And she does not want to wait until September because the teachers cannot afford it.
“It’s not just about money, it’s about rights, too,” said Linda Pierre, a third-grade teacher for 17 years at PS 85. “It’s for the children.”
In the business world people get raises every year, she said, but she has not seen an increase on her paycheck in years.
“All the things we fought for up until now, they want to take it away from us,” said Jeannie Kouros, an ESL coordinator for the past 15 years at PS 85, referring to educational programs, like reading enrichment and art/music classes. “We’re here at 7:30 in the morning. We take work home every day. All we hear is, they go home at 3 and they have leisure time.”
She said many of the city’s teachers need to get second jobs just to make ends meet. Teachers do not want to strike, she said, but they might have to walk out if the mayor does not sit down to negotiate.
“We don’t have a choice because we are not getting respected,” Kouros said. “I would like the mayor to visit one school for a week. He needs to learn more about the educational system.”
The teachers union organized the informational picketing after an independent fact-finding report last week issued a non-binding recommendation to increase wages 16.6 percent and health care benefits over the next 27 months. The recommendation also called for a 15 percent across-the-board raise with part of it retroactive to Nov. 16, 2000.
The report, which rejected merit pay and the elimination of sabbaticals, recommended $56 million be made available for recruitment and retention of teachers, lengthening the work day by 20 minutes and a no-layoff guarantee for all titles.
Reach reporter Adam Kramer by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 157.
