Mayor Bloomberg says the clock is ticking and the City needs to hand out layoff notices for teachers as soon as possible.
Thousands of teachers will face the ax, he said, and the time to reach a deal with Albany is running out as well.
“We have to lay off teachers right now and we owe it to the teachers to tell those who are going to get laid off now that they are going to go so that they have a chance to get another job for the fall,” he said.
The “last in, first out” system of layoffs, in which newest teachers to be hired will get fired first, will hurt students, he said.
He’s still hopeful for a compromise with Gov. Andrew Cuomo as to which teachers are going to be laid off, and he maintains he is not union busting. He says he’s simply doing what’s right for the kids.
“This is anything but union busting. This is trying to use unions more,” Bloomberg said. “The truth of the matter is we have to downsize and it’s true the workforce is unionized, but that’s not taking a shot at unions at all.”
(Source: 1010WINS)
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4 Responses
I assume that even if the legislature were to pass the bill doing away with seniority, there is still a union contract with such a provision. I don’t quite understand how anyone can judge teachers fairly. It’s not like a salesman who sells a particular dollar amount since there are so many viariables in in the sudent population and the school administration. What is to keep the principals from discriminating or just keeping their favorites regardless of effectivness?
yaakov, good point. Also, Bloomberg is an investor. He sees schools failing therefore a bad investment, so he wants to pull out his money. But we need to remember that the schools which are failing are those with no parental involvement in their own child success, it has nothing to do with the teachers. But noone will ever blame those parents. It is easier to place blame on teachers.
#2,
This is like the owner of a baseball team firing the manager when the team is losing. The players are the ones losing the games but the manager gets blamed.
Regarding laying off incompetent teachers: They should not be laid off, they should be fired for cause. The union contract permits this, after a hearing.