Starting salaries for New York City teachers will increase to $72,350
by 2026 under the United Teachers Federation’s newly ratified contract.
That’s 18.5% more than the current starting salary of $61,070.
But
while teachers and other members of their union approved the contract
this week, school-based occupational and physical therapists are holding
out for their own deal.
Because the therapists voted against the
contract, they will not receive pay increases, signing bonuses, or
other increased benefits. Instead, they will continue working under the
terms of the 2018 contract until their bargaining unit can reach a new
deal with the city.
UFT officials said they planned to discuss next steps with the chapter’s members.
The teachers’ five-year contract,
which is retroactive to 2022, includes 3% wage increases for the first
three years, followed by a 3.25% increase in the fourth year, and 3.5%
in the fifth year. In addition, teachers will get one-time signing
bonuses of $3,000 each and annual bonuses of $400 in 2024, $700 in 2025,
and $1,000 in 2026.
The union represents 115,000 full-time and
5,000 part-time education department employees, including
paraprofessionals, school secretaries, and social workers.
Three-quarters of them voted on the new contract, according to the
union.
Of the union members who voted this week, 75% approved the contract, according to the American Arbitration Association, but many educators expressed concern that the increases don’t keep pace with the rising cost of living. This approval rate was lower than the 87% yes vote for the last contract in 2018.
About 40% of the 3,000 members of the Occupational and Physical Therapists UFT Chapter voted no, according to Melissa Williams, the chapter’s leader.
Pay disparities anger occupational and physical therapists
Williams
and her colleagues feel that they’re being paid less over time than
teachers despite their roles requiring similar education. At the top of
the pay scale, she and her colleagues make considerably less than
comparably educated teachers, she said. For example, by January a
therapist with 10 years of experience and a master’s degree would earn
$86,131, according to UFT documents, while a teacher with the same years
and degree would earn $103,594.
According to a survey completed
by Williams’ chapter, nearly three-quarters of therapists work second or
third jobs after school.
“To look around the table and see that those of us doing similar work
are getting paid differently isn’t fair,” she said. “I’m concerned not
only for my financial future and my son’s financial future. I’m also
concerned for the financial viability for people joining this career.”
Another
sticking point for the therapists was a last-minute addition during
contract negotiations of a ninth session to their working day, Williams
said. Therapists see two to three students per session. “We barely have
time to do eight sessions,” Williams said.
Teachers also have contract concerns
Many
members of the Movement of Rank and File Educators, a social justice
caucus within UFT known as MORE, also voiced disappointment with the
contract.
“I think people voted yes because we’re in really dire
financial times, and they were afraid this administration, similar to
[former Mayor Michael] Bloomberg, would make us wait another nine years
to bargain again,” said Brooklyn middle school teacher and MORE member
Olivia Swisher.
Under Bloomberg, teachers worked four years under an expired contract until winning a settlement in 2013. Earlier, principals and supervisors also worked for nearly four years under an expired contract until 2003.
With
nine days to vote, Swisher felt that the contract was rushed. UFT
required bargaining committee leaders to sign a non-disclosure agreement
barring them from discussing bargaining conversations, she said.
Under
the new contract, the maximum salary for teachers will rise to $151,271
by 2026. That means it will take teachers eight years to make over
$100,000, instead of the current 15 years.
The national average teacher salary for the 2022-23 school year was
$68,469 — a 2.6% increase from the previous year, according to the
National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union.
Adjusted for inflation, however, teachers, on average, earned $3,644
less than they did a decade ago, the national union said.
The UFT
deal also creates a virtual learning program. According to the
contract, schools interested in participating in the virtual program
must submit a proposal. A quarter of high schools will be allowed to
participate in the first year, phasing in all schools after four years.
Mayor Eric Adams and Chancellor David Banks said the goal is to offer evening and weekend classes to help students who cannot attend regular school hours because of full-time jobs.
Some teachers, however, expressed reservations.
“It’s
a de-professionalization of our work,” Swisher said. “We are divesting
from systems that have been shown to work, like teachers in schools, and
investing in something we already know doesn’t work, virtual learning.
It’s not helping our students, it’s hurting them.”
The contract is
retroactive to Sept. 14, 2022, and runs through Nov. 28, 2027, city
officials said. The wage increases follow a February agreement with District Council 37, which provided raises for other school employees such as cafeteria workers, parent coordinators, and crossing guards.
“The
new agreement addresses the major changes sought by the union’s
500-member negotiating team. The contract increases pay, increases
educators’ control over their workday, and decreases the noneducational,
irrelevant paperwork demands,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew wrote in a
statement.
Eliana Perozo is a reporting intern at Chalkbeat New York. You can reach her at eperozo@chalkbeat.org.