RW Email Contract Agreement 09

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From:

Randi Weingarten

Sent:

Monday, June 22, 2009 11:51 PM

To:

REDACTED

Subject:

New agreement preserves age 55 retirement andrestores traditional post-Labor Day school start

Dear colleagues,I am writing to let you know that the UFT today concluded negotiations on anagreement that restores the traditional post-Labor Day school start for our members,leaves intact the pension and health benefits of all current UFT members in activeservice or retired, and preserves our hard-won age 55 retirement benefit in the face of enormous political pressure to roll that back. We have agreed to support legislation tomodify pension measures for newly-hired UFT members, which will provide the citywith much-needed cost savings during this severe economic downturn.In every respect, this agreement is a win for everyone. We are all very concerned abothe heavy losses our pension system has incurred during this economic crisis and thelooming cuts for schools. No only does this deal help shore up the city budget with nsavings, which will hopefully be used for schools, it also maintains the age 55retirement benefit that we fought many years to achieve and returns us to the traditionteachers and students starting school after Labor Day, something that our members,particularly those with families, very much wanted.

The context

As a result of the worst economic crisis in the United States since the Great Depressipublic services ˆ including public education ˆ have been subjected to draconian budgcuts, public sector workers have been laid-off and public sector unions have come unpressure to diminish the salaries, health benefits and pension benefits of their membe

From the start of this economic crisis, the UFT has identified two primary objectiveswhich have guided our response to this crisis: protecting the quality of the educationaservices provided to New York City public school children and securing the economilivelihood and professional status of our members.The UFT has rightly rejected efforts to raise the retirement age of New York City pubschool educators and otherwise reduce their pension benefits ˆ efforts that have growin intensity since two large state public employee unions earlier this month negotiateagreements which included such measures.

How the agreement affects current members

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Employees who have been required to report to begin work on the Thursday beforeLabor Day will report back to work the Tuesday after Labor Day because the two dayhave been restored, effective immediately.

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All of their pension and health benefits are intact.

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The 55/25 and 55/27 early retirement benefits are preserved and there will be nochanges in contributions for in-service members.

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All UFT members will continue to receive the 7% guaranteed annualized rate of retufor the fixed investment option in the voluntary Tax-Deferred Annuity (TDA) prografor BERS and TRS members. The additional 1.25% rate above the state-guaranteed 7will no longer be available, a modification that reflects the downturn in investmentincome after the stock market collapse last year.

How the agreement affects future hires

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New UFT-represented employees in titles where employees have been required to repto begin work on the Thursday before Labor Day will report back to work the Tuesdaafter Labor Day.

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