NTU Updates

Dear Colleagues,

1)    Respect the Contract Update – Reports of RTC success keep coming in; sadly, so do reminders of why we fight. At an NPS discipline hearing last week, a teacher was disciplined for coming in 10 minutes late (five 2 minute occurrences) while the district neglected to take into consideration that he had spent the last five years staying a half hour late each day assisting disadvantaged students.

He will not stay late any more.

We have scheduled to resume negotiations with the Newark Public Schools on 10/19. Let's show our negotiations team we support them by fighting within the

Colleagues,

1)       Respect the Contract: Attendance Counselors - Teachers, Aides and Clerks are NOT Attendance Counselors!! If the NPS wants Attendance Counselors then they should call them back to work. Schools have been asking staff to call parents any time their students are absent during their lunch or perp periods.  There isn't enough time in your day; instruction, prep periods, etc are NOT to be used to do someone else's job. Use the tools in our Respect the Contract toolkit to protect yourself!

2)       Respect the Contract: Prep Period Survey - Prep Periods are NOT free periods...they

Colleagues,

1)      DYFS Update – Recently, an arbitrator put out a pretty shocking decision regarding a teacher allegedly bullying students.  Definitely something you should read and take to heart when dealing with students.

2)      NPS Advisory Board Meeting

Tuesday, September 27, 2016       6:00 PM

Elliott Street School

721 Summer Avenue

Newark, NJ 07104

If you would like to speak at the Advisory Board  Meeting, please submit this form by 4 PM, 5 days before the meeting date!

3)      Reminder: Membership Meeting - On Monday, September 26, 2016, we will be having a membership meeting at the Newark

Colleagues,

1) Respect the Contract – Yesterday, President Abeigon sent out a notice to all school staff about upcoming “contract actions.”   Please review that email.  More information will be coming after Monday’s Building Rep Meeting.

2) Election Day - We have been receiving numerous calls regarding this coming presidential election day, Tuesday, Nov 8th. Here is the law regarding that day:

NJSA 18A:25-3. Teaching etc., on holidays not required
No teaching staff member shall be required to perform his duties on any day declared by law to be a public holiday and no deduction shall be made from

Colleagues,

1)      Paydates: Today is the first payday of the year.  It should be a seven day check for full time staff (per diem staff are paid a week behind).  If you have any issues with your check, please email Mike Maillaro at mmaillaro@newarkteachersunion.com.  Attached is the list of all the pay dates for the year from our upcoming calendar book.

2)      NTU Website – Reminder!  Our website is http://newark.nj.aft.org.  Our old website has been inactive for close to a year. 

3)      Political Action- Please call or email your legislators ASAP and throw your support behind Senate &

Colleagues,

1)    Negotiations Update – On June 2, the Negotiations Committee presented a confidential draft of our contract proposals to the NTU Executive Board for review and discussion.  The reaction to the committee's proposals by the Executive Board was overwhelmingly positive.  Our Negotiations Committee will be meeting one last time to make final edits suggested by the Executive Board before our first negotiations session with the NPS team on June 15. 

2)    Paycards - Colleagues, it was brought to our attention that many people have not activated their Paycards yet. If you already have

Colleagues,

 1)   Contract Update – We finally have negotiations dates!   Our negotiation team will be meeting with NPS’s team on June 10, 15, and 16 to present our proposals and to see what proposals NPS has for us.  This is YOUR LAST CHANCE to do the NTU contract survey.  Our negotiations team will be meeting one last time to finalize our proposals on May 24 and to present them to the Executive Board.

2) NTU Hall of Fame Dinner - On Wednesday, May 18, 2016, the NTU held our 18th Annual Hall of Fame Dinner. It was our most successful Hall of Fame Dinner yet!   We had close to 300 attendees and

Colleagues,

1)    Layoffs -  The NTU met with the district this week to discuss layoffs.  In the district’s initial plan (which has not yet been approved by Civil Service), they will be looking to layoff 23 NTU members in the following positions: 

·       Keyboarding Clerk 1 – 10

·       Keyboarding Clerk 2 – 7

·       Keyboarding Clerk 2 Bilingual - 2

·       Keyboarding Clerk 3 – 4

All layoffs will be done by seniority and will go into effect on July 22.  The district’s plan has not yet been approved by Civil Service; that will take up to a month.  These numbers could change depending on how many

Colleagues,

1)    Wednesday May 4 – National Walk-in

Next Wednesday, Newark will be joining with schools all across the country in participating in a National Walk-in!   See the attached flyer and we will have more information to come.

2) Negotiations Update – We have reached out to the Newark Public Schools inviting them to come to the table in two weeks to begin negotiations.  More information to come. 

3) DYFS Warning – The district, no matter how insignificant your conduct, will use any instance of alleged child abuse to bring tenure charges against you and attempt to have you terminated. 

Colleagues,

1)    April 26, SAVE THE DATE!  NPS ADVISORY BOARD MEETING

Come out and wear your school colors!

George W. Carver Elementary School

333 Clinton Pl,

Newark, NJ 07112

6:00 pm - 10:00 pm

✓ Cerf needs to start negotiating and stop dictating

✓ Get the lead out

✓ Hands off our Fringe Benefits Fund

✓ Stop all future cuts

✓ Reduce class size & return all aides and clerks

✓ Less testing

2) Negotiations Update – As of right now, the district has not formally responded to our request to begin negotiations.  Despite that, our negotiations committee has been meeting regularly and are finalizing our list of