UFT: Politics of Fear

Dear colleagues,

Playing politics with people’s lives is an ugly, shameful act, and that is exactly what Mayor Bloomberg is doing by continuing to raise the specter of layoffs. His efforts to scare newer teachers and demonize veteran teachers do nothing to help children or support the work that we do every day. That’s not strong leadership or responsible management. It’s irresponsible and downright disgraceful.

The fact is that layoffs aren’t necessary, and the mayor knows it.

The mayor and his staff continue to greatly exaggerate the size of proposed state budget cuts, which has earned them several public rebukes from the governor. What’s more, the city has now been forced to reluctantly admit that it has a surplus of more than $3.1 billion, according to the mayor’s budget presentation on Thursday.

If the mayor was truly concerned about a budget cut from Albany, he would be advocating for smart, sensible revenue plans in Albany, including the renewal of the millionaire’s tax next year — a move that would bring in $1 billion this year and $5 billion next year.

Yet the mayor has refused to back down on his layoff threat. He is also actively campaigning against extending the millionaire’s tax. His stance is very telling of his true motives: He wants to do layoffs to force the issue of how layoffs get done. He wants to pit parents against parents and teachers against teachers. And he wants to give tax breaks to his wealthy friends at the expense of our schools.

Our children can’t afford to be pawns in the mayor’s political games. Nearly 6,000 teachers and other educators have left and not been replaced over the last two years. Class sizes have skyrocketed, reaching levels we haven’t seen since the city’s fiscal crisis in the mid-1970s. The loss of additional teachers will directly harm students’ education even more.

New York City now has the worst income disparity in the entire country. The “haves” are enjoying record profits and record bonuses, while the rest of us are still struggling through the recession. Consider this: Half the households in our city have incomes of less than $30,000 a year and more than 10 percent live in deep poverty on incomes of $10,500 or less. At the same time, the top 1 percent of city households average $3.7 million each year, or $10,137 a day.

The mayor needs to stop playing the political games. We can’t afford to let this income disparity continue. We cannot allow class sizes to rise any further. That’s why we are fighting for additional state dollars with the millionaire’s tax.

The mayor’s failure to fight for children and working families only further reinforces what we, the true advocates for our students, need to do.

Here is what you can do today:

1. Call 311 and tell the mayor to say no to layoffs and skyrocketing class sizes.
2. Send a letter to your state representatives asking them to keep cuts away from kids.
3. Spread the word among colleagues, parents and friends about the mayor’s shameful tactics.
4. Sign up to participate in our growing grassroots campaign at www.uft.org/jointhefight.

Sincerely,

Michael Mulgrew