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Secretaries get update on bad-news
budget
May 7, 2003 UFT President Randi Weingarten reports on the budget impact. It was sunshine and daffodils outside but grey skies and a threatening storm inside when a record number of Queens school secretaries turned out to meet with UFT President Randi Weingarten recently. "The budget is all bad news," she said of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's budget, released that day. That bad news included layoffs of aides and paraprofessionals, elimination of summer school and afterschool programs, and "total chaos" in the reorganization plans of the Department of Education. "But there has not been one change - not one cut - in the reorganization plans that create new positions at top salaries or the new headquarters of the Department of Education in the new Tweed Center," Weingarten noted. The only glimmer of sunshine seemed to be her assurance "that no secretaries face layoffs." Weingarten was critical of the way Bloomberg had "derided the proposals unions had made for $6 million in savings," and indicated she would stand firm and "not give back what it took us so long to get - benefits, wages and more tier equality." Carol Mazza of IS 6 weighed in during a lively session. Mazza, confounded by the list of layoffs, wondered if DOE officials understood the important work by District 37 school aides in the cafeterias and the volume of paperwork with accident reports and other official forms. Acknowledging the proposed layoffs will present major challenges, Wein-garten said, "The only thing hanging together in this very chaotic situation is the union." |
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