Thursday, January 28, 2010

New York Times: "Mayor Says Teachers Must Take Smaller Raise in Next Contract or 2,500 Jobs Will Be Cut" Written by: David W. Chen (January 28th, 2010)

Mayor Bloomberg is planning to demand teachers in New York to agree to a smaller raise in the next contract. If teachers do not agree to a smaller raise, there will be 2,500 teaching jobs cut. Teachers must agree to a two percent raise for the first $70,000 in salary in order to avoid downsizing. However, Bloomberg stated that the 2,500 job cuts will occur through layoffs, attrition, and retirement. The budget will be five billion dollars smaller than last year, and teachers are not the only ones at risk of losing their jobs. Mayor Bloomberg plans to shrink the city's work force by 4,286 people. Of this amount 934 people are to be laid off and the others will leave through attrition.

Some people in the city believe that the pay cuts are unacceptable, and other people believe that they are neccessary in order to keep jobs. This topic really interested me because I plan to become a teacher in the future. Times are hard for everyone right now and if it was me, i would rather take a pay cut and keep my job. With teachers, under their contracts they get a raise every few years. This year teachers will only get a 2% raise, which is significantly lower. They will still be making more money than they did in the previous year, but they wont be making as much as they should be. Everyone is making sacrifices because of the economy, if taking a pay cuts will save 2,500 teaching jobs, why not do it?

2 comments:

  1. I agree that taking a pay cut is prefferable to job cuts. I work in retail and last year manager's raises, myself included, were minimal. These .5% pay raises and a hiring freeze were the company's answer to tough economic times. In the long run, it saved jobs and now we are at a better standing for this year's pay increases.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree as well that taking a pay cut is the better option of the two. I just think it is so sad how the people educating the children of our future have to be the ones to suffer. Why aren't the top dog executives of major companies taking a pay cut? Why is it that even mayor Bloomberg ultimately makes this decision when I guarantee that he is not taking a pay cut? Teachers are underpaid as it is and I was interested in becoming one until I realized what money they actually make. Shame on those who thought of this pay cut for teachers.

    ReplyDelete