NY Teachers Union Spends $200K on Office in Florida?

[Geee]

Washington Examiner:


New York Teachers Union spends $200k on office in Florida?
By: MARK HEMINGWAY
Commentary Staff Writer
06/21/10 12:50 PM EDT

According to the Union Label blog, long-time New York Teachers have worked out a pretty sweet little perk for themselves at the expense of taxpayers and their cash-strapped union:

The outrage of union activities never ceases to amaze. From the Education Week blog we find that the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), the teachers union of New York, spends almost $200,000 a year of its member’s dues money on an office in Boca Raton, Florida! As EdWeek drolly says, “That’s not peanuts for a union fretting about its financially strapped members.”

Turns out that the reason the office exists is because of a union perk to retired teachers: permanent summer jobs at nearly $50 and hour.

According to Ed Week it’s called “retention rights.” The deal is that teachers with long tenure can come back each summer from their cushy retirement homes in Florida and take summer teaching jobs that would otherwise go to current, working teachers. These retired teachers essentially have first dibs on those summer jobs above the claims of the current workforce of New York educators. Retired teachers have a huge vested interest in keeping tabs on their old union, vote heavily to retain this perk, and they make huge cash taking advantage of the perk. So, the Boca office is there to serve them.