You may have also received a scary flyer about money being thrown away ... yes, the Guild costs money. People don't just spend hours and hours of their time, not to mention hours and hours of legal fees, to negotiate on your behalf. The Guild charges a fee of 1.386% of your salary. Yes, that is money that doesn't go directly into your pocket. But think of all the things that money
could go to:
- increased wages
- higher pay rates for non-teaching hours
- better health benefits
- paid holidays (did you know the students pay for classes even on days Kaplan is closed?)
- paid sick time
- better working conditions
- job security (ie Kaplan would have to show just cause to fire a teacher)
This is by no means a comprehensive list. If we vote in favor of a union, we would work together to decide which issues are important to us. And considering how things are now, I think 1.386% of my salary is worth all the positive things that union representation could do for us.
And of course we wouldn't even pay any dues until a contract was agreed upon by both sides. So to answer the question at hand, yeah I really want to do this.
just wanted to mention that the flyer makes it sound like you'd have to pay $600 to keep your job at kaplan. someone did the math and that would only be true if you make about $42,000 a year.
ReplyDeleteIf you look at the flyer it says "up to $600" which would probably be true for the few full time teachers.
ReplyDeleteSo the exact math is that you'd need to make $43,333.81 in order to have $600 worth of dues ... One full-time teacher at a recent meeting stated that even she didn't make that much.
ReplyDeleteI think the larger point is that the flyer is purposefully misleading, as about 80%-90% of the Kaplan teachers do not make anywhere near this amount of money and therefore would pay a substantially lower amount of dues.
How can the union guarantee that it will get all these things for teachers though? It is all a negotiation. I think it is just as misleading for the union to say that they will get "increased wages, better health benefits, paid sick time" when they have no idea if it is true. Can the union put those things in writing? Would the union be willing to refund all my dues if it doesn't get each thing it promises?
ReplyDeleteYou should go to a meeting or meet with a guild representative, then you'd know that Guild employees are very careful with their words. As far as I know, they've never made any "promises" to anybody. In fact, they generally go out of their way to make you understand the risks involved with every decision.
Delete"Those in Favor" said it pretty well. I could add a couple of observations though:
#1 - Since the contract has to be approved by us teachers, it wouldn't really make much sense for them to take our case unless they were relatively sure an agreement could be reached that people generally felt was worth their 1.3846%, since right now they're spending a lot on us and we're paying them nothing.
#2 - Something else that makes me optimistic: In 2011, The average median weekly earnings for union members vs. non-union workers in the same job was $938 to $729, respectively.
(Source: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.t02.htm)
- ESB Teacher
The Guild never "promised" anything. They "could" get us a contract with increased wages, better health benefits, paid sick time," etc. Could. That is what a negotiation is.
ReplyDelete1. We don't pay any dues until both sides agree on a contract
2. We wouldn't vote in favor of a contract unless we actually got these things
In talking with Kaplan management and the Guild, this is the impression that I get:
ReplyDelete-- neither Kaplan nor the Guild can *guarantee* that there will be an improvement in working conditions if we vote their way
-- if we vote in favor of the Guild and there's a union, the Guild will actually *want* to advocate on our behalf to improve our working conditions and get a good contract, because that's their job. If you want to be cynical, their dues are 1.3% of our wages, so they get more dues if we get paid more.
-- if there's no union, Kaplan has no incentive to improve our working conditions on its own, and will probably do nothing to help us. If they're currently threatening to fight against the union's requests for better working conditions (and therefore against the interest of the teachers), why would they suddenly turn around and decide to give us better working conditions when there's nobody pressuring them to do so?
T.
East Village
"neither Kaplan nor the Guild can *guarantee* that there will be an improvement in working conditions if we vote their way"
DeleteCorrect. Although, it's worth pointing out that Kaplan doesn't "guarantee" anything right now, since we are all "at will" employees. When they got sued out in LA for not paying benefits to teachers working 40 hours per week, their first instinct was to eliminate all double-bankers across the board, instead of just paying out the benefits the law required them to. Managers at the ESB managed to intervene on behalf of a few teachers at the ESB, but what's going to happen when these managers leave? I've had 3 managers in 3 years there...
"if we vote in favor of the Guild and there's a union, the Guild will actually *want* to advocate on our behalf to improve our working conditions and get a good contract, because that's their job. If you want to be cynical, their dues are 1.3% of our wages, so they get more dues if we get paid more."
Correct. They're very similar to agents in that respect. Also, in line with the view that you call "cynical" (which I just call "pragmatic"), I think it can be said that just taking us on as clients shows their confidence that they can get us a contract that would be worth the 1.3846%.
Right now, they're shelling out a lot of money on staff and lawyers fees, and we're not paying them a dime. The only way they'd see a return on all they've spent is by presenting us with a contract that the majority felt was worth the due fees.
"if there's no union, Kaplan has no incentive to improve our working conditions on its own, and will probably do nothing to help us. If they're currently threatening to fight against the union's requests for better working conditions (and therefore against the interest of the teachers), why would they suddenly turn around and decide to give us better working conditions when there's nobody pressuring them to do so?"
They wouldn't.
But that's the whole point of collective bargaining, that by showing a united front, we can put pressure on them to make positive changes. I'm actually eager to find out more about this process myself, because it seems like it has worked out for other unions in the past.
Some of the bargaining chips that come to mind are the substantial profits that Kaplan has made over the years, and the potential tarnishing to their brand image a messy bargaining process could bring.
- ESB Teacher
Good points! Also management keeps saying they don't have to grant anything ro rhw union but from what I understand of collective bargaining this is just not true. From what I understand, once we have a union the company is required by law to negotiate in good faith meaning they can not legally turn down every single one of our proposals. If this happens we would go to arbitration.
DeleteThey probably wouldn't end up granting every single one of our requests but they would HAVE TO grant some of them.
ESB teacher
"...the potential tarnishing to their brand image"?? Their brand image is OUR brand image. WE need a good reputation in order to get students. Without students, we will all be out of jobs.
DeleteThere is no arbitration in contract negotiations. There is also no requirement that a contract even has to be agreed to. I don't want to go on strike just to try to get a contract so a union can get paid.
Does the guild even represent teachers??
"...the potential tarnishing to their brand image"?? Their brand image is OUR brand image. WE need a good reputation in order to get students. Without students, we will all be out of jobs."
DeleteWell at least you don't deny that the way Kaplan compensates its teachers is bad enough that public attention to it could hurt its brand image. However, I find it unbelievable that you would actually use this as a reason against unionization.
"There is no arbitration in contract negotiations."
Incorrect. There is what is called "Interest Arbitration", which is an arbitration process specifically for resolving collective-bargaining disputes. While an Interest Arbitration would be legally binding, it can only go there if both parties agree to it. There are also federal mediation agencies out there to help resolve contract disputes.
"There is also no requirement that a contract even has to be agreed to."
Correct. However, The Local 31003 of the Newspaper Guild has an outstanding record of negotiating first-time contracts. Plus, none of the teachers I know are greedy people, so if Kaplan negotiates in good faith, it shouldn't be too hard to reach an agreement. My hope is that Kaplan will come to see how a teacher happy in his/her job makes for a better teacher, which makes for happier students, which makes for better profits. Speaking for myself, I've found that even the *prospect* of improved working conditions has reinvigorated my teaching. Lately I've been looking for ways to improve on my ten-week cycle with a vigor that I haven't felt since I first began at Kaplan.
"I don't want to go on strike just to try to get a contract so a union can get paid."
No one wants to go on strike. The Local 31003 hasn't had a unit strike in over 20 years. Regardless, a strike is only possible if we voted for one, and the Guild has strike funds available.
"Does the guild even represent teachers??"
Even better, they represent the interests of people employed by large multi-national corporations, including those from our parent company the Washington Post.
Besides, a local teacher's union was met with early on, but the Newspaper Guild proved to be a more attractive option. I suggest meeting with them to get a better understanding of how they operate. Their door is always open to us; contact them yourself to set up a meeting.
- "Teacher" from ESB
P.S. This is T. again. Let's look at some math for a second, to see how little that 1.4% in dues actually is.
ReplyDeleteI've been working at Kaplan for four years, and I now make $21.30 an hour. I just got my yearly raise, which was 80 cents. 80 cents, I'm sure you will all agree, is not a good raise -- however, it was one of the highest anybody got. Now, 80 cents was 4% (four percent) of my previous hourly pay. 80 cents = 4% of my salary, when I had been working at Kaplan for 3 years. That 80 cents I just got in my raise isn't going to make an appreciable difference in my quality of life.
By way of comparison, the union dues are going to be 1.4% of my pay. That's less than half of the amount of my uninspiring yearly raise.
I'm a full-time teacher. Now, I was not a full-time teacher for most of last year, though I did work full-time hours. (In fact, my individual checks were generally higher than this year because I worked more teaching hours as a double-banker.) I took no vacation except the holidays for which I was not paid and a day or two in the summer. I called out sick a few days, but definitely less than the number of sick days I get now as full-timer. My gross income from last year, as reported on my W-2, was less than $40,00. When I've asked about being paid more--and I have asked more than once--I have been repeatedly told that I receive a higher hourly wage than most teachers. I do get more than T. from the East Village. That said, I still receive a few thousand dollars less than what I'd need to make to pay the guild $600 per year.
ReplyDeleteI'm just saying.