UFT President Michael Mulgrew loudly proclaimed victory in negotiating with the City on parental leave. At first glance, it does not seem to contain "givebacks" but on further analysis there is a "giveback". The union agreed to extend the existing contract 73 days, from November 30, 1918 to February 11th, 2019. That means when you add the 16 days delayed for the final 3% raise we gave up to fund the massive retirements in 2014, that means our existing contract was actually 10% for 7.25 years or annual raises of only 1.38%!
The union leadership and their acolytes will claim that there are no "givebacks"but to me, time delayed and the extension of an existing contract is a "giveback". Moreover, it only pertains to parental leave not the more expansive family leave that allows members to take for caring of a sick relative., a plan that would allow all members to benefit, not just a select segment of the membership.
Compare our union leadership's negotiation with the one public worker union, the United University Professionals (UUP) who negotiated z family leave plan in their new contract. Here.
If you read the article you will find that the UUP negotiated up to 10 weeks of family leave and that will increase to twelve weeks by 2021. More importantly, there were no "givebacks" and in fact, thee were enhancements. So let the UFT declare victory but now you know the truth.