Teachers Union Pays Big Salaries
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Most teachers are poorly paid, unless they are lucky enough to be an official of the teachers union.
The Broward Teachers Union officials’ treat themselves very well.
BTU President Pat Santeramo
Of the 23 top officials’ salaries listed in the required state annual filing, 13 earn more than $100,000-a-year, plus approximately $7,000 in extras.
Three more BTU chiefs make more than $50,000.
“All union salaries are consistent with those paid by the Broward schools for persons in positions of the same or similar responsibility, said John Ristow, the BTU spokesman.
Maybe, but are they consistant with the pay in Florida’s private sector? Or is the BTU an oasis of well-paid jobs in an area known for low salaries?
The union’s salary information is interesting in light of the ongoing negotiations over teachers’ salaries. It reveals something about the BTU negotiators’ mindset.
I compared the 2007 and 2008 state filing. The total annual salaries of the BTU officials went up 31 percent!
Union President Pat Santeramo’s salary increased almost 11 percent between 2007 and 2008.
I assume the figures are correct. After all, the state filing is signed and sworn to by Santeramo.
There has long been a rumor in the school system that union officials also get paid by the school system. Ristow says that is bunk.
“The district does not cover any portion of their salary, said Ristrow. “BTU President Pat Santeramo and BTU First Vice President Bernie Schultz, per the union’s contract with the district, are teachers on leave from the school system. Any salary they receive as teachers of the district is completely reimbursed (and) paid back to the district.
The salaries for the highest paid BTU officials for 2008 are:
- Pat Santeramo, $175,922, plus $6,900 in expenses.
- George Segna, $129,026, plus $6,900 in expenses.
- Bernie Schultz, $117,818, plus $7,500 in expenses.
- Lynn Cavall, Ralph Echardt, Steven Feldman, Ruby Fitzgerald, Gary Itzkowitz, Jerrod Neal, Debra Ramson, Lafran Trotter and Diane Watts, $108, 657, plus between $6,900-$7,260 in expenses.
- John Ristow, $100,139, plus $6,900 in expenses.
- Jamie Daniels, $83,000, plus $7,260 in expenses.
- Arlene Marotta, $67,473, plus $6,900 in expenses.
- Wanda Geraci, $51,256, with no expenses listed.
All the BTU salaries are probably higher now because they are a year old and 2009 is almost over.
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:22 am
They are absolutely correct when they say their salary isn’t paid- However, their benefits AND pension is paid by the district.
I wonder what their response is to that question, Buddy!
“He who live in glass houses should not throw stones”.
It is about time someone took a hard look at the stone throwers.
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:27 am
The BTU is a major part of the establishment at the School Board and thus part of the problem. Santeramo was a frequent drinking partner of Gallagher before she was arrested and other school board members. Three Board members former union executives. The BTU and Board thinks alike. Where was the BTU when all the corruption was taking place over all these years? Keeping its mouth shut. Imagine how much extra there would be for teachers if the school board stopped wasting money.
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:35 am
I joined the BTU when I started working in Broward and soon left when I realized they were impotent. I read in the paper they are pointing their fingers at the School Board about the increase in health insurance costs. If they had any power, the School Board wouldn’t have dared increase insurance costs so much. They have absolutely no power at the polling place or the negotiating table. Teachers I know who have filed grievances find them no help, either. Santeramo might wonder why only a small percentage of teachers belong. Look in the mirror and at his worthless board of high-paid directors. I am happy to be saving more than $400 by not belonging.
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:25 am
Union greed is what accounts for much of the market share that America has lost in blue collar and now, increasingly, in the public sector to other parts of the world and private companies.
Their motto has for too long been more money for less work and better working conditions, irrespective of what that does to the organizations they work for.
To see such high salaries among union leaders is shocking as they attack the salaries of the managers with which they negotiate contracts. One instant form of monetary relief for their members would be for union officials to lower member union dues. They should take cuts to their salaries at a time when employers can’t afford to pay them more.
Thank you for reporting this rarely looked at aspect of cost.
I think it’s outrageous and it robs labor of a great deal of credibility. BTU Teachers should be outraged at this as well.
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:57 am
I saw a funny bumper sticker that gets right to the point. It read. “If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can’t, thank the teachers’ union.”
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:29 am
Hey, are you aware that the BTU staff receive 24% of their salary paid to them in cash quarterly to be invested any way they would like for their retirement? Wow… wishing I could receive such a windfall.
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:34 am
“The district does not cover any portion of their salary,†said Ristrow. “BTU President Pat Santeramo and BTU First Vice President Bernie Schultz, per the union’s contract with the district, are teachers on leave from the school system. Any salary they receive as teachers of the district is completely reimbursed (and) paid back to the district.â€
I’d follow up on this one. I think the give back of the salaries is baloney.
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:44 am
Is this the same Pat Santeramo, who publicly called for the investigation of Ann Murray for having an alleged, unreported “party” held for her by Royal Concrete in Okeechobee?
Is this the same Pat Santeramo, who doled out $200.00 AFL-CIO tickets, paid for with union members dues, to School Board members in an obvious attempt to influence their votes regarding the BTU contract?
What a hypocrite!
Fact is: Ms. Murray was going to Clearwater anyway and stopped by Royal Concrete’s plant to fact-find and inspect their process. This is the only reason she was in Okeechobee. She has been unfairly and inaccurately painted as having gone up there specifically to collect campaign contributions.
While there, they had a Publix ring sandwich, some fruit and bottled water. No crab-legs and champagne at this soiree’.
Might have been worth all of $35.00. Some “party”.
In all fairness, she did accept some campaign contributions while there, but at the time there was no pending vote for anything regarding Royal Concrete and knowing Ms. Murray, she would vote for what was best for her constituents anyway and not what was best for a lobbyist or contractor.
As for the AFL-CIO Ball tickets.
Fact is: just yesterday, Ms. Murray sent Mr. Santeramo a $200.00 check, via certified mail, to reimburse the BTU for the AFL-CIO ticket he gave her rather than be the brunt of his parochial, hypocritical attacks.
Thank you Buddy, for outing the greedy Mr. Santeramo and his union cronies, who line their pockets handsomely with union dues collected from the very people they claim to represent the interests of.
Typical union leader thug.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:05 pm
they both keep each other in power, the BTU sits down to negotiate fully knowing that the Board has nothing to negotiate, it’s a joke.
why am I still in this union? because it’s better than not being in it. I would love to see a mass exodus. There is only power in numbers.
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Buddy, in light of what the BTU leaders earn and the fat raises they’ve given themselves, you need to expose the teacher salaries.
Steps are being combined and eliminated but the reality is anybody under step 17 gets treated like second class employees with crap raises. Those at 18 or over get 3,000 6,000 and even 9,000 raises.
Every time there’s a negotiation, the high paid union bosses drag out the lowly underpaid teacher as “proof” that the taxpayer and the School Board are stingy. All the while the upper scale teachers are earning anywhere from $50k to $72k and more than $90k with degrees and certifications.
They’ll never acknowledge that its the union that hands out the $30 – $100 raises to keep the junior teachers underpaid.
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:16 pm
This is just outrageous. He stands up to prevent cost savings because it would change how teachers operate in the district, complains about rehiring of staff at SB, and look at the amount being paid his spokesman — Ristow … this is just unbelieveable. I believe in Unions and collective bargaining. I believe in people making a living. But, teachers, come on. Really, you support this? Dont you think there should be reform on both sides. There is so much animosity between Union and SB … and the children and parents get caught in the middle. I’ll tell you, if I was a teacher and saw these numbers, I would be absolutely outraged. How can someone representing me (who isnt even teaching) make douoble or triple what I make.
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Santeramo is as useless as the other BTUseless chiefs have been throughout the years. Instead of being proactive and checking out the class size caps at each Broward school to make certain that that and other affairs are being done by the contract, he and his cronies sit back in air conditioning and smell the roses while the teachers are banging their brains against the wall day in and day out in the front line of duty. They’d rather wait until they are called upon, and then take forever to take action.
I’d love the FBI to check out this clown too.
October 23rd, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Dont know if illegal and whether or not the FBI should check out. That is entirely different than $2,000,000 in salaries and expenses — which is unbelievable. That comes out of teacher’s paychecks! I recognize it would not necessarily go back in the classroom but why are they entitled to that much money. In the early Union days, the chiefs were just workers scrambling to organize. They now scream about pay and salaries of the BCSB and look at this. The whole thing is disgusting. We need to bring the rank and file and responsible BCSB members to the table to fix the broken system — cut out the power brokers, lobbyists and those with an interest in perpetuating the same old system!
October 23rd, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Are the Teacher’s Union officials on the school board’s medical insurance plan or do they have their own union purchased plan. If they do, isit superior to the health insurance teachers have?
FROM BUDDY: This is an interesting question. I don’t know the answer. Does anybody else?
October 24th, 2009 at 6:22 am
I am a BTU member teacher and I am good at what I do. My students learn without my having to be a mean person because I make my class interesting for them. I have two children of my own. Family is the most important thing to me and then comes my work.
My husband is also a teacher and together we just make ends meet. There isn’t much left over the month for savings. We basically go from paycheck to paycheck doing the best we can. It can be a little frightening now and again but somehow we get by.
For me to see union officials making this kind of money is pretty disturbing. I never imagined that they made that much, I thought their salaries were comparable to ours.
By law Florida employees working within a bargaining unit get the same union protections whether they pay union dues or not. Until now, I’ve paid the dues, thinking that was the right thing. Now I’m thinking that perhaps my family should come first. This union’s salaries is a slap in my face, my kids should have to do without so that they can pay themselves as they do? We work so hard and get so little and yet the very people that are supposed to be looking out for us are screwing us over this way?
I’ve heard Mr. Santerramo speak at my school about us as a union sticking together, one for all and all for one. Perhaps he needs to accept a teacher’s salary so that he can understand what being a teacher is really all about instead of talking all this crap while he and his cronies enjoy their bloated salaries paid for with our union dues every year.
The unfairness and betrayal of this news just makes me very angry.
October 24th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Recently spotted bumper sticker:
IF YOU CAN READ THIS, THANK A TEACHER. IF YOU CAN’T READ THIS, THANK THE TEACHER’S UNION
October 25th, 2009 at 7:02 am
The BTU does not “protect” anyone. Most members believe they will protect you from lawsuits or parents- NOT TRUE. They will only “advise and represent you” against your supervisor or the district taking any workplace disciplinary action against you- that’s it. You will get whatever they negotiate if you are a member or not. Look at their bloated salaries and when they call for administrative reductions of calendars and all the other changes they want (yet wont save 34 million by changing High School Schedules) it is extremely hypocritical.
They have now taken on the role of “we will expose all the waste” and use the New Times as a tool (which Norman allows). It is about time Buddy exposed them for what they are- greedy hypocrites that steal from their constituents and offer very little in return while protecting bad teachers that make poor decisions. Meanwhile, they won’t protect good teachers from bad parents and they “call out” others without looking in the mirror.
Any teacher that doesn’t quit this union is wasting money.
October 25th, 2009 at 11:24 am
I love the bumper sticker, where can I get one???As for Santeramo he is a useless piece of _____!!!!
He wormed his way in when Tony went to jail.
October 25th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Check the salary range of the employees they represent. You will find most of their salaries are at or below the school employees they represent.
FROM BUDDY: Absolutely untrue.
This from the school system website: “The average starting salary for Broward County teachers is $52,141.” Most hired have extra degrees and experience.
It’s a long way from $52 K to $100,000-a-year, especially since the average experience of a Broward teacher is 12.96 years.
The actual starting salary of a teacher, without any advanced degrees, is $38,500.
October 26th, 2009 at 6:49 am
I would like to know the top 20 salaries earned by district officials including Notter. His $900 a month car allowance makes the union’s expenses look like chump change.
Most of the salaries listed are lower than many of the salaries earned by the union’s members. Don’t forget the technical staff that the union represents and teachers who work 242 day, year-round schedules. They take home salaries above $100,000 too.
FROM BUDDY: Yes, some of the members represented by the BTU earn more than $100,000 annually. But they are few compared to the vast majority of educators represented by the union.
See my comment on the earlier post for the actual salaries.
October 26th, 2009 at 8:38 am
Buddy, that’s absolute nonsense. Forget what the School Board website says, it’s nothing but hype.
$52k “average” starting salary would place them on an equivalent to step 20 on this year’s scale. The general incentives for extra education and certifications just aren’t that good unless the degree is a doctorate.
And this year’s starting salary is $39k.
The reality is that most teachers get raises that are essentially bupkis (Jewish for nothing.) And to repeat an old Jewish adverb, twice nothing is still nothing.
Most beginning teachers leave within five years because their raises amount to less than $500 per year total. This contract year, it takes a teacher 15 years to reach $45k. Last year it took 16. Palm Beach does it in 12 with a much lower starting salary.
With straight 3% raises across the board (assuming a $38.5k start) teachers would get to $45k in 7 years. By year 15 they’d be earning $58k instead of the paltry $44.8k on the schedule.
And that’s only 3%. You know as well as I do that over the past 8 years many of the raises have been in the 6% area. But the step schedule and negotiated raises are “granted” by BTU, not the School Board. And so, senior teachers get $6k and $9k raises while juniors get screwed.
People will still criticize me for not wanting to give teachers raises last year. (This time, have the courage to use your real names or stuff it where the sun doesn’t shine.)
They conveniently ignore the fact that the automatic 3.25% raise went into effect July 1, 2008. The piggy union demanded more while teachers in other school systems were getting zero, and taxpayers were losing millions of jobs.
Meanwhile the piggy union held their teachers back from getting their guaranteed raises until after October. THEY INTENTIONALLY KEPT THE TEACHERS UNDERPAID LAST YEAR.
Teachers deserve better treatment by their own union.
Forget damning the taxpayer because they’ve been more than generous especially in a down economy.
The union needs to forget about trying to stick it’s blood stained hands deeper into taxpayer pockets until it starts divvying up the proceeds fairly and treating junior teachers like the valued commodity as the union claims they are.
Next time Santeramo and the union demands more and more (even now) the taxpayers need to revolt and demand that he and the others cut their salaries in half (over $100k, please) until their bread and butter gets fair treatment.
October 26th, 2009 at 9:57 am
Your logic makes almost as much sense as if you had made the same salary as the politicians you covered (I know, you wish) when you were a reporter just because those were the people you covered. What are the salaries for the positions that the union guys work in? So, to use your logic, airline pilots should only earn the average salary of the people who fly on their planes; doctors should earn the average salary of their patients; police officers should only earn what the people they protect make. Please stop ignoring my question: What are the salaries of the top 20 district officials? I think you know what you will find — the salaries of the union bosses is way below those of the corrupt district officials they are fighting.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
I think many of the BTU top officials have been there for over 30 years so it makes sense that they are getting paid that salary.
October 26th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
It is my understanding that the Broward Teachers Union employees are under the school district’s health insurance plan.
October 26th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Just like no public school teacher should ever have to face the indignity of earning $37,000 a year, none should any earn the audacious amount of $178,000 a year. It is just outrageous to suggest othewise, I don’t care whether they’ve been there 30 years or not. That’s just bullshit.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
I was forced out of Broward County Schools because of the low pay I was stuck in the middle steps and just could not afford the medical for my family.
Yes, the officials of BTUseless are double dipping, pensions and health to start. Yes, SBBC is in bed with the board and the faster the teachers develop a brass set the faster change will happen. Do not complain about the good boys network it is alive and well here!
Teachers are threatened if they speak up, will time has come enough getting stepped on. I hope that the FBI does and investigation. It would do my heart good!!!!!
October 27th, 2009 at 4:12 am
So Sorry … you and Buddy are sounding a little like socialists. By the way Buddy, great job: You’ve got the teachers fighting each other instead of focusing on their own priorities, issues and needs! However great and interesting the argument may be, it is still “bunk” — to use Buddy’s word. The union positions should pay whatever the fair market salary is for those positions. The argument that they should earn a teacher’s salary when they don’t work as teachers is ridiculous. So, the president of the Screen Actors Guild should earn millions of dollars because that’s what the people he/she represents earn? Or, the president of the SEIU Doctors Council should earn the salary of a surgeon because he/she represents doctors? The president of the Airline Pilots Association should take home the paycheck of a 747 pilot? Think about it. I bet you will find that the salaries of the union bosses are small compared to the top dogs at the district. Most of the salaries listed on here are within the salary range even of the people they represent. Also, what are the salaries of the other union staff? Are there others at the union that make less than teachers? Doesn’t your argument go both ways? If your argument holds true that they should earn a teachers salary because they work for teachers then shouldn’t all the staff be earning the same even if the fair market value of the position they are in doesn’t call for it? The argument doesn’t make sense and, frankly, edges on socialism.
P.S. Rubenstein — I am sure the union and the teachers they represent would appreciate the money back you took from them for your failed election campaign. You didn’t mind their support when you were running for election. Shame on you!
October 27th, 2009 at 5:24 am
Folks: This thing over education is a losing battle. Teachers have been, are, and will continue to be overworked and grossly underpaid because most in that field are women who are deathly afraid to speak up and are easily intimidated. Think about it. Many women take on that job because they are on the job the same hours as their kids, so it makes it easy for dropoff and pickup. They can go home together have a snack and get working on dinner while the kids do their homework. While dad (hopefully he’s around) holds down a real job (with hopefully real money) the wife has a job that lets the kids be with mom. With this mentality the politicians and top dogs at school boards have been feasting for years. They know that teacher won’t have the brass it takes to say BOO! at anything for fear of losing their job. These women have allowed themselves to be roughed over for generations for the same reasons. It is highly unlikely things will ever change. The nonsense they put up with no man would handle whether he worked on Wall Street or as a truck driver. Men are wired differently. Since women make up the majority of the teacher workforce from east to west I don’t see many changes in the future. And when you do find a teacher with enough of what it takes to step up to the plate and speak, she is squashed not only by the administration, but by the other teachers as well who join in to gain feathers in their caps. They are soon gotten rid of somehow and are blacklisted in Broward for future employment. And that’s a fact. BTU or no BTU that practice has been going on for long years and continues to be so today. The BTU could care less about that teacher and will not defend her. The BTU could disappear today and nothing would change.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:26 am
“P.S. Rubenstein — I am sure the union and the teachers they represent would appreciate the money back you took from them for your failed election campaign. You didn’t mind their support when you were running for election. Shame on you!”
Are you freaking insane?
I should just roll over and let the union screw the MAJORITY of its members by intentionally keeping them underpaid? I promised to support TEACHERS not stupid policies that cheat them out of a decent wage.
Sorry, but I don’t sit still for complaints by junior teachers of raises less than $100 for the year while the negotiated raise was more than 5 and a half percent.
The following year I pushed the Board to forcing a $2,050 raise across the spectrum for EVERYBODY.
The following year (after I left) the board forced a $1,725 raise for everybody.
If the senior teachers got screwed those times, well just too damn bad. At least the majority got real raises for the first time.
So I take it by your jackass comment that you advocate the union sticking their hands as deep into taxpayer pockets as they can get away with while still screwing the majority of their membership.
Come on… tell us you do support screwing teachers… it’s okay, we’ve all read your ridiculous comment.
From former BTUsless memeber…
“I was forced out of Broward County Schools because of the low pay I was stuck in the middle steps and just could not afford the medical for my family. “
I take it you support this kind of treatment for teachers by that moronic comment of yours.
Shame on who????
And as I said in my posting… Have the gonads to use your real name to take a shot at me or stick it where the sun doesn’t shine…
Try to have the courage of your convictions like I do.
…And that, by the way was the only key to the election defeat. FIRING FRANK TILL. But then again, even his friends finally gave up on him and chased him out of the county.
And from what I know, and what I’ve been hearing, Till will have more problems soon enough.
P.S. – I’m still very effective behind the scenes in the County while you’re just a know nothing, do nothing opinionated blowhard.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:40 am
Oh, and by the way… Union money to the campaign dried up after Till was fired.
They were in bed with the SOB.
Simply by the fact that he did absolutely nothing to stop it, Frank Till was just as fond of keeping teachers underpaid as the union was.
October 27th, 2009 at 8:44 am
Yeah, yeah … now the real story comes out. Write a refund check to the union Rubenstein otherwise you have NO credibility talking about this issue. You took their money. You are no better than the rest of them.
October 27th, 2009 at 9:10 am
So I guess you won’t stand up for underpaid teachers either…
And just what kind of justice are you standing for?
Like I said, hide behind a phony name, stuff it where the sun doesn’t shine.
October 27th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Marty you cant just take money from someone and then criticize them… I think as a teacher, its not your place to comment about this issue since you probably did as much as the new school board members did to make this matter worse.
October 27th, 2009 at 9:20 am
I agree with Broward teacher. You can’t take money from the BTU and turn around criticize them AND the teachers. As long as there is money attached to it, you seem willing to stand for anything. Critic for hire!
October 27th, 2009 at 10:19 am
Get real you two (or maybe even one writing under two names.) I highly suspect you are either a union official, or better yet, a wannabe.
First and foremost, just where do you think the money came from?
Are either of you stupid enough to believe the “union” money came from the pockets of the union bosses? Or did that money come from dues paid in by the membership?
Allegiance in my mind is owed to the members which IS THE UNION. Not a bunch of self serving, self indulgent buffoons who cheat their own membership of decent pay while using them as pawns to grab more taxpayer money and continue cheating their own base.
It takes a really twisted mind to see me as criticizing teachers all the while the only effort is to make sure they’re paid fairly.
Maybe you two fatheads should go back to school and learn how to read. Since you can’t figure out that I will support the membership over the union itself, then maybe you are absolute proof of what I learned from the Dean of English at BC. 80% of incoming Broward Schools students need remediation in English.
You can blather all you want, but getting a fair pay scale for teachers is my only concern and if pissing off the union is part of that effort, so be it.
Go ahead and admit that you don’t care about teachers getting a fair wage. Your postings display that loud and clear.
October 27th, 2009 at 11:01 am
KUDOS Rubinstein.
At least SOMEONE on this blog has a REAL pair of gonads.
I think these other two idiots are Santoramo and Ristow…or maybe Shultz.
Does it matter?
October 27th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Doesn’t matter who it is. Doesn’t change the fact Rubenstein took money from the BTU and then turned around and tried to criticize them. It’s all bunk.
October 27th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Unions are a dinasaur from the early part of the last century. We have labor laws now that ensure our children are not worked in sweatshops, that protect people’s safety, that protect their rights.
All unions do now is negotiate increases and defend shitheads when they get in trouble. But they add no value to the organizations that they are supposed to serve, and their skim off the top is much too playfully used.
I think it’s time for the worker to unite around a new concept, certain in his legal rights accummulated over the years. The better your organization does, the better you should make out in your paycheck. The worse your organization does, the worse you make out.
Simple rules. Good policy. Want to make more money? Work harder, smarter, add value to your organization so they can afford to reward you. In fact, do something worthy of reward. Longevity isn’t it. Good performance is.
How’s that for a novel concept?
October 27th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Hey Bunkster-
Not directed at Marty and call me crazy, but don’t you want politicians that take money from companies and then are able to criticize them? Too many politicians are sheep. Are you suggesting that they should just “bow down” instead? Think about how absurd your statement is…..
October 27th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Deux — I don’t think my statement is absurd at all, but I respect your point of view and possibly you are right. BUT, I find it a little disengenuous for someone to take campaign contributions from a group and once they lose, turn around and attack their contributor without disclosing the fact the person took money from them in the first place. All I am trying to say is he certainly wasn’t saying any of these things when he asked the union for a donation or picked up the contribution check. I know he is a good and likeable person, but it just seems a bit peculiar to me to take a group’s money and then turn around and attack them, after the fact, once you have the money and not tell anyone you took their money or welcomed their support.
October 29th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
it’s truly outrageous, It’s taking a young teacher nearly 20 years to clear $50,000 a year in broward county; while the board and the union MVP’s accuse each other back and forth about waste, corruption and other malfeasance .many teachers are heavily indebted due education loans, loss property value or just the fact that they haven’t been allowed the opportunity to earn a decent salary for 20 years. I hope all these greedy and selfish capitalists who do what they do in the name of educating the masses remember , the King of King, the truth, the light and the way , he too was a teacher . Cheating educators out of a decent salary must be evil… we’ll see how much money is needed when He finally returns to clean up this mess…may you all deliver to the people of this community what’s rightfully theirs, after all it’s all the people’s fund .
November 28th, 2011 at 1:44 pm
BTU/TSP did nothing for me 3 years ago, when I went from 3rd shift to weekend shift. My director lied about the shift being tied to the grade — not only was the supervisor I replaced a grade 23 for years, but the job description clearly stated in the job title that 2nd & 3rd shift supervisors in the Computer Room were grade 22’s and the grade 23 supervisors “Worked Varying Shifts/Hours” (which referred to the day-shift and weekend-shift supervisors).
When I asked the union, Jerrod Neal, if grievance he said “Definitely and if we don’t win the grievance TSP will take it to binding arbitration.” At my first meeting with my director (with union steward Paul Hohl present) my director’s immediate response was that he’d “Just change the job description” [to remove the wording that set the grade to the shift] and his next statement was “Peter, if you pursue this it will just make you look foolish. HOW RIGHT HE WAS!!!
I asked Jerrod several times during the grievance process if my director could do what he said and Jerrod told me the union wouldn’t let him change the job description (removing the grade tied to the shift)… but either Jerrod didn’t notify George Segna [who handles the job descriptions] or George ignore my grievance as George went ahead and allowed my director to change the job descriptions as he had threatened. The union & BTU failed to meet any of the grievance deadlines and, before finally meeting with Dorthy Davis to discuss my grievance, I (again) met with my director FOUR times (with a steward, Paul) and each time my director said he: “Didn’t mind making all the supervisors in the Computer Room a grade 23 and HE WOULD SUBMIT THE PAPERWORK TO MAKE IT SO! But months later, when we all met with Dorthy Davis, I learned that my director never submitted the paperwork as he had promised; and when Dorthy went over the two job descriptions, she stopped at the first responsibility and said that according to that wording “No one should be a grade 23”. Immediately, I, Jerrod, and Paul Hohl (my steward) said we didn’t want to take a grade 23 from the two supervisors that had it — the former weekend-supervisor and the newly appointed (grade 23)supervisor on 2nd shift.
Jerrod ending the meeting with Dorothy and promised to see what avenues we could pursue…
After months without hearing from Jerrod I emailed him about the “binding arbitration” he had promised (if my grievance were to be denied) and he (then) told me the union wouldn’t take it to arbitration! After emailing Jerrod dozens of times over the next two years and getting a runaround I finally emailed Pat Santeramo — and that was when Jerrod finally admitted that my grievance had been denied by BCPS two weeks after our meeting with Dorthy — which was now 2 & 1/w years later. So, I and Virgil Curz meet with George Segna and he (George) admitted that TSP “Fucked up my grievance” and their was nothing more they were going to do about it! So, I (now) have very little faith in BCPS management or TSP keeping their word.
August 17th, 2012 at 2:54 pm
After paying BTU dues for more than a decade and seeing what a total waste it was, I found I could get legal representation (the only reason I was a BTU member) for $180 a year through the Professional Educators Network. The fact that the last TWO BTU presidents ended their tenure in handcuffs speaks volumes about what BTU truly is.