Giuliani: Arrest Union Boss if Teachers Strike

Mayor Giuliani threatened yesterday to lock up the head of the teachers union if teachers go on strike because of a stalemate over salaries and work rules.

“Oh, then she’ll go to jail!” Giuliani said of the possibility of United Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten authorizing a strike.

The teachers’ five-year contract lapses at midnight, and the UFT has scheduled a massive rally in City Hall Park tomorrow.

The mayor made it clear that a strike is illegal under state labor law, and said he’d push for the severest penalties to stop job actions against kids.

“How can she do a strike? C’mon, give me a break,” Giuliani said.

Weingarten has not advocated a strike, but neither has she ruled one out.

She repeated her claim that the mayor was stalling negotiations.

“And now he’s threatening me with jail. Yet another constructive Rudy solution,” she said. “Give me a break. Let’s talk about the real issues – there’s a teacher shortage.”

Giuliani also blasted the planned UFT rally just outside his office.

“Maybe they should be working on teaching an extra period rather than rallying tomorrow,” he said.

The mayor wants teachers to work a longer school day as part of the new contract.

He also wants to base teacher pay – at least in part – on how well students perform on standardized tests.

But the UFT opposes merit pay, and wants across-the-board raises to bring city teacher salaries in line with suburban counterparts.

In the last contract, teachers received a 13 percent salary increase over five years, with no increases during the first two years.

“We have previously been able to reach contractual agreements with the Giuliani administration and would very much like to do it again,” Weingarten said.

“We would much prefer to resolve issues like these at the bargaining table, rather than in the streets.”

For his part, Schools Chancellor Harold Levy, who wants to overhaul work rules to make it easier to fire incompetent teachers, has stayed out of the crossfire.

Levy met yesterday with Latino leaders about overhauling bilingual-education programs.

He told the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund that he wants parents to give “informed consent” – or approval – before assigning pupils into bilingual education, English as a Second Language, or regular English classes.

Some parents have complained that their kids are routed into bilingual programs without their input.

But Levy also stressed he wants to bolster – not dismantle – bilingual-education programs, said defense fund president Juan Figueroa.



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