United Federation of Teachers

Who, exactly, are Michael Bloomberg’s friends in Albany?

Since getting elected in 2001, Bloomberg has always counted on Joe Bruno and Republicans in the State Senate whenever he’s needed help in the capital, and he even gave a $500,000 donation to the Senate majority in the run-up the crucial elections later this year.

But lately, Bloomberg’s Albany team hasn’t counted for much.

First, a small a small band of Assembly members were successfully able to block the billionaire mayor's plan to open a waste transfer station in a part of lower Manhattan.

More recently, lawmakers in the capital shot down his cherished congestion pricing plan, which never made it to the floor.  read more »

Bill Thompson is making another education-related announcement today, unveiling a program that will “invest millions of dollars to create affordable housing for educators in New York City.”

Joining him for the roll-out will be teachers union head Randi Weingarten.

About two weeks ago, Thompson issued an audit saying the city’s education department underreported violent incidents at schools.

Lots more to come from him on the schools issue, I suspect.

City Comptroller Bill Thompson is co-chairing a fund-raiser for state Senate Democrats tomorrow night with Randi Weingarten, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, which is one of the more vocal unions in the city and an organization whose help will be sought after by just about everyone in 2009.

(Thompson, as most of you probably know, is interested in running for mayor.)

The theme of the event: “Democrats in the State Senate are on the verge of winning a majority for the time in decades…”

There's a "hostile anti-union climate in our city--and especially at the D.O.E." according to campaign literature from Randi Weingarten, who is running for re-election as the president of the United Federation of Teachers.

Her opponent in the race, according to Weingarten's literature is a group that is "running on a combined slate headed by militant Socialist Kit Wainer," who she labels "The Man With No Plan."

-- Azi Paybarah

(If I missed any events, email me!) On Saturday at 10 a.m., Hillary Clinton, Andrew Cuomo, Charlie Rangel and almost everybody else will be supporting the Democratic ticket at a rally at 2155 Adam Clayton Powell Blvd.

At 12:30, Hillary speaks at the 9th Annual Parent Conference of the United Federation of Teachers at the Sheraton in Midtown. John Faso campaigns in Brookhaven at 9 a.m., then at the Mayfair Shopping Center on Jericho Turnpike in Commack at 11:15; the King Kullen Shopping Center in West Islip at 12:30 p.m., and a few other places.

At 10 a.m., UFT president Randi Weingarten campaigns for Democratic Congressional candidate Steve Harrison and State Assembly candidate Janele Hyer-Spencer at Staten Island's Miller field [added].

Also at 10 a.m., volunteer cars to help Democratic state Senate Jimmy Dahroug in Long Island leave from Bayside (and on Sunday too!)

The phone bank for upstate Democratic candidate John Hall starts dialing voters.

State Senate candidate Flip Pidot does some street campaigning.

Also on Saturday, Jeanine Pirro campaigns in Elmira at 10 a.m., in Oswego County at 11 a.m. and in Broome County at 1 p.m.

Upstate Democratic congressional candidate Eric Massa campaigns everywhere on Saturday and Sunday.

On Sunday, Faso attends a political forum at Temple Beth El (2710 Genesee Street,Utica) at 9 a.m., mass at St. John the Evangelist Church in New Hartford at 10:30 a.m.; a rally in Syracuse at 1 p.m. and another rally in Waterford at 5:30 p.m..

Bill and Hillary Clinton, Eliot Spitzer, Chuck Schumer and others campaign for Andrea Stewart-Cousins at The Royal Regency Hotel in Yonkers (165 Tuckahoe Road) at 1 p.m. [added].

And there's a marathon in the city. More Sunday stuff will be posted as it comes in.

-- Azi Paybarah

Mayor Bloomberg and United Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten will announce a contract settlement later today, and my early impression of this is that Randi winds up looking pretty smart for holding out until a month before Mike's reelection bid.

The outline of the deal: Teachers get a 15% raise over a 52-month period, compared to (corrected) the arbitrators recommendation of 11% over 3 years.

There's no sweeping overhaul of work rules, though schools chief Joel Klein gets some of what he wants, notably an end to "seniority transfers," by which good teachers abandon struggling schools. There's also a compromise version of a proposal to add ten minutes of class time, and a bit more cafeteria duty for teachers.

Absent from the deal are two top items from Klein's wish list: merit pay and an end to tenure.  read more »

One insider's take: "It's win-win for the Mayor and Randi -- the one who didn't get what he really wanted was Joel."

Bill Lynch, the former advisor to David Dinkins and current informal advisor to Freddy Ferrer, has a new contract with the United Federation of Teachers.

The Politicker isn't sure what to make of this. On one hand, Lynch is a guy who runs campaigns, and it's conceivable that the teachers will join the campaign to unseat Bloomberg. But people familiar with the negotiations say it's more likely that the teachers will reach a contract agreeement before the election. They say the contract is more about healing the UFT's historically fraught relations with the black community.  read more »

In any case, it puts one of Freddy's key supporters on what could well be the other side in November.

As she attempts to win promotion from the City Council to the borough presidency of Manhattan, Eva M  read more »

When East Side City Council member Eva Moskowitz decided to confront the city's public-school unions  read more »

By all accounts, Utah Governor Mike Leavitt-President George W.  read more »

Teachers' Union: Greedy in Time of Grief It ought to come as news to nobody that times are tough, an  read more »

Anyone who follows New York'sschool foibles knows that politicians have been railing against the Boa  read more »