Mulgrew called the attacks on pensions, the threat of teacher layoffs, the fight to change seniority layoff rules, the targeting of teachers in the Absent Teacher Reserve pool, and the record number of proposed school closings «part of the mayor's strategy to throw everything at us at once.» (uft.org)
Mayor Michael Bloomberg blasted public employee pensions, current layoff rules and educators serving in the Absent Teacher Reserve in a State of the City address on Jan. 19 in which he said he would shrink the cost of government by going after public employee benefits rather than raise taxes to meet this year's budget challenges. (uft.org)
There were 44 other similar schools where entire departments would have been gutted and up to 80 percent of teachers let go under union seniority - based layoff rules. (e4e.org)