NYC Teachers Union, City Hall Announce $4B Labor Agreement

City Hall and the teachers union have reached an agreement on a new contract that provides retroactive raises plus a 10 percent raise over seven years, with health care cost reductions promised by the union.

The proposed nine-year contract would begin on Nov. 1, 2009 and expire Oct. 31, 2018. 

It gives 1 percent raises each year until 2016, and then a 1.5 percent raise, a 2.5 percent raise and a 3 percent raise the final year. The 4 percent retroactive raises for 2009 and 2010 would be provided in increments from 2015 to 2020.

"This agreement will be a gateway to great progress in our school system," Mayor de Blasio said at a City Hall announcement Thursday.

The cost to the city through 2018 is $4 billion, which does not include some of the retroactive payments through 2020.

The union would reduce health care costs, in part through "centralized drug purchases," and other belt-tightening moves that were not detailed. The savings is estimated at $1 billion over the nine years.

City workers do not contribute to their health care costs.

The two sides also agreed on new criteria for permanently removing poorly performing teachers, and an expanded the definition of sexual misconduct to make it easier to get rid of teachers who commit those crimes.

The deal is the first labor agreement struck by de Blasio, and it could affect negotiations with the other nearly 150 city labor unions who have been working with expired contracts.

New York's 110,000 members, represented by the United Federation of Teachers, have been working without a contract since October 2009.

The deal must be approved by the members.

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