City teachers are going to flee in droves for higher-paying jobs in the suburbs if the city doesn’t boost salaries in upcoming contract negotiations, the teachers union warned Wednesday.
UFT President Michael Mulgrew said he plans to highlight wage disparities and attrition rates of experienced teachers when he sits down to negotiate with the de Blasio administration this spring.
“I am sick and tired of New York City acting like the farm system for the suburban areas around us,” Mulgrew said at a press conference at union headquarters.
“We train teachers, then they go to the suburbs.”
More than 32,000 teachers left their jobs over the past 11 years, including one out of eight who left for higher-paying positions in suburbs.
And mid-career teachers, who have taught for between six and 11 years, are leaving in increasingly large numbers — from 496 in 2007-2008 to 907 in the 2012-2013 school year.
Teachers have been working without a contract for almost five years.