#empirecenter

A new analysis conducted by Manhattan Institute senior fellow E.J. McMahon finds that in the absence of a labor contract between 2009-2013, a sizable number of NYC teachers received $1.2 billion in pay increases. 

A little known, but critically important provision in the state’s laws, called the Triborough Amendment, requires all contract provisions to remain in effect until a new agreement is reached.

In other words, McMahon argues, “for teachers in particular, working without a contract does not amount to working without any pay raises.”

McMahon’s report analyzes 5 years of actual city payrolls and the key findings are below:

Pay hikes for teachers continuously employed by the city from 2009 to 2013 totaled $1.2 billion;

For the 57,983 teachers who had not already risen to the top of the pay scale by 2009, average salaries rose by an average of $8,086 -- or nearly 12 percent;

Including pension contributions and payroll taxes, total compensation increased by $932 million a year, with a cumulative four-year increase of $2.1 billion; and

The average annual raise of 2.8 percent outpaced the local inflation rate, which averaged 2 percent during the same period