 Good afternoon everyone. My name is Renee Campion and I am the commissioner of the Office of Labor Relations. We are here today for another important labor announcement. We've reached historic agreements with our largest unions, our smallest unions, and so many in between. Today we are proud to announce another tentative agreement with the important people who lead our schools, the important people who serve our city's children. So without further delay, I'll now turn it over to our mayor, Eric Adams. Thank you so much, Renee, and just really, Commissioner Campion has been an amazing, fair negotiator for our men and women that's part of our municipal workforce, the professionals who do the job every day, but also for our taxpayers. And it's interesting because they're both part of the same groups. Our teachers, our principals, our police officers, our firefighters are all part of the tax base as they want to make sure that this city remains affordable for them and ensure that they're able to provide for their children and families. So we're really excited today to be standing here with my good friend Henry Rubio, the president of the CSA, as well as the chancellor. And Henry says something that really resonated with me, that we have been able to settle close to 90% of our contracts because of the speed of trust. To have a blue collar mayor that is selling in contract with blue collar and professional workers, that trust allows us to move at a rate that we have not witnessed in the past. After only a few months, we've been able to settle some of the most difficult negotiations that have historically taken long periods of times and years to settle. For example, the 13 year period of settling the ferry boat operators and the New York City Police Department. We've come to an amazing agreement today. I'm proud to announce the city of New York has reached a tentative five plus year contract agreement with the council of supervisors and administrators. These are the men and women who look after our children and young people and ensure that we could continue to have a professional environment for our children to be educated for the future that lies ahead of them. The contract provides a substantial wage increase for the people who support and safeguard our children. And it secures a fair deal for our taxpayers as well. This agreement will cover approximately 6,400 municipal employees and include annual raises, employee retention payments and a ratification bonus. All of which will help retain talent, which is crucial in this environment, and keep our public schools strong. Under the leadership of Chancellor Banks, it has been clear that we want a strong professional leadership and our principals and other school administrators play a major role in accomplishing this task. This contract also includes a provision to ensure principal and administrators play an integral role in the design and implementation of our virtual learning program. First of its kind in the nation of a school system of this size, and both school-based and non-school-based employees will be able to work flexible schedules in line with the work flexibility provision in the DC-37 contract. This is a great deal for Rokas, it's a great deal for the taxpayers of our city, and it would not have happened. I'm clear on this without a clear and focused leadership that's coming from the CSA, our President Henry Rubio. I cannot thank Henry enough. He came in with an open mind. He built on the long years of trust and not only the formal partnership, but the informal communication as he moved towards having our school system continue to evolve to be a first-class school system. And we cannot thank our champion of labor relation, Renee Campion. We need to put a C in that name because you're just a champion. You know, he's tough, tough, tough decision. She has been a real keeper of taxpayers' dollars and also a keeper of my vision and dream as a Rokan-class mayor. How do we ensure Rokan-class New Yorkers benefit from the prosperity of this city? And the President Rubio made it clear. He stated that Rokan with Chancellor Banks has allowed him to give the assurance and the understanding that we are going to be fair. And what we ask of our leaders and our teachers and the employees of the New York City Public School, but we're also going to make sure we are fair with them. And it is that trust that allowed us to get here today. And today's agreement brings a total city workforce under contract to approximately 88%. 88% in just a short period of time we've been able to solve these contracts and the concerns. We started out as this far apart. Not only came together, but we're now united as we move our city and our workforce forward. I want to thank the hard work of our educators. Educators mean so much to me. The nurturing, the consultation, the support that my educators throughout my personal journey has shown me and how educators have shown so many of our children in the city. Many of these children coming through an environment with so much brokenness, concerns, and despair. And the safe place for them we've always stated is in our school system and that is materializing every day. Great job done by all. Great partnership. Let's continue to move our city forward. Thank you, Mr. President. So now I'm going to give you some specifics of the agreement. So the term of the agreement, as the mayor said, is five years, two months, and one day. It starts January 29th, 23, and it expires on March 29th, 2028. There are five series of general wage increases. On January 29th, 23, a 3% wage increase. On June 29th, 2024, a 3% wage increase that's compounded. January 29th, 25, another 3% wage increase. January 29th, 26, 3.25% wage increase compounded also. And January 29th, 2027, a 3.50% wage increase. For a total of 16.77%. The additional items that were funded in this contract were all funded internally through contract extension and other internal mechanisms. There's a ratification bonus of $3,000 upon ratification. There is an annual retention payment that the mayor mentioned that starts December 29th, 2023, a $400 payment. On December 29th, 24, a $700 payment. All pensionable. December 29th, 25, a $1,000 payment pensionable again. December 29th, 2026, $1,033. And December 29th, 2027, $1,069. And each payment after that will go up with collective bargaining. In addition to those items, there's an enhanced salary schedule for elementary and junior high school principals to close the gap between those levels as well as the high school principals. That was funded by the city's internal equity provision. In addition to those items, there are improvements to the existing school size differential. For the first time in 20 years, we've increased the school size differential substantially. Principals in schools with larger enrollment and city-wide special ed with greater numbers of classes will have substantial increases in this existing school size differential in addition to their salary and differentials. For those schools with enrollees, 700 to 899 students. The current amount of $1,000 is going to $2,250. In schools 900 to 1,199 students, the current amount is $1,750. That is going to $3,500. In schools from 1,200 to 1,999 students, the current differential of 2,500 is going to $5,000. And in all schools, over 2,000 enrollees, the differential goes from $3,250 to $6,750. This was all funded internally through the contract. I'll just highlight that as the mayor said, there are 6,400 city employees in the CSA. Approximately, for the most part, there are 1,700 principals, 3,500 assistant principals, and over 1,000 education administrators. There is also an increase to a differential for principals in charge of summer school that currently was 2,500. That is also increasing more than double to $5,620. As the mayor mentioned, part of this agreement is the inclusion of virtual learning and remote work in the CSA contract. Supervisors play a vital role in the ground-baking virtual learning program, and there are now going to be flexible work arrangements for school-based and non-school-based employees, and I'll defer that to the Chancellor when he comes up next. As far as the budget, the cost is $500 million through FY 27, already funded in the existing budget, and fully funded in the financial plan. As the mayor said, we are at nearly 88% of our city employees, and I look forward to negotiating with those other 12% of our city employees. I'm doing it day after day after day, as I've said, 24-7, which is how we go until we reach 100% of our city employees. So now, to hear about how this tentative agreement will impact the Department of Education, I'm happy to introduce our Chancellor, David Banks. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Renee. You know, we started out today, and it was raining heavily, but it's shining now. The sun is shining now. This is a great day. It really is, and I could not be happier today than to be the Chancellor at a time where we have settled a very, very, very fair agreement with the CSA, particularly with my friend, Henry Rubio, who serves as the President. You know, Henry, you said something to me yesterday that in all the years that you've been at that negotiating table, you've never had an opportunity to have such an amenable and agreeable way in which we've worked. There are going to be times when you have to say yes and no, you've got to push and pull. But the fact that we were able to settle on an agreement without being so disagreeable means a lot to me. It means a lot to the Mayor. We were able to work well together, because at the end of the day, I was a school principal. And it's critically important to me that we have an agreement with principals and assistant principals where they feel that they are appreciated and respected. Because I'm very clear, the work that we have set out with our agenda cannot get done without the leaders in these schools who have to deliver to make it happen each and every day. This contract says we see you, we appreciate you, we respect you, and we need you. And so as the Mayor made the announcement in the Grand Hall or the Grand Ballroom here at the hotel, the place just exploded with energy. Because those were the leaders in the field saying thank you. Thank you to the Mayor. Thank you to Renee. Thank you to their President. And I want to say thank you as well to my team. I want to say thank you to Kim Warwood and her team. I want to say thank you so much to Dan Weisberg, our first Deputy Chancellor and his team, to Dr. Danica Rucks and her team. This is a team effort that gets us to a place like this. It doesn't happen overnight, but it happens because good people come to the table with the best of intentions. And I couldn't be happier for the leaders of our school system. And I think some of the innovative things that we've got in this contract are going to serve to really inspire our school leaders to even greater heights. And we're going to be on the cutting edge of leadership all across this nation. So thrilled to be here. Can't wait to hear President Rubio's position on this and how he feels about it. But Henry, we did it, man. Good stuff. I will be brief because I believe the Mayor, the Chancellor, and our commissioner has said it all. We are excited. As the Chancellor said, we've got 1,500 school leaders in a ballroom next door. And when this Mayor made that announcement, the crowd erupted. Because it was clear that they understood that the Mayor understands what it means to be a leader. And the sacrifices that they in and out our members make to make sure that we protect the city's children. And we make sure every single day that we're making progress. And in those conversations, Mayor, I never have to explain it to him. And I think really the best decision he's made is to select David Banks as our Chancellor. My brother here gets it. He was a principal. He was a CSA member right here in New York City. The largest school system in the country. And so he gets it. And at the table, there wasn't a lot of explaining. Because parties at the table really understood what our school leaders needed. And if we can take care of them, trust me, they're going to take care of our city and our children. Because we wake up every single day with no other desire than to serve our city, serve our parents, serve our students, and make sure that our parents are proud of us, that we send your kids home safe every single day, and we give them the best quality education we can. And let me tell you, our Chancellor has a bold and bright plan for this city. And I love that he's partnering with CSA to create that plan. And we're only seeing the beginning. There's so much more to come. And I look forward to working with the Chancellor and the Mayor on unfolding everything that's coming out. We got to understand this is a huge system. This isn't a rowboat. This is a cruise ship. And it takes time. But he's got all the right people in the right places. And I want to thank my team that was at the table. Rosemary Sinclair, Dale Kelly, General Counsel David Grandwither, but also David, your team and Renee, Donica, Kim, Dan Weisberg, you guys were all amazing. You got it. They're great people. I am blessed to be the leader of CSA at this time with this Mayor, this Chancellor, this Commissioner, and the incredible team you have. I'm blessed. So on behalf of our 6,500 members, Mayor, thank you so much for what you've done. When I called him, he made this contract happen, and we're excited to get to work on Monday. God bless and thank you so much.