Monday, May 26, 2014

UFT Contract Exit Polls Contradict NY Times Article on Contract

At my school, the xxxxxx, the chapter elected to conduct an "exit poll" to assess how we as a chapter voted on the contract proposal.
These are the unofficial results of the xxxx vote.
Total UFT members: ....45 
Total voting "YES" - ......16
Total voting "NO" - ........26
Abstentions: .....................3
---A MORE Chapter Leader
Interesting, given today's NY Times article by Al Baker (As Ballot Count Nears, City’s Teachers Debate Whether to Ratify Contract) indicating passing the contract would be pretty much a given. It is one of the better and more balanced pieces Baker has written -- Baker did seem to go out of his way to talk to people at some schools with MORE people in them - PS 261 (though he didn't seem to realize that) and Megan Moskop, our awesome dynamo:
Leaders of one caucus within the union, the Movement of Rank and File Educators, have decided to vote no on the contract and are hosting informal discussions to urge members to think critically before voting. “It seems misleading to me that our union is saying, ‘Don’t worry, don’t worry, your health care costs won’t go up,’ when that isn’t something they can promise,” said Megan Moskop, 27, a teacher at Middle School 324 in Washington Heights who is a caucus member.
PS 261 and MS 324 will both probably a number of NO votes against the contract. We reported the exit poll from Bertraum (UFT Contract: Murry Bergtraum Exit Poll - 71 No, ...).
What does this mean? Where there are MORE people and where independent voices like Roseanne McCosh.. are discussing the contract in an open and democratic manner, people by big numbers are voting NO. In places with Unity chapter leaders selling the contract -- which is different from presenting a fair view -- with the help of the union publicity machine and staffers -- the schools will vote overwhelmingly YES. The reason the contract will pass are that there are a lot of more schools in the latter category.
Unity has targeted schools with MORE people for extra leafleting and visits -- using our dues on the union dime.
We already voted, but somebody who said they were "from the UFT" came in and distributed these today... No identification as to who put them out.  If they are sending staffers around on union time to do this in my opinion that's a serious problem.  People in my school were really offended by how our DR and her flunky talked to them the other day and they are not happy about how their dues money is being used for this kind of campaigning... MORE Chapter Leader
Another MORE member responded:
I'll bet his name is Dermont Smyth. He is a special rep for Queens Borough Office. He came -uninvited- to my school today around 8 to specifically flier mailboxes. He treated my CL with... disdain. He also failed to follow the building security procedures of going to the main office after sign in and of wearing the guest name tag.  Instead,  he placed fliers in mailboxes and was at some point  seen roaming around the first floor by another teacher.
Why did I block out the name of the school? Since Unity targets schools with MOREistas or other critics for "special re-education" campaigns, why give them a helping hand?

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