Sunday, March 8, 2015

When UFT members root for right to work - UPDATED

Norm, the day of reckoning for Weingarten and the ed deform movement will come when the US Supreme Court overturns mandatory union dues in Friedrich v CTA. I predict at least 1/2 of all UFT members will quit the union. --- a UFT member
So many people are so mad at the union leadership it has come to this for them. Imagine what might happen if people don't have to pay dues. I'm opposed to this scenario. What the Unity leadership should do is put forth a package of democratic reforms. But they won't. They would rather have 100% control of half a union.

I am updating this with the 2 comments this post has gotten so far, both anti-Unity but with very different perspectives.
Extremely dangerous for all of us. I loathe the UFT and the people running it, but we need them. The UFT had better wake up and smell the coffee because I know the majority of the unrepresented 1800 ATRs and thousands of more untenured newbies will line up to rescind their membership and dues. If that happens things will completely fall apart for everyone.
YES!!!! Where do I sign up to stop the union dues from leaving my check?

But, what will become of the union "leaders" if there's no dues? Hopefully - back in the classroom! That'll be a bigger punishment than losing their jobs! They would rather drop dead first.
I would love to see my slimy, corrupt district rep teaching again. I would pay big money for that!! Please, please God make it happen...
Boy, after 60 years of clutching onto power with their cold, dead hands, the latter sentiment certainly has some appeal. And I don't hold out much hope for the UFT reforming itself. 

What our commenters don't seem to realize is that many politicians - especially Democrats -- need the UFT as a strong enough entity to exert management and control over the members.

And as long as the UFT doesn't put up too much of a fight like they did in Chicago - some demos, rallies, etc are OK - as long as the backdoor deals are made - they will not undercut the power of Unity -- their partner in so many cases.

And the union will sell everything out to show how good they will be -- please, can they have some more porridge, please?

But if the Supreme Court actually does this, then the politicians are off the hook. Imagine a union where people willingly pay dues! I bet the teachers in Chicago would pay their dues.
 
Now, if the UFT ever did reform:
First up would be to show good faith and scale back the retiree vote. Next - elect District reps to bring some vestige of democracy down to the schools. Then reform the Exec Bd so it actually represents a wide swath of people. That MORE got more votes than New Action but no seats on the board is a travesty. But I am not arguing for MORE, whose vote was still paltry to get seats while rank and filers who don't want to be involved in a caucus are shut out. I would totally revamp the way the Board is elected -- maybe districts elect people so schools get a say. And certainly when a third of the UFT consists of elementary school teachers they should get more than 11 seats on a 100 seat board. High school rep almost 20% of working union members. They get 7 seats. Get rid of most at-large voting - where the entire union, including retirees vote for a majority of Exec Bd seats and the entire officer slate. Give retirees a VP on the officer slate - and that is who they get to vote for. And also 2 Ex Bd seats.

The bad decision making in the UFT/NYSUT/AFT complex is due to the shutting out of voices of dissent where a parliamentary process would lead to bargaining over positions and coming to some sense of concensus. If the union were democratic, the UFT charter school would have been seriously contended and monitored and not have been allowed to become the embarrassment it has turned into. And NYSUT would not have been calved. And Bill Gates would have not been allowed to set foot in our convention hall. Etc, etc, etc.

7 comments:

Bronx ATR said...

Extremely dangerous for all of us. I loathe the UFT and the people running it, but we need them. The UFT had better wake up and smell the coffee because I know the majority of the unrepresented 1800 ATRs and thousands of more untenured newbies will line up to rescind their membership and dues. If that happens things will completely fall apart for everyone.

Anonymous said...

YES!!!! Where do I sign up to stop the union dues from leaving my check?

But, what will become of the union "leaders" if there's no dues? Hopefully - back in the classroom! That'll be a bigger punishment than losing their jobs! They would rather drop dead first.

I would love to see my slimy, corrupt district rep teaching again. I would pay big money for that!! Please, please God make it happen...

Anonymous said...

Some people believe that if the UFT have to fight for our dues, they would work a lot harder. Some people whose parents were teachers (back in the day) said that when the UFT had to get people to check off paying the dues (maybe it was after a strike) the UFT really worked hard to help working teachers.

What ever happens, working teachers will be screwed (as usual).

Anonymous said...

I always believed that if Bloomberg wanted to really break the union all he had to do was offer dental & prescription drug coverage and it would have been done for me. I hate the UFT as much as the Democratic party; both of which have perfected the art of betrayal. I left the Democratic party and I would love to leave the UFT behind. I already stopped my COPE payment. I still believe in the idea organized labor but I would like to pay dues to a union that actually does something for me. Again there are no words for how I feel toward the absolutley worthless union leadership and unity chapter leaders who do their bidding. I hope they all have to go back full time into the classroom and suffer under the policies they endorsed.

Bronx ATR said...

http://atradventures.blogspot.com
Wrote a little about my views on this topic. I think it will doomsday for the UFT and us if this passes.

Anonymous said...

I hope all of the people are ready to negotiate their own contracts. And if you think the principals favor their "friends" now, just wait until they get a contract making more money than you do with less years and lighter workload because they negotiated a "better deal." No matter how we feel about leadership we can never begin to stop believing and fighting for collective bargaining. We have many rights. It's too bad that the vast majority of us aren't exercising them and defending them.

Anonymous said...

Mulgrew has shafted us for years --including during the last negotiation----so yes I'm ready to negotiate on my own. That's how strong my disgust for UFT leadership is. Starving the beast is one way of killing it. Of course I'd prefer not re-electing the beast in 2015 chapter elections and the UFT presidential election in 2016 but if starvation is what's necessary, then so be it. Roseanne McCosh