It is not often that people leave Unity Caucus, which can be compared to black hole where some good people desiring to change the union enter, never to emerge. Once enticed with job opportunities, free trips and other perks, the desire for change seems to go south.
Former Unity Chapter Leader running with ICE
That is why the Jerry Frohnhoeffer's move from Unity to the ICE-TJC slate is so remarkable. Jerry is chapter leader at Aviation HS, one of my favorite schools. He is running for Vocational HS VP against Mike Mulgrew from Unity. You can read his bio at my other blog, Norm's Notes.
Building a viable opposition
I met a new Unity CL recently and he is and has been a critic of Unity and even ran against the Unity CL at his school who was humping the 2005 contract. When he won he looked around for signs there was a viable opposition building. When the vote was taken on the 2006 contract he looked for signs in the vote totals that something had been built since the 2005 contract, and seeing the 90% YES vote decided that Unity was his only option. He hopes to reform them from within. Good luck!
He is wrong about that vote being the key. Many people opposed to Unity voted YES. The building of a viable opposition takes a lot of coalescing of forces to create a political movement. Seeing things evolve over the years there's room for hope. New Action's desertion has left a void in the infrastructure of an opposition. No matter how ineffective they were as an opposition, they did have the ability to get literature out. TJC started building 15 years ago but with New Action still around, the going was slow. Once it was clear they were aligning with Unity TJC began to have much greater success. ICE, starting out 3 years ago also has been building infrastructure and the election process is part of that building effort. No matter what the result in this election, the opposition is not going away. And if we should see the farce of New Action holding 8 Exec Bd seats, Unity 81 and ICE and TJC none, there is no better demonstration of the lack of democracy in the UFT.
Next: New Action History Lesson 1
See you at tonight's UFT Exec Bd meeting. Come on down. I'll be hovering over the ribs.
11 comments:
This is "redhog." I cannot post any comment on NYC Educator's blog because he has banned me from it. I have never used foul language, lied, committed slander or libel, or otherwise done anything but express myself in a civil manner. This is the kind of fake, phone, and fraud that alleges that Unity does not brook dissent. What a vile and appalling hypocrite.
I would ban you too Redhog if I had the tech skills to do it. As a shill for the UFT after selling out your principles for filthy lucre, that's what you deserve.
You have become a total suck-up and shill for Weingarten/Unity. You write letters as if you are just another teacher and you comment on blogs with lies and distortions wihtout identifying yourself as an employee of the UFT. You are amongst the sleaze and slime. Enjoy wallowing in them.
Who had ever heard of you until Ed Notes gave precious space to your columns issue after issue? And published your wife's cartoons when you asked? Randi Weingarten had already been president for 5 years and still ignored you no matter how hard you tried to get noticed. After how many years (at least 10 as chapter leader) of being ignored by the union leadership you ran with ICE in the 2004 elections? Your gripes against the leadership were that great. I know. I had to listen to them time after time.
Suddenly, after the exposure in Ed Notes and the high profile from using ICE to get noticed, you get a job with the NY Teacher, thus allowing you to retire from the hell-hole of the NYC DOE. Ed Notes/ICE should get a nice big fat check from you. Sign it RedDog.
You outed me in a comment, using my real name while using your "Harold Spinner" character. And while you claim to express yourself in a civil manner, you indulge in name calling.
You are indeed a liar, and indulging in your multiple aliases is, in fact, lying. You may deny it but I matched your IP numbers.
You are indeed abusive, and you are indeed banned. I tolerated your dissent. However, I gave you my name long ago in a private email, and you had no right to breach our confidence. It's my choice to reveal my identity or not, not yours.
I have never used the Harold Spinner name. You did not match IP numbers.
Except for one occasion, two years ago, I never used an alias. Nor did I breach your name. Who is your source?
I would debate you anytime about my past, present, or future, and yours also. but you are a coward and know that I would crush you. This is redhog.
Who is the coward? Note how you didn't respond to one thing I said. Want a debate? Ask your glorious leader why she won't debate? Why don't you write a flowery column condemning Unity McCarthy comments? Bet you don't. The true mark of a coward.
In fact, Redhog, I certainly matched the IP numbers. They are still in my comments section. Haloscan provides me with the IP number of every commenter.
Furthermore, your debating skills are non-existent. When asked to back up your grandiose claims on my blog and Edwize, you repeatedly failed.
You are a liar, you've again confirmed you're a liar, and as it happens, I have proof.
I never used the name Harold Spinner. I never outted you. You archive the comments: show where I did so. You lose all credibility when you say I have no debating skills. And just because I don't choose to write on your stupid little blog ( there are tens of millions of them nationwide) doesn't mean that I haven't the ability. And really, I was quite established as an education commentator before EdNotes. You must be joking: EdNotes has no traffic, no traction, and no credibility. And you will be trounced in the curremt election.
I'm pleased to see you're so impressed with your skills. However, praise from one's self is not generally regarded as the most objective of criticism. None of the good writers I know indulge in such nonsense.
Sorry, but for all your bluster, you're a liar, I just checked, found two posts, one from redhog, and one from spinner, and they share the same IP address.
You've concealed your identity before, the IP numbers are clear, and I can prove on any computer to anyone with internet access.
So please, keep denying it. Someone may just get curious enough to ask me to do so, and I'd be delighted.
Beethoven recognized his own talent, which does not mean that he had no talent. I acknowledge mine; that doesn't mean I have no gift, though it may mean that I'm vain. Anyway, let's sit back, await the election results, and the truth shall rest in the results.
Whatever the election results you are irrelevant and will continue to be so.
If the truth will rest in the results, then George Bush is gold.
I hearby ban you from reading this blog. If you do, a cyberload of Palonium will be instantly transmitted through your computer and make you sterile. But then again, in your case, that's a good thing.
Actually I can produce screenshots of redhog and spinner's comments from haloscan with the same IP number.
I can't post from that IP number, and I can't change it either. I don't actually need to be in front of a computer. I could email the screen shots to anyone, I guess.
Post a Comment