Like an envious underachiever, Vladimir V. Putin’s party, United Russia, is increasingly examining how it can emulate the UFT's ruling Unity Caucus.
United Russia’s leaders even convened a special meeting this month with senior UFT officials at UFT headquarters at 52 Broadway to hear firsthand how they wield power.
Russia in recent years has started moving toward the UFT model. “To me, the meeting demonstrated that United Russia wants to establish a single-party dictatorship in Russia, for all time,” an observer commented.
"100 percent of the members of the UFT executive Board are endorsed b
y the Unity Caucus," said Putin, "an awesome display of one party control that exceeds even the old Communist Party in Russia," Putin continued. "They control the entire media of the UFT and have ingeniously packed the monthly delegate assembly meetings with their supporters by holding meetings for 3300 delegates in a space that holds only 850. Brilliant.
"And they don't even have to send assassins to remove their opponents," Putin said shaking his head in wonder. "Not yet at least. But we have a deal with Mulgrew. He tells us how to have total power and we show him how to remove his critics. We told him to start small by removing visitors from the Delegate Assembly hall by forcing them to watch it on TV on the 19th floor, where windows can easily be left open. Accidents do happen. Heh, heh heh."
What is the "Unity Caucus"?
ReplyDeleteUnity is a party within the union. Randi Weingarten was and I suppose Michale Mulgrew is now the head of the caucus.
ReplyDeleteA good analogy is Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall. Or, the old Communist Party. Just go to a Delegate Assembly and sit in the guest section. Note how the place is full of party hacks who got their marching orders on how to vote prior and/or always follow the president's lead on things. They constitute about 3/4 of the delegates there and include retirees. Why such reliable performance by these hacks? Many hold paid after school jobs, or post-retirement jobs at the union office. If they want to keep the money coming in they have to be good soldiers.
It's undemocratic to say the least.