When the UFT held a meeting for delegates at 52 Broadway a few weeks before the AFT convention (according to Unity insiders this meeting violates labor laws - as does any meeting of Unity or New Action on official union property) they harangued them with words like, "You don't represent yourself, but 200,000 UFT members."
Sure. What they are at the AFT to represent are the policies of a small group at the top. Certainly members are not represented. For example, Arthur Goldstein as chapter leader of Francis Lewis HS, the 2nd largest HS school in the city with 300 members could not be a delegate - unless he joined Unity - and then he would be forced to vote the way he was told - not by his chapter but by the leadership.
Even though ICE/TJC got only 9% of the vote - or however we would calculate the votes for the AFT- one could argue they should have gotten a proportion of the delegates. Even 50. Even New Action which ran a slate of their own even if they endorsed Mulgrew should have gotten a share too. Would that make the AFT and UFT more representative of the members views?
But not in the winner take all system of the autocratic UFT/AFT.
What did it cost to send 800 plus Unity people to Seattle?
Each delegate was given $2000. Do the math. If you add in the extra people who were invited as guests and the staffers, I get $2,000,000 of our dues. At a minimum. Add in the costs of the NYSUT Convention in Washington DC a few months ago and the numbers are staggering.
Last Sunday we ran into a delegate from Wisconsin - one of 2 out of 20 they could afford to send. She carried the votes of 10 delegates.
In other words, the UFT could have sent Mulgrew by himself to vote the entire block of votes and save 2 million bucks. Why not? Unity has caucus discipline and everyone is required to vote the same way.
Well, we know why not. These trips are one of the things that keep the Unity faithful, well, faithful. So faithful that even if they agree with us, they will hoot and cheer people like Gates and lead the flock they represent to the slaughter (make sure to read Arthur Goldstein and Sharon Higgins on the sidebar).
Norm, each delegate was not given $2000. You are reporting incorrect information and I suspect that your Unity contacts are fabricated.
ReplyDeleteEnlighten us then. How much did we pay for each delegate to attend the convention and cheer Bill Gates?
ReplyDeleteI know a friend of mine who was given a check for 1600. I was a bit confused because I have attended AFT fellowships and I would be reimbursed after I submitted the receipts. I was very surprised that the UFT cut the checks before the conference. Even in Washington last year , the hotel was already paid for , but I was reimbursed for the bus ticket.
ReplyDeleteSo is 1600 the figure? Does that mean we only paid 1.6 million in dues money to cheer Bill Gates, and not 2 million after all?
ReplyDeleteWow. What a relief. I'm glad we didn't fritter away that money fighting school closings, or inane rating systems, or trying to get a fair contract, or investing in PR, or fighting for smaller class sizes, or making sure parents got to decide whether or not charters could invade schools their kids attend, or anything frivolous like that.
One of them told me it was $2000 - there was a $100 a day for meal money - and there were a number of parties with free food. There were at least 4 nights of hotels and the plane fare. I know some people came home with a profit.
ReplyDeleteEAch delegate pocketed any cash left over after expenses. Unity people stayed two and three in a room but got paid as if they rented a separate room.
ReplyDeleteThere was lots of free food around, so the Unity freeloaders didnt spend much on food.
so now you see why it pays to be a Mulgrew toady.
this was not about a convention in any real sense of the word.
it is a perk, a bribe. why not meet in a more central location, like Little Rcck?
Mulgrew has time to read the blogs?
ReplyDeleteIsnt he, like, supposed to be negotiating another double zero deal for 2012 and 2013-retroactive to the last contract so we will have to give back our last two raises?
You woulld think that this guy -with all his "brain" trust- could come up with another name better than ANONYMOUS, mainly because Loudmouth Zahler already has that name-although it is a perfect name for a slug like Mulgrew who will go down in history as the guy who presided over the downfall of the UFT while the Mayor flys him around in circles over the Bermuda Triangle.
Come on, Unity guys and gals- get this poor excuse for a union "leader" a better tag than that.
How about Alfred E. Neumann?